TWO MEN IN THE EARTH-  NEW & OLD - ABOVE & BENEATH
Dr. Kelley Varner

This is an excerpt from my good friend, Dr. Kelley Varner's newest book entitled SECRETS OF THE THE ASCENDED LIFE. You can purchase it on Identity Network at www.identitynetwork.net.

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There are two kinds of men on this planet: Christ, the new man, and Adam, the old man-beauty and the beast!

1 Kings 8:23, KJV And he (Solomon) said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like Thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their heart:

Proverbs 15:24, NKJ The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell (death) below.

John 8:23, KJV And He (Jesus) said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

1 Corinthians 15:47-49, KJV 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.

The literal Greek rendering of the latter verse is, "so let us now put on and wear as a garment or a piece of armor the image of the heavenly."

Heaven is from above. Earth is from beneath.

Christ is from above. Adam is from beneath.

The fruit of the Spirit is from above (Gal. 5:22-24). The works of the flesh are from beneath (Gal. 5:19-21).

Righteousness, peace, and joy are from above (Rom. 14:17). Unrighteousness, war, and sorrow are from beneath.

Sexual sins, evil habits, gluttony and drunkenness, gossip, jealousy, envy, strife, peer pressure, the love of money, power struggles (civil or ecclesiastical), insecurity, any sense of insignificance or inferiority, unrighteous anger, law suits, political correctness, any and all kinds of prejudice, all thoughts of retaliation and revenge, any sort of demonic activity, fear or timidity in any form-all this is from beneath, the realm of death and hell (Prov. 15:24).

In Christ, we have been called to live above all the junk and stuff.

Preachers, we cannot focus on those lower realms. We cannot speak from beneath-you get what you preach, and you preach what you are. We are to prophesy from the heavens, the place of the ascended life, life more abundantly (Jn. 10:10). We are to bring Heaven to earth (Matt. 6:10).

He is not beneath.

He is not "down there" in the lower realms of our whining and complaining, our self-pity, our weakness. This is tough, but He ain't going there! When you throw your pity-party, He will not come, nor will any of His servants. There is nothing "down there" but death and hell.

Are you sick and tired of being bound by earthly things? We can live "down there" in Adam, or "up here" in Christ. We can live the high calling. We can know enjoy the secrets of the ascended life. Choose wisely.

John 3:31, KJV He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

The Ascended One and those who live the ascended life in Him are above the cares of life. Stuff is not on top of us. We are on top of it.

Jesus knew that all religion, pictured by the Pharisees of his day, was "beneath" (Jn. 8:23). This adverb is kato and it means, "downwards; below." It is also translated in the King James Version as "bottom, down, under." When Jesus said, "I am from above (KJV)," he was standing right here on this planet (compare Jn. 3:13). The Message Bible gives a powerful rendering of this truth.

John 8:23-24, Message Bible Jesus said, "You're tied down to the mundane; I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms. I told you that you were missing God in all this. You're at a dead end. If you won't believe I am who I say I am, you're at the dead end of sins. You're missing God in your lives."

Romans 7:6, NIV But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code (compare Rom. 6:4).

His death was our death. As new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17), we have now arisen to walk with Him in "newness" (renewal) of life, and serve Him in "newness" of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

John 3:6, KJV That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Hebrews 12:9, KJV …shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

As Christians, we are essentially spirit, not human. I am not a human being trying to have a spiritual experience. I am a spirit being of which God Almighty is the Father trying to put up with a human experience. We are eagle saints. We have never fit, and never will. Like God, we are spirit, have a soul, and are expressed through a body. We live in the Spirit, far above. This is the ascended life.

Colossians 3:1-3, NIV Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

RAISED UP IN THE THIRD DAY

Jesus was raised from the dead on the "third day" (Matt. 16:21; Acts 10:40; 1 Cor. 15:3-4).

Hosea 6:1-3, KJV Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

2 Peter 3:8, KJV But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

We are privileged to live in the dawning of a new day.

This new day is the Third Day from Jesus and the Seventh Day from Adam (Jude 1:14). This key passage from Hosea heralds the ascended life.

The word for "return" in Hosea 6:1 is shoob (Strong's #7725), and it means, "to turn back; again; to bring back, to restore, to refresh, to repair." These are tremendous days of restoration.

Joel 2:25, KJV And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten…

From the days of Martin Luther (1517) to the present, the Lord has been restoring to His true Church the years that manmade religious tradition has consumed.

After "two days," after 2,000 years, He has promised to "revive" us.

He is quickening us, restoring us to life and health. "In" (during) the Third Day He has determined to "raise us up." He has roused us from sleep and empowered us to stand up again.

Now we "live in His sight," literally, "in His face," His presence.

We are ascending. We are being raised up to "follow on," to run after the Lord in the Most Holy Place. We met with Him as our Savior in the Outer Court (Acts 4:12). We experienced Him as Baptizer in the Holy Ghost in the Holy Place (Matt. 3:11; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4). Now we meet with Him yet a third time as Lord as He raises us up in the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 16:16).

The ascended life is His life. We are being enabled by the virtue of the indwelling Christ (Col. 1:27) to ascend into the heights of Zion.

The ascended life is the high calling. The ascended life is His life. Christ is from above. Adam is from beneath. God is raising us up in the Third Day.

THE ASCENDING OFFERING

There is a high calling! This heavenly calling is the ascended life.

The ascended life is His life (Acts 17:28; Phil. 1:21; Col. 3:3-4).

There are two major pictures of this in the Old Testament:

1. The Burnt Offering, also known as the Ascending Offering.

2. The Psalms of Ascent (Psa. 120-134).

This chapter reveals the Person of the Ascended One in the most important offering of all: the Ascending Offering.

THE BURNT OFFERING IS THE ASCENDING OFFERING

The previous chapter revealed the ascended life to be His life. The Burnt Offering or the Ascending Offering (Ex. 29:38-46; Lev. 1:1-17; 6:8-13) is an amazing revelation of His high calling.

As noted, the Hebrew word for "ascend" is aw-law', and it means, "to ascend, go up, climb; be high, to mount; to excel, to be superior to; to exalt; to be taken up into."

The word rendered as "burnt offering" is in the same family. It is o-law' (Strong's #5930), and it means, "a step or (collectively, stairs, as ascending); usually a holocaust (as going up in smoke); an ascent, stairway." The Burnt Offering is the Ascending Offering.

Genesis 14:18-22, KJV And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he (Abram) gave him tithes of all.

The name Elyon (highest or uppermost) is from the same root. El-Elyon means, "the most high God." This was the God of Melchizedeck, the mysterious one who prefigures Jesus as prophet, priest, and king (Heb. 5:1-8:6). This directly ties in with those who have been apprehended for the high calling, for we are a "royal priesthood" (1 Pet. 2:9). Having been made kings and priests unto our God, we shall reign on the earth (Rev. 1:6; 5:10).

Philippians 2:7-9, NIV But made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name.

The Ascending Offering is a picture of Jesus Christ offering Himself without spot to God in complete delight to do His Father's will, even unto death (Psa. 40:6-8). This offering reveals the perfect obedience and consecration of the Ascended One to God the Father. Jesus was the Man for whom God sought (Ezek. 22:30), the One who at last would fully glorify God in all things (Jn. 8:28-29; 17:4)! As noted below, God got everything in the Burnt Offering. Jesus gave it all!

These same truths find corporate expression and manifestation in those who are called to the same high (upward) calling, the brethren of whom He is not ashamed (Rom. 8:14-23; Heb. 2:6-13). Those called to be partakers of His image and likeness are to receive the benefits of His abundant, ascended life (Jn. 10:10).

THE APPOINTED SACRIFICES

The appointed sacrifices of the Ascending Offering were revealed in three dimensions. This is the principle of "excellent" or "three-fold" things (Prov. 22:20-21).

Note this illustration:

Outer Court, Holy Place, Most Holy Place
Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles
Born Again, Spirit-filled, Mature
All man, God and man, All God
External, Internal, Eternal
Thanksgiving, Praise, Worship
30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold
Out of Egypt, Through the wilderness, Into the land

Moreover, the five offerings themselves can be listed among these three dimensions. The Sin Offering and the Trespass Offering relegate themselves to the Outer Court; the Brazen Altar was the only place where sin was dealt with.

The Meal Offering and the Peace Offering line up with the Holy Place; indeed, the Table of Shewbread was a Meal Offering.

But the Burnt Offering, the Ascending Offering, was the highest order of the five and pertains to the Most Holy Place, the place of the high calling. Just as God revealed Himself in the tabernacle from the inside out, giving instructions first about the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies (Ex. 25:8-22), so the Ascending Offering is listed first among all the sacrifices (Lev. 1:1-17). These examples typify a people in Zion who are known as the "firstfruits" unto God and the Lamb (Rev. 14:1-5).

Furthermore, the Burnt Offering had three levels of sacrifice for the people of Israel. With regard to the various sacrifices of the Ascending Offering, compare these categories:

Lower class, Middle class, and Upper Class
Turtle-dove or pigeon, Sheep or goat, and Bullock

Proverbs 14:4, KJV Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox (Psa. 144:14).

From God's standpoint, these appointed sacrifices began with the highest level of giving, a bullock or ox (young bull). This was, literally, "a son of the herd" (Lev. 1:5). This reveals the prompt and ready attitude of the ascended Christ, ever prepared for service and sacrifice. Pictured by the ox, Jesus is the Servant of Jehovah (Isa. 42:1-5), as revealed in Mark's Gospel, the strong One who is humble, patient, gentle, and powerful. All those apprehended for the ascended life are called to be like Him.

Leviticus 1:10, KJV And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.

Next was a sheep or a goat. The sheep points to the patient submission of the Lamb of God (Acts 8:32-33 with Jn. 1:29). Jesus was the subjected One. As seen below, the daily Burnt Offering was a male lamb of the first year. This goat reveals shows the planned substitution of Jesus Christ, our Sin-bearer and Scapegoat.

Leviticus 1:14, KJV And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the LORD be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons.

Finally, the turtledove or young pigeon could be offered. This reveals the patient sincerity of the One who is our consummate Burnt Offering. This is Jesus the sorrowing One (Isa. 38:14; 53:3-4; 59:11; Matt. 26:37-38), whose character has no guile or deceit (Matt. 10:16; 1 Pet. 2:22; Rev. 14:5).

Leviticus 2:13, KJV And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.

Colossians 4:6, KJV Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Salt was added to the Ascending Offering (Ezek. 43:24), and speaks of grace. Jesus came to reveal grace and truth (Jn. 1:14,17). Salt is a preservative and has an action opposing corruption (Acts 13:33-37). Salt became a symbol of hospitality, durability, and fidelity in that it also speaks of covenant (Lev. 2:13; 2 Chron. 13:5; Mk. 9:49-50).