We are living in the “time of the end” spoken by Daniel the prophet. Things are getting bad as prophesied. For the masses, their Babylon based hopes and dreams will be consumed in the fires of God’s displeasure. However, out of the ashes will rise God’s body of sons and daughters who will do the “greater works” that Christ spoke of—greater miracles and signs than even what He did! Those are His words, not mine.
These sons and daughters are His elect, those that He has chosen out of the multitudes of His people scattered all over the planet. They are the first fruits unto the Father, the first to bear “much fruit.”
“Much fruit” of the Spirit is the goal and destiny that the Father Yahweh has set for them. They are to be the “saviors” that God will send as ambassadors to the furthest ends of the earth during the 1000 Year Reign of Christ. “And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S [Yahweh’s]” (Obad. 1:21). They will be emissaries of Christ the King. They will be strong and do exploits in the land (Dan. 11:32).
At present, very few know about these things, much less believe them. The eyes of the masses are held from perceiving. They sleep, but their eyes are open. They walk yet know not to where. They speak, yet no one is listening. They cry with desert tears. For most, this vision of sonship is like a pretty melody at first hearing, but it soon fades away, dissipating into the breezes of forgetfulness.
Nevertheless, right now, a few of the elect chosen ones are crying in the wilderness. They are announcing their King’s soon arrival. They are sharing this vision of sonship, Christ’s vision of us bearing 100 fold fruit, which is the “much fruit” aforementioned (Matt. 13: 18-23). Bearing “much fruit” can only take place after first bearing “fruit” and then “more fruit” (John 15:1-5). It is a growth from a tiny seed of faith.
The High Calling
The sons and daughters are at this present time answering the “high calling.” They today are following the Spirit’s bidding. They follow the Lamb by walking in the Spirit (Phil. 3:12). Christ has chosen them; He has “apprehended” them for His purpose of magnifying the Spirit of Christ within them (Phil. 1:20).
Thus they must surrender to His will and lay down the natural burdens that plague them—the fears, the insecurities, the doubts as to the validity of their earthly dreams for their own little “lives of quiet desperation.” They must now lay aside all worldly acclaim and count it but loss, thus trading their pasts for an opportunity to know their Creator in all His glory.
They now must take on a singular view in this new life in Christ. “Old things are passed away…all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). To attain the spiritual growth of manifested sonship, they must forget the things of the past—both good and bad—and reach out to embrace the magnificent adventure of sonship and daughtership that awaits them.
The apostle Paul was clear on this. This reaching out, this stretching forth of our new hearts, is a surrendering to His pull. We are iron filings, and He is the magnet that draws us to Him. Our focal point is a burning desire to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings…” (Phil. 3:10).
Knowing Him has to be real to us. When we communicate with Him, it is like if Christ were in a hidden locale and we are talking to Him on the phone. And while we speak with Him, thanking Him for all He does for us and the rest of His body, we remember that He was dead for three days and three nights. Dead. And we are talking to Him in prayer because the power of the Almighty raised Him from the dead. He suffered and died and was resurrected. And through His sufferings and triumph over death, we have followed Him by baptism into His death. Our old sinful life is now dead, and His Spirit now dwells within our hearts (Rom. 6:3-11).
Notice how the Spirit through Paul writes, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him…” (6:6). We’ve got to experience this in order to “know Him and the power of His resurrection.” [Brothers and sisters, you won’t hear this from preachers in pulpits. It is rare knowledge that the Spirit of truth is sharing with us.]
Those so drawn to “know Him” will begin to set priorities in their lives. And as they do, they will realize that everything on today’s to-do list is flimsy, non-consequential and superfluous. Then one day, “one thing” will rise to the top of the list. Again Paul was clear on this: “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling” (Phil. 3:13-14). In another version it reads, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me…”
That One Thing
That one thing is a focused striving for spiritual growth, a yearning and pulsing forth to bear “much fruit.” It is a total leap of faith to grab ahold of the plow and not look back like Lot’s wife did. We are like that tiny blade of corn that has only one thing on its mind. It is striving and pushing up and up into the light. And to do this, the tiny blade of corn shoots down roots to assimilate necessary nutrients in order to grow and bear fruit. The one thing that it does is to fulfill its destiny, to bear grains of corn to be shared as food and to be planted in God’s garden. We are those grains of corn. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom. 6: 5).
To do this “one thing,” we must forget the past and then strive ahead to learn and grow toward this goal: Somebody is going to sit with Christ on His throne. That is the high calling. That is the prize. Christ has put it out there. It is not some figment of somebody’s imagination. It is going to happen to a few. The question is this: Will it be you and me?
Kenneth Wayne Hancock
Immortality Road 