"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12: 1-2

God Himself has placed the integrity of His own Word - His Son - on trial before the universe. It is God who has done this, and the trial of His Word is central to who He is.

Earth is the proving ground of the Word God speaks. Earth is ground zero.

Earth is where all rebellion against God is found, both human and angelic. God cannot place His Word on trial anywhere else, for there is no rebellion anywhere else.

God's Word being fulfilled in heaven or in the age to come proves nothing. There is no trial of that Word in heaven.

God's Word comes into the earth as a seed bearing within itself all the life and nature of the One who sent Him. That seed has all the power it needs inside itself to produce the life that is in it in the earth.

There are two kinds of seed that God uses to reveal the truth about what He is doing: plant seed and human seed.

Although we draw much truth by comparing the Lord Jesus Christ to plant seed (a grain of wheat) - and God does this throughout the Bible, yet the greater truth, more central to the point of what God is about, is the truth revealed to us by human seed.

God's Word is His will. Jesus came into the earth to prove the will of God.

Twice.

The first time was in Mary's womb; the second time was in the womb of the church on the Day of Pentecost.

Isaiah 55 teaches us that the Word God speaks cannot return to Him until  it fulfills the purpose for which God sent Him.

Jesus returned to the Father the first time having secured salvation by the strength of His arm.

But Jesus has come again in us. He cannot return to the Father the second time until He has proven the will of God in us, specifically, according to Paul in Romans 12: 1-2, until He has proven the will of God in our bodies.

But as the seed of God, Jesus cannot prove the will of God by Himself.

And so the deepest question in the heart of the Lord Jesus is found in Luke 18, "When the Son of man returns, will He find faith in the earth?"

Christ returned on the Day of Pentecost. He lives in my flesh and in your flesh.

His question remains.

Here is why.

Jesus must fulfill the purpose for which God sent Him and He must fulfill that purpose in the age into which He was sent, in the earth into which He was sent, and in the bodies of those in whom He dwells.

Christ must prove the will of God in all of its totality; He must birth and bring forth all the life and power inside Himself in all of its fullness inside of us here in this age and on this earth before He can return once again to the Father, having accomplished the purpose for which He was sent.

But Jesus cannot do that by Himself.

"Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.  For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.  For we who have believed do enter that rest . . ." Hebrews 4: 1-3

The seed of the man has all the life and power inside itself to bring forth the life that is in it - but it cannot do that unless and until it finds the seed of the woman.

The seed of the woman is faith.

God has placed the trial of Himself upon the seed of the woman. There is no barrier within Christ Himself to reproducing in us all that He is. The question, the crying accusation against God, the trial and proving of all that God speaks - His Word - the very heart of God Himself, the whole fabric of the universe, all of it stands on a knife edge, upon the groaning travail of a woman, surrounded by all the assault of hell, as she bears down upon her pain and her weakness to bring forth into this earth the life that is inside of her.

Do you see the central importance of Revelation Chapter 12 to the purpose and intention of Almighty God? May I suggest that you read it over and over. Do not try to analyze it with your mind or with your theology. Those words have within themselves the power to produce inside of you all the life that is in them. Let the words that you read do what they will inside of you.

All that God speaks from the beginning, all that He is in us is fulfilled in the context described by that chapter. Believe what you read - in this way - faith, the faith that is able to receive the Word spoken into it, always makes the Word God speaks personal to herself. This is talking about me.

"I belong to You. Let it be to me according to Your word."

God is determined to prove His will in your body and in mine. We are caught in the grip of His determination.

"Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this, Martha?" John 11

And the moment you explain that Jesus was not talking about "physical death" is the moment you lose the power to believe the Word God speaks into you.

God's Word is His will.

Now here is a secret of the mystery of Christ that you and I must understand.

"And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are-northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants (seed - singular - Christ) forever." Genesis 13: 14-15

"After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying:  'Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them-the children of Israel.  Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses . . .'" Joshua 1: 1-3

The promised land given to Israel is a picture to us of all the life of Christ that is in us. We are given only what we see; we possess only what we walk upon. There is always more than what we know right now.

The Word God speaks into the earth is without count or measurement. It goes forth to everyone. Every human being on this planet hears God speak. But only the tenth part see that God is speaking to them, and even fewer still walk in all the life of the Word God has spoken into them.

Now here is the mystery of Christ, God Himself has established three levels of hearing His Word and bringing forth the life of that Word. But every Word God speaks is fine tuned and fitted into the person of the one who hears Him speak. Although it might be the same Word, you hear that Word in a different context and with different directions and results than I do. "In My Father's house are many dwelling places."

Let me give you just a few of the many ways God lays before us those three levels of hearing His Word, and bringing forth the life of the Word we hear.

Passover - Pentecost - Tabernacles.

Outer Court - Holy Place - Holy of Holies

Justification - Sanctification - Glorification

Leaving Egypt - Traversing the Wilderness - Entering the Promised Land

30 Fold - 60 Fold - 100 Fold

The Way - The Truth - The Life

Every Word God speaks comes to us on each of these three levels. The same Word.

The first two levels are in-part. The third level is in-fullness.

I have a friend in England by the name of Chris Welch who has a blog called On, Now, to the Third Level. Feel free to visit there if you wish. He draws together all the many voices in the Church that are speaking towards the fulfillment of all that God speaks in all of its fullness in our lives in the earth.

But I see Chris introducing into his Facebook discussion the reality that there is a way to hear God speak and to bring forth the life of God in the earth that is closer to the heart and determination of God than what most Christians know. I am always amazed at his ability to receive with all gentleness of heart and response the nonsense that is thrown back at him in return.

Here are two such responses (I paraphrase). "I'm 'above' you, I'm on the 4th level." "Who cares about 'levels,' I just want to know Jesus."

These precious brethren do not realize that they are treating God with open disrespect.

Notice, first, that Abraham could not see the land that belonged to him until he had separated himself from Lot. Notice that Joshua did not hear the call to walk in all the Land of Promise until Moses was dead.

There is always a separation from and a dying to that which has been, before entering into that next level of life and reality and knowing God to prove His Word in us.

You can know Jesus as the One who did something for you.

You can know Jesus as the One who does something in you.

And you can know Jesus as the One who proves all the will of God through you.

God has placed Himself on trial, specifically, in the Word that He speaks.

God has placed the determination of the integrity of His Word in the womb of a woman who is weak and in pain.

And God has arrayed against that Word all the forces of darkness.

God is determined to prove His will in our bodies. Will we hear such a Word? Will we carry in our hearts such a Word? Will we give ourselves to all the pain and warfare of birthing such a Word into the earth?

Who will step forward from salvation as necessary as that is?

Who will go on from healing and restoration as wonderful and critical as they are?

Who will care for nothing about themselves except the vindication of God in the earth and the utter triumph of the Word that He speaks in human flesh?

This is the question that fills the heart of the Jesus who lives in us.