God's Character: What He is Really Like

Chapter 57 - That You Might Know

The message that we're considering this morning is one I feel to be very, very important. Not in any sense a defense of the gospel or what God is doing. But rather to bring to us an identity of what He is doing to His Word. Reminding us, illuminating to us, opening our eyes and making His revealed Word clearer and more real. And this is the purpose of this message. I felt a real need of bringing this message because of opposition, because of objections people are having. Because of the foreknowledge that the Lord has allowed me to witness because of efforts that will be forthcoming to downgrade, to detract, even an effort to destroy the truths that God has made real. There will be some who will even deny their own faith that they have supported, their attack on what God is doing will also be an attack on their own foundations upon which they stand. But God will not be defeated. When He has made a decree, an irreversible force is set in motion, nothing can stop it. He has not had one defeat and He's not going to have any defeats. Praise God. So this has not come as a defense to the Word, God will defend His Word.

 

God has emphasized to me, make no effort to defend what He is doing, make no effort to try to prove it to be correct. But rather share the truth that has been made real. And what we're doing today is not in violation to God's command not to defend it, but rather to add support and credence by identifying these truths with the solid Word of God. Praise God. I would entitle this message "That You Might Know." God does want us to know; there are a lot of things that He wants us to know. But one thing especially that we're dealing with today, He wants us to know the things that are freely given to us of God. That we might know the things that He freely gives to us. Now the purpose of these messages that God has brought in such an unusual way that He has brought through the voice of an angel has been to point out what God has prepared, what God's plan is for His people because He wants us to know His plan. He wants us to know how He feels about us. And so we're going to be considering these things in bringing these things to you today. We're going to be reminded of the messages that God has brought and what they have done and just even from the testimonies that you have given here today how they have made God more real. They have let you understand His purpose; I've heard some of you say that. They've let you understand what heaven is like. The dimension that's beyond, it's taking it out of a nebulous cloudy misty understanding and brought it down into a very real thing, which even makes the things of this life seem kind of misty by comparison with the fullness of what God has planned and prepared for those that love Him.

 

And I would say the first thing that He wants us to know and He has shown through these visitations has been to give us a glimpse of the Father; to show us who He is. This has always been a cry in the hearts of His people. God where are you? Can we see you, can we find you? These are the words that Phillip gave to Jesus in John 14:8 where he said to Jesus, "show us the Father and it is sufficient." And today it's still sufficient. When you catch a glimpse of God, other things can really fade away. It's sufficient when you see Him as He really is. And this is in these messages brought by the angel the supporting scripture in which there are well over 2000 portions of scripture that was made real. He's burned them into my heart, I've seen them as a living picture as well as complete with the reference. I don't have to use a concordance. God burned it on my heart and mind. He has stamped them on my heart because of this unusual visit.

 

The golden text of the Bible that these angels have gone back to again and again and again in Jeremiah 9:23-24, he tells us the things that man glory in are not the things that are of interest to God at all. "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the wealthy man glory in his riches. But if somebody wants to glory, let him glory, let him bask in the sense of assurance and reality that he knows and understands Me." That's what God said, God is speaking here. He said now what shall he know and understand about Me in order to give him something to glory about. That he understands that I am a God of vengeance with that great big club with a spike on the end. Loving you with My club. My club is comforting you. The least little step out of the way, I got you. Well no that wasn't what He said, he said "if he glories and gets happy and excited about anything let it be in the fact that he knows Me that I am a God of loving-kindness, a God of mercy, a God of justice, I'll be fair and right;" a God of righteousness. And as you know, that word righteousness means His unfailing ability to always do that which is right. And so a person may have things a little bit rough, but when you know that God hasn't turned His back on you. That word unfailing means He can't miss. His unfailing ability to always do the right thing. You can rest when you know He's going to do the right thing.

 

I'll tell you, people get themselves into the most awful turmoil when they don't know God in this way. But the person who knows God can settle back. Someone may say "why are you so settled and calm, you're going through as many bad things as we are, what happened?" Well I can glory in the knowledge that God is doing the right thing. I can trust Him. His ability is unfailing. Hallelujah. And then God said "for in these things I delight. These things make me not only happy inside but they make me express my happiness, by beaming those warm rays of my smile." You see, you could be happy down inside with a mask on your face, but when you express it, it turns around maybe some other expressions to when you know that God is smiling. Hallelujah.

 

I had a lady come in yesterday so torn. There was no reason for brightness, for hope anywhere. She needed God so badly. But I told her, "God is smiling on you, you're not in here by accident, you're here because God smiled on you. He heard that cry from your heart. And I want you to look up right into His face, God is delighted. He's smiling. I want you to smile back." And as she did, and this happens every time, a river inside of her just burst loose and weights and fears and bondage that she had for 10 years just snapped. Just such rejoicing. I drove out to see a lady yesterday afternoon, a lady that has cancer. And it looks like there is very little hope without God. Didn't know the Lord, so fearful, her eyes showed it. They were hollow pools of fear and dread. And even the stretching of the skin showed marks of fear, it was written all over her in torment. But I told her the same thing. She said, "God must hate me an awful lot to do all this to me." I told her, God isn't doing that to you. I said if it wasn't for the love of God it would be ten times as bad. God doesn't do these things to us. But he does give us grace and strength when we face these things. He loves you and I said is there anything that you can thank Him for. Oh yes, He gave me five of the most wonderful children and I should have been dead 29 years ago with some affliction but she said I lived and I have all of this wonderful family. So I said well you see God was so good to you and He blessed you in spite. So we talked together and I told her about God's big smile. When she looked up into the Lord's face, she felt the icy chill of fear leave her. She started to weep and rejoice, something was turned loose in her. Her daughter was there and only recently found the Lord. And she told her daughter "I'm not afraid anymore, I'm not afraid anymore! She was just rejoicing in God, she caught a glimpse that God was not a vengeful God bringing judgment upon her but loving kindness.

 

This does not erase the truth that God is also a God of wrath. But God wants us to know that His gospel is a gospel of good news. That He is a God that delights in His loving-kindness and His tender mercy and His care. And as we point people to what God is really like. Those who accept His loving-kindness and this side of God which He delights in will never have to experience the other side, his wrath. But this guilt ministry has rolled the truth of God over until people somehow if at all possible have to wade through His wrath and His frown and the things that God has pronounced upon those who have rejected and refused Him to somehow find His love. And many times they are so tainted and so steeped in the hurts and the wrong concept of God that even when they get to His love they have a hard time accepting it because they are so calloused because they are so conditioned against even feeling that God could ever have this kind of feeling toward them. And for this reason God is telling the world I feel through this extraordinary means He's telling the world, "see what I'm really like? And if you accept Me, see what I'm like. Accept my love and my care and you'll never have to experience the other phase of my nature." Does that have any meaning to you? Oh, praise the Lord forever.

 

I like Jeremiah 29:11-13 where God Himself is speaking again. And He said "I know the thoughts that I have toward you." People are trying to tell God all the time what He's thinking. But God says I know my thoughts toward you, and they are thoughts of good, not evil. And He said my plans weren't just made yesterday and I'm not just picking them up as I go along. I had them made even before I made the earth. And I have it all set up here and I'll bring you to the expected end, the thing that I have decreed. I know my plans; I have good plans for you, good thoughts for you. And He's speaking here to them about Israel at that particular time about bringing them out of Babylon and back into their home land. But what He was doing was literally opening a window into His heart and is saying "I'm not only interested in these people in doing it but I'm interested in everyone because this is my heart that I'm exposing." And so with us His plans are complete and He's going to bring us to that place too. This is a glimpse of the Father.

 

Then when Moses cried out, you remember Exodus 34 verse 6 and 7. Moses cried out, "Oh God show me your face. Let me see You God, I want to see you and know what you're like." And I think that every person that's had a hunger in their heart has wanted to draw so close to God, they've wanted to know what He's really like. And this is what Moses felt. God I want to know you as a friend. And God did speak to him as a man speaks with his own friend. And He said, "Now Moses, it would be totally impossible because of the brightness of my presence for you to see Me in the flesh and live but I can let you feel some of the warm rays of my glory. And so Moses I'm going to put you here in the cleft of this rock and I'm going to pass by and I'm going to let you absorb the glory. And then when this happens I'm going to tell you what I'm like. I'm going to describe Myself to you." And so in these verses he said to Moses, "Moses I am the Lord God, plenteous in mercy and compassion and love towards those who keep my commandments and who walk after me. And to the children of those who walk after Me." Now he said, "don't get me wrong Moses, because I show this loving-kindness doesn't mean that they're in heaven or that their sins are all forgiven, I love them while they're still in their sins, while they're still my enemies. I love them." He said "this will by no means clear the guilty. They have to still come and accept before they can be cleared." But he said "my loving-kindness is out there." Hallelujah.

 

Then he said for those who reject this part that I delight in, then he said the next couple of verses that there is the side of His wrath, "I also keep wrath and judgment for those who reject and refuse. But God says make sure you keep the right side up. This was a mistake that was made in the middle of the last century. People felt that somehow God couldn't quite handle His responsibilities. And it became a gospel of man instead the gospel of God. And the entire message that was given regardless of what denomination, it was a gospel zeroed in on man, man, man. But the highest purpose of the Word is to view God. And so God today is taking that beautiful light of truth and He's turning it away from man and back to God. When we see Him, only when we see Him as He is can we effectively serve Him, can we effectively walk with Him and please Him. Then not only does He give us a glimpse of the Father through these angelic beings and this message but He gives us a glimpse of His purpose. And His highest purpose for man all the way through His word this is a book of God's dealings with man. And we can see what God is like by the way He has dealt with man, by the way He's cared for them, by the way He's spoken to them. And so His purpose is to reconcile, to knock down all of the walls between man and God.

 

2 Corinthians 5:19, this was God's great plan and He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Then He's in believers as we go out, he said He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That ministry of making it happen. Not only saying well I sure hope God saves this person but He said I give you the ministry. See the word of reconciliation is that beautiful message that you can come now. And the angels cannot really make it happen. They can bring people to that point of decision. But we as believers can take the hands of these people and influence these people, and influence their decision. We can persuade them. We can take the hand of God. This is the difference between the word of reconciliation and the ministry of reconciliation. The Word tells them about it the ministry is taking hold of their hand and making it happen. Pulling the hand of God and man together. I love this ministry. Do you know I never tell a person I'm going to pray for you that you might be saved? I say hey we're going to do it, pull you together right now. If they've reached that point you see well I want to find God. I feel that we're doing the wrong thing if we say well we'll be sure to pray for you that the Lord will do it. And then we call up some friends and we say so and so is very close to giving their life to the Lord, let's pray for him. Instead of that, when you sense those signals of hunger know that God didn't only give you the word to give them but he gives you the right because God is here right now, he said let's get together. And so this is beautiful.

 

And then this restoration brings us back to that place of fellowship with God that was lost when Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden. They were in a place of total innocence. There was no reason why they had to hang their heads. They were in fellowship with God. They knew God, God knew them, they walked together and they had wonderful fellowship. God has zeroed in on this. This was His plan all the way through now. I want man to be restored back because I created him for this kind of fellowship and I want this kind of fellowship. So God is bringing this plan and purpose through these messages.

 

I'll never forget the message that Gabriel brought me before Christmas Sunday. He explained to me the work that God had done in bringing Christ and that His plan in sending Christ was that man would be restored. He said that the highest position that the Old Testament believer could reach in God was a position of pardon but that their terms of the pardon and their sins had to be reviewed every year. And the pardon rewritten. It would only last one year and then another sacrifice and another sacrifice. The terms had to be reexamined and another pardon written. But he said when Jesus came; His purpose was to remove the need of pardon by removing the remembrance of sin. And in the Old Testament the sins were remembered every year. You read this in the 8th chapter of Hebrews. But in the 12th verse of the eighth chapter you read about the remembrance of sin year after year. I'm going to turn to that briefly because I feel that it's important enough to have this before you.

 

In the tenth chapter and the tenth verse, "by which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. Every priest stands daily ministering often times the same sacrifices which could never take away sin. But this Man after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God." See what He's telling us here is that there doesn't need to be a reminder of these sins in the first couple of verses of this tenth chapter he also makes reference to this where he said, "for the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of these things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers there perfect, just pardoned you see. For then would they not have ceased to be offered because that the worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. That's verse 3 in Hebrews 10. So what the angel was telling me was that every year those sins were remembered again and again and again but God does not want to keep on remembering your sins. So in His great plan of sending Jesus He made one sacrifice for sins forever. There doesn't need to be another. I remember when he gave me the beautiful verses in Isaiah 53 where he said that Christ travailed because of the pain and the anguish and the reason for his travail, He was fulfilling the plan of God that a whole new race be created and be born. And he said "He shall see the travail of his soul, He shall see that new nation those individuals those new lives and be satisfied. And it works so I never have to make another sacrifice" so you're a part of that new nation when you accept Jesus. This is what the new birth is. You're born a new person, a new race. And what is this new race? The angel said that was as high as those Old Testament people could go. But when Jesus came, He created the new race. And he said for this reason you will never find the word pardon in the New Testament. He said it isn't there because God has erased the need for pardon by erasing the remembrance of sin. Doesn't that make you feel good? What has He done with it then? He has replaced that message of pardon with the term of justification. Justification throughout his New Covenant now is you're counted just like you had never sinned. So God does not have a pardon and say "boy that person was horrible, look at this guy he committed robbery 25 times. Oh what a horrible thing. I really had to do a lot for him. And here's that immoral person. Look at all the things that they have done." When God looks at us now He says, "they have never sinned, they have never sinned." If you're going to be restored, restored means put back in the original condition. So when God looks at you now, he looks at your record, there's no difference with any of us, we're all restored to the innocence and perfection of Jesus. And do you know that there's no way in the world that God can accept anybody unless they do look like Jesus. For he tells us that no flesh can stand before God because of the imperfections and the faults of the human flesh. Aside from sin no flesh can stand before Him. So Jesus was made flesh and in flesh bore all of our weaknesses and all of our infirmities the whole bit, He didn't only bear our sins. On Him were placed all of these things so when God looks down on us wrapped up in Jesus Christ, He sees us looking just like Jesus. So that's the message of restoration.

 

Then comes His great priority, the message of reuniting. A time when He is going to bring us back, reuniting in fellowship with Him. Hallelujah. Three basic R's and this is what the message is. Then he speaks of His responsibility. His rights and His doings. All of these things are things that God is doing and what you had to say today, you confirmed that this is true, it's happened to you. Now God is illuminating His Word through the visitation of angels. It has not replaced the Holy Spirit because God has been visiting the world and people with angels since time began. It hasn't changed, the only difference is and it's really not so much difference only we happen to know about it. He has spoken through angels. Paul said He has spoke through angels before in Hebrews 2 and verse one, he said "if the word spoken by angels was steadfast," God honored it, God backed it up, it came from God. He said we better pay attention to the things that we have heard because they are steadfast. So the Lord is speaking, it has not changed the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

The Holy Spirit is the controller and the director of all of the angelic activities. There are people who feel well this is changing my concept of God. I always felt that God was so interested in me personally that He was the One that would come down and take care of this person over here and four billion people that He was having to run to the cry of one to the other. Even God would have an awful time with that because all of the confusing cries. But why if God has created billions of angels and God is a God of such order that even the stars in their places and their courses prove that He is a God that takes care of minute details. How would a God like that make six or seven billion angels and say "now you sit around on stars out here and play your harp while I go down there and do all the work." He created a lot of people down here and we all have jobs to do but we're doing it for Him. He created an army up there and He said you've got a job to do and He's giving them jobs to do.

 

There are four different orders of angels and all of them given their function, they're doing His bidding and His command. There are the great messenger angels as Gabriel that are the special shock troops of heaven that bring messages to people that are busy serving God. God's Special Forces. There are the great warring angels whom Michael is the arc, the very top angel. There are the worship and the song angels; Lucifer was the archangel of all of the worshiping angels. This is the only type of angel that has wings. But the wings are literally tools of worship that God has placed upon them as they shroud themselves, as they're singing and crying out to God in worship. And though they are a part of them they literally fall in the most beautiful folds. And the confirmation of these wings, using that terminology on these angels is the most beautiful, graceful appearance you could possible imagine in your life. I've watched them as they have fallen down and watched these wings fall in the most beautiful folds as they bow down before the God of heaven. There are actually three on each side. There face is draped with these filmy wings. There feet are covered but even that looks almost like a bride's train in the folds about their feet. And their back is draped with the beautiful folds of these wings. There are three on each side that cover them. There are literally millions of them and when they're not involved in their particular assignment and worship at the throne of God, they are down with God's people assisting and aiding His people in their worship to God. Whenever you worship God there are some that come, and it doesn't take them a long time to get there. They can move with the speed of thought, that's fast and they're there. The Holy Spirit says, "Hey there's some people worshiping," and they move in.

 

Then there are the ministering angels whose address is here on this earth. A community of people here on this earth. There are people who feel that they must defend against anything they cannot understand with their minds. And people have been trained to say if it fit's the Word I will accept it, if it doesn't fit it I won't accept it. But what they're really saying and I feel that this was the trick of the enemy against what God is doing. Not everybody has the same level of understanding of the Word. So as a result, if they had let's say one half of one percent and they could take something that God was doing and they would test it by the one half of one percent of the information that they had of the Word, they'd say "no God it doesn't relate to my one half of one percent." Well even the most astute students of the Word, great theologians have little more than three or four percent. So they look at something, they say well I have to fit this with the little three or four percent of my understanding. So if they make a statement, they should always add the words according to the four percent of the knowledge that I have it is my opinion it doesn't fit this four percent but it still has 96% to go you see. God isn't going to have His hands tied by man's puny mind. Why that Word is so great, it's an unfolding truth. It's like a great field that you can reap a crop. And it just keeps growing up because God has implanted in the Word truth that keeps on growing and growing. But it has been one of the most crippling things in God finding room in people's hearts because of the bondage that has been given to them; make sure it fits that little tiny speck of the Word that you know.

 

You know what God says in place of that? He said you test these things by the principles of God. Not by what you know of the Word of God. By what God is like, God is love; does this have the marks of love? God cares for you. Does this care for people? God is not concerned about Himself but His thoughts are going outward. Is this a selfish thing that a person has? If it's reaching out and it's given in unselfishness you could see the marks of God. The Word needs to be tested by the principles of God not by abstract verses that you find here and there. I don't mind if people say well I've tested it by the Word if they will add this, "I have tested this by my limited knowledge. And by my limited knowledge my opinion is this. But when they make that flat statement they'd better watch out.

 

So we want to identify what God is doing with the Word and God Himself wants this and so every time that a message is brought to me it comes complete with supporting scripture. None of the theologians are the writers of the commentaries knew anything about what was there. But oh how beautiful it is that He turns the light on, He proves that that little path that man has hewn through the forest is only just a little tiny bit of what He has. There's a verging timber out there that is still to be explored. Praise the name of the Lord. In an answer to critics, there are some that say are you sure these angels are from God? And today you gave the reasons in favor why you knew they were from God. Because they are doing God's work in God's Spirit. Wouldn't satan be stupid to do what these angels are doing. He's awful wicked. But he's not dumb. But he would be so stupid if he would win more souls to God in a year's time then most of the servants of God are winning. Then he would suddenly become one of God's servants you see. But when you weigh what God is doing several hundred thousand that I know of that have turned their lives over to God because of what God has done through these angels. Satan would really have lost his mind. He even attacks one little Christian that tries to do something for God. He gets a black eye when just one person finds God. So these angels are from God.

 

The objection even by godly people has been this. Could they not possibly be evil angels appearing as angels of light? Using this word appearing as the Word states not to be surprised if Satan would work because if even satan himself could appear as an angel of light, the word appearance here does not mean a physical appearance at all. For example, the term appear means to be like something. Someone can hear a message, and say this message appears to be saying this. In other words it seems like it. There's a relating likeness to it. It doesn't mean a visible appearance. Because things could appear to us that have no physical substance. My words may appear to you like the Word speaks of words appear as the voice of God and so on. It appears, it seems like. A person would be on the wrong track thinking that evil angels have more right to appear than God's angels. But just so you will know if somebody comes along and says hey now you better use caution here because satan said he would appear as an angel of light. Do you know something? Satan cannot take on a physical appearance neither can any of his angels. Did you know that Michael and Gabriel and all of the angels of God cannot take on a physical appearance? No, not in there own right. Satan was an arch angel like Michael and Gabriel but Michael and Gabriel can't do it. They have told me this. They can only do it as God would direct and God isn't directing evil angels to come around and appear to people you see. But He is causing the appearance of others. So you can write down that they can't appear, evil angels can't appear even as doing good, they're very deceptive but not in a physical substance but more in their deeds or actions.

 

Now another objection I would like to answer on this so that you can relate it to the Word. The question what about the angel that Joshua met and the one that Gideon met who when after they had gotten attention and introduced themselves to these men, then when they were ready to give the message they changed their wording and said now the Lord says to you. The Lord spoke. And there have been people who have looked for reasons why these truths are not from God, are not real by saying that these appearances of angels in the Bible were not actually angels, it was the Lord appearing. So they make what they feel like is a very strong argument against. But this is no argument against. An angel if he speaks at all, it has to be the Lord speaking because he cannot speak. Only as permitted by God. And he has no message of his own only the message that would be given of God. And the same is true in many, many of the appearances that I have had. They have spoken to me and then as they've referred now there's a message that God would have you to have. And the words have come out so strong and clear. The Lord says to you and then the message comes, not from the angel from the Lord. The Lord speaks. Hallelujah. So this is no objection, there merely proving the point. It's God that's doing it through an unusual way in bringing attention and opening a channel through which He can speak.

 

In Joshua 6:2 you'll find this message. I told one theologian who is having a little trouble with a few things I said go ahead spend all the time you want to digging on that little point. Because God is pouring in so many of these truths that you'll be ten miles behind before you ever find out anything there anyway. I said you'd never be able to keep up. I've had a lot of telephone calls from these people. They don't know what to make of all of these things. Some of them are worried about the Bible truths and here are the objections. One of them says that well you say the angel said that people become the doorway to God and He's set us here for that. He said that this is impossible, that this is against the scripture. So I asked him if you were to talk to someone about Jesus, can you actually relate Jesus to that individual who doesn't know Him. How are you going to describe Him to that individual? Well I might use this scripture. Well I said you can't even relate him to the scripture. He's dead; he doesn't even have life yet. So when the angel said God has set his believers all over this world to make easy access to God as doors and he said you are doors all over. You are doors, that through you people can come to Jesus. Your little door leads to the big door. Right into the very heart of God. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

I told this one believer, can you imagine what you're doing? You're literally chipping away your very foundation out from under you in what you are saying. And there going to find this out. But you are the door, you are the light. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" then He went on to say "now you are the light of the world. You see, you're taking My place here," and he said you are the life, through you men are going to find Life. Let men feed on you, on what comes from your life as the water of life goes through you as the fruit of the Spirit develops in you. Life. Let people come to you and feed and as they feed on what God is producing in you they'll become enriched. And if we can't feed people with what God is doing for us we're not fulfilling the job God has given us to do.

 

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