Joy is not just the spin-off of obedience to God, but part of obedience. It seems as though people are willing to let joy be a byproduct of our relationship to God, but not an essential part of it. People are uncomfortable saying that we are duty-bound to pursue joy. They say things like, 'Don't pursue joy, pursue obedience.' But Christian Hedonism responds, 'That's like saying, ';Don't eat apples; eat fruit.'' Because joy is an act of obedience. We are commanded to rejoice in God. If obedience is doing what God commands, then joy is not merely the spin-off of obedience, it is obedience. The Bible tells us over and over to pursue our joy (Psm. 32:11; 37:4; 67:4; Lk. 10:20; Phil. 4:4).
John Piper

The Song Of The Cross

The Song Of The Cross

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THE SONG OF THE CROSS

Grace be with you and peace from God our Father and love from our Lord Jesus Christ and His crucified saints in the East. They praise and thank their Lord for the precious cross which they bear with Him, and for your love and compassion in deed and for your fervent intercession for them before the Mercy Seat of God, where our great High Priest Jesus Christ sprinkles them and us with His most holy Blood. They have charged me with tears to greet and kiss you in love from them thanking you with all their heart. They look forward with longing to the very soon glorious coming of our heavenly Bridegroom in the sky, for there we shall meet one another, and Jesus will be in our midst.

Again and again the blessed Holy Spirit leads me to go down into the garden of prayer to meet and bow my knees and caress you as the most lovely flowers of Jesus and bless His holy Name for you and pour out a little water of His grace upon you.

His name is wonderful, and before we describe His wonderful deeds among our beloved persecuted Brethren, let us look up to Him who loves us so and has redeemed us by His own Blood and pay homage to Him. His Name is Wonderful, and in Isaiah 9:6-7 we find five wonderful revelations of our Lord Jesus Christ, one more wonderful than the other, and as we consider them our knowledge of our great God is increased, till we disappear in Him:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His Name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with judgement and with righteousness, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Yahweh of Hosts will perform this.”

His first Name is “Wonderful,” because He dealt wonderfully upon the Cross. There He died in your and my stead, and so by accepting this firm truth in faith we have died with Him. And he who is the Resurrection and the Life has raised us up as completely new creatures in Himself; the old things are passed away; behold all things have become new.

We find the very same Name Wonderful in Judges 13:17-22.There the Angel of Yahweh did wondrously according to His Name. When the sacrifice had been offered up to Yahweh upon the rock – a type of Golgotha -, the Flame went up from off the altar towards heaven, and the Angel of Yahweh ascended in the Flame of the altar. So also when we lay ourselves upon the altar of His Cross, according to Romans 12:1-2, in infinite thankfulness to God for His sacrifice for us by which we are sanctified, – then the Flame of the Holy Spirit ascends from the altar and devours our sacrifice in His Name. For we have nothing that can please God, it is entirely because of the holy Blood and merits of Jesus Christ alone that we dare approach God; and in the Name of His beloved, only Son God accepts us with rejoicing, and we are baptized in His holy Fire. Therefore, lay yourself completely, 100 % upon the altar of God again because of His love, and He will change you completely into His own divine nature and reveal Himself in you. Page 1

As you have now been raised with our Lord Jesus Christ, fix your

mind on the things that are above, looking steadfastly upon the little slain Lamb at the right hand of the Father (Revelation 5:6). He has seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God which are sent into all the earth. And when you look upon Jesus Christ alone, He guides and counsels you with His eyes upon you (Psalm 32:8), and you will know Him by His new Name Yoets which means “Counsellor,” but it also has another glorious meaning which we shall consider in a moment. He guides you with His eyes which is the Holy Spirit, and gives you His heavenly wisdom and mind. But before anyone has seen Him as Wonderful upon the Cross, he cannot know Him as Counsellor. This is the guidance of the Holy Spirit who turns our eyes upon Jesus only and then leads us in the very footsteps of the Lamb. If you have a question about what way God will lead you, be still and consider Jesus Christ, asking Him: “What is Your for me? What would You do in this situation?” Then He in His Holy Spirit reveals to you the very footsteps of the Lamb on the earth, and He will kindle a joyful desire in your heart to go this new and living way with Him, and you will bear full fruit in Him. But not before our all is upon His altar, all our own desires and plans, can we see His holy and glorious will.

As we then leave all and walk with Him leaning upon His strong arm alone, we experience Him as “Mighty God,” and He leads us in His triumph, the triumph of His Cross. The Hebrew Name is “Strong El,” and El, which is the Name of God, itself means “strength” as our Lord Jesus testified before the Jews (Matthew 26:64), so “Strong El” is the highest potency of His power. When you lean upon His mighty arm, all things are possible to you through Him who strengths you. No one can resist you, nor overcome you as long as you look up to Him and follow Him in perfect obedience trusting in Him. All your prayers are heard and answered according to His perfect will as you submit yourself to Him, doing not your will, but his good and wise will, who loves you so.

Thus He leads you to His Father, and as such you experience Him as “Father of Eternity”; because God reveals Himself in all His love and glory in His only-begotten Son. Now God is all in you, and you are hidden with Christ in God like the staff of Aaron was hidden in the Ark of the Testimony under the Mercy Seat sprinkled with Blood. Now you worship and bless and love Him with all your heart and soul and strength in the Name of His beloved Son. For according to His own good will He has chosen us for sonship in His only-begotten Son: to be the praise of the glory of His grace. This eternal aim for God’s wonderful redemption work is emphasized three times in Ephesians 1. We are for God’s glory and praise forever, and our highest ministry is to love and glorify our Father in heaven and to anoint our Bridegroom with His precious spikenard from the broken alabaster flask of our heart. Love Him all the day singing His praise and doing all things to Him in thankfulness for His infinite gift. The angels will surround you with praises on every step.

It is not very difficult to sing when the sun is shining and you are happy, but who can thank God in the hour of adversity? Look at the Son of God in the hardest hour of suffering, when His Father had hid His face from Him and the curse of our sins was laid upon Him! The sun was darkened, and in greatest agony Jesus cried: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Then it is so infinitely great, what we read in Psalm Page 2

22:1, 3, that just after this cry, our Lord praised His Father on the Cross, saying, “And Thou art holy, Thou that thronest upon the praises of Israel!” The Son of God overcame upon the Cross by praising His Father, and also we are melted in His Fire and tested in the furnace like gold that we amy learn to love and trust God even when we do not see His face, nor understand His ways with us. This is the triumph of the Cross.

Remember the Jews who were burned alive as living torches in Caesar Nero’ s garden: they recited the Shema Israel Deuteronomy 6:4-5. They worshipped God and died, like the most beautiful flowers gather all their strength to glorify their Creator, – and bow their heads and die. “Precious in the sight of Yahweh is the death (of the Cross) for His saints.” Psalm 116:15.

Now the bride Jesus has disappeared in the Holy of Holies worshipping God and adoring her Lamb. Here she receives a new revelation of the glory of Christ; she sees Him as the “Prince of Peace”, the King of the Jews who was hanged on the Cross with outstretched arms to gather all the scattered children of God into one in Himself. A deep holy love and burden for her Brethren fills her heart, and she goes out to seek her Brethren like Joseph the Dreamer. She shares with them her heavenly vision. She lifts up the bloody banner of Jesus Christ proclaiming Him alone as King, and she blows in the trumpet calling all her dear Brethren into perfect obedience and faithfulness to Jesus Christ and to become reconciled one with another at His feet. For we are all members of His one body, and Jesus Christ alone is our divine Head. When Christians love one another, the world will believe in Jesus Christ, and the Kingdom of God will come. What an immense responsibility we bear!! And Christ is coming so soon, let us diligently prepare and go out to meet Him! But certain church leaders, who love themselves and their position more than the glory of Christ, consider this unselfish testimony of Jesus’ bride to be very dangerous, yea even hurtful to their own particular denomination and traditions, and since she does not fight for their organization they are against her and put her under the ban. She is like a little gypsy having no home in this world. With tears she admonishes her Brethren to be reconciled, but the wolves in sheep’s clothing, who sow discord among Brethren, attack her and gash her with scorpions of their tongues and condemn her and pull her out to be crucified. But she is all prayer to God for grace and forgiveness for them, and hanging there with outstretched arms in love she gives up her spirit in His nail-pierced hands. Great deep red drops of blood drip down, – and the eyes of her Brethren are opened and they weep bitterly; they repent and are reconciled.

As she was united with Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings on the Cross, thus she shall sit with Him in His throne and be glorified during infinite ages. She shall reign with Christ over all the earth, and all nations will worship and adore the Lamb for His chaste and virtuous bride, because she faithfully followed the Lamb wheresoever He goes. So put your feet into His bloody footsteps and trust and praise Him! Just lean on His mighty arm!

Here is another revelation of His wonderful Name. His second Name Yoets can also mean “Yahweh is the Cross.” Yo is an abbreviation of Yahweh, and this we find in many Hebrew names as Jonathan “Yahweh has given,” Joshaphat “Yahweh has judge,” Joshua “Yahweh is salvation,” Joel “Yahweh is El,” etc., etc. And ets is the Hebrew word for “a tree, Page 3

wood,” and thus the Cross is often called in the Hebrew Bible, e.g. “a curse is he that is hanged upon a tree” Deuteronomy 21:22-23. See also Genesis 22:6,9; I Peter 2:24; and the following passages:

In II Kings 6:1-7 we have the account of how the sons of the prophets went to the river Jordan (the river of the Lamb) to build a house there. And as one of them was felling a beam, the axe of iron fell into the deep water; and he cried, “Alas, Master, and it was borrow!” Then Elisha, the man of God, cut down a stick (lit. “wood” ets), and cast it on the water at the very place where the iron had fallen, and made the iron to swim, and so the lost was restored. Thus by the wood = the Cross the natural laws of this world are annulled by the spiritual power, the law of gravity is overcome by the power of His resurrection. Let us also learn to apply the Cross to every problem, or handicap, or loss in our lives, and then the handicap is changed into Christ’s glorious victory. Let us praise God for the Cross!

Iron symbolizes strength, and we do not overcome by our own strength, but by the Spirit and the Blood of Jesus alone. As the iron was swimming upon the water, thus by the Cross of Christ we are now changed into His divine nature and shall very soon be caught up to heaven. For if we bear the cross, the cross will lift us on mighty wings up to God.

Just after the glorious salvation of God through the Red Sea, where the children of Israel had sung the song of victory, the Israelites came into the dry desert and became very thirsty (Exodus 15:22-27). Then they discovered a certain pool and hoped for water to drink, – but it was bitter and poisonous, and the people murmured against Moses. But Moses, in the wisdom of God, took wood (ets) and cast it into the waters, and the waters became sweet and healthy. There Yahweh revealed Himself as “I am Yahweh who healeth thee” when we obey His word. And immediately the children of Israel came to Elim with its twelve springs of water (cf. Revelation 7:17) and seventy palm trees of victory. Thus the Lamb heals us by His Cross and the stripes on His back, when we listen to His voice.

Again one day, in a time of great famine, the hungry sons of the prophets were just about to eat a pottage, made of wild herbs which they had gathered, when one of them suddenly cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” because of unknown poisonous herbs, II Kings 4:38-41. But Elisha took flour and put it into the pot, and now the pottage was perfectly healthy. Now this fine flour which made the poisoned pottage healthy is the mind of the Lamb which you read about in Philippians 2:1-8 and Colossians 3;12-15; may we learn to thank God in all things for the Cross!

Let us glory in the Cross and remember to praise Him for His holy Blood always in the face of every danger and temptation! This is the secret, all-powerful weapon of the Christian, and wherever the victory of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, Satan is defeated. Christian, remember to sing the Song of the Cross!

When I came to an Iron Curtain border this spring, the custom officials searched all my luggage with utmost care, – and found all the Holy Bibles! One of them said, “They must be burned!” but I exclaimed, “O, don’t burn the Holy Word of God!” They were going to telegraph to all border stations, and the situation looked hopeless. Then God reminded me of my secret weapon, and I began to praise Him in my heart singing the Page 4

Song of the Cross. Immediately all the legions of darkness were dispelled, I got hold of the Holy Bibles again and gave them carefully to those who thirst for them and they wept with joy. The praise of God is a two-edge sword which binds all spiritual principalities with fetters. Psalm 1449:5-9.

Another day all the Christian young people were worshipping God on a green hill in a forest. Suddenly the sky turned black, and a mighty rain poured down and we became wet to the skin. As we were leaving the place, some of the Christians came running back telling us, “The tigers are coming!” We just looked up to God thanking Him for sending the rain. Then God showed us a narrow path by which we ran down the hill and into the city where we had another wonderful meeting until midnight. And before the sun rose we had left the city on our way up into the high mountains on a raid for Jesus Christ. When the tigers came that same morning to catch us, – we were gone.

The Son of Man had no place to rest His head, and how wonderful it is to be with Him. After the nightly meetings we crawled up on the mountain slopes and slept wonderfully under sheepskins and an umbrella, and we rejoiced as during the feast of tabernacles – so near our Father in heaven, with all the stars winking at us.

The other wonderful events I will leave until I meet you personally. Everywhere the saints rejoiced and charged me to greet you, thanking you warmly. Every hour we had to be watchful and alert cleaving to the secret weapon of victory, praising God for His triumphant Cross. A kiss of love from your brother in the Blood of Jesus,

Ulf Oldenburg

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