“A Voice for the Gathering Saints”
Duane Stewart

“The Voice of God”

The trumpets of God are blowing, with a distinct sound that is calling forth an order of people into His presence. God’s purpose is to join up the host of heaven with those on the earth, that in unity, the kingdom of God shall be established. From the Holy Scriptures, in the Book of Revelation, God reveals some events in the form of seals, trumpets and bowls of wrath, which are used by God to symbolize the opening up of the mysteries of God which are now coming to the time of their complete fulfillment. Even now, the mystery of the sacrifice of the man’s soul is being completed, wherein the nature of God shall manifest itself through a remnant first-fruits company of people, for the entire world to behold. Heb. 8:7-10 declares clearly of a new covenant becoming God’s avenue in the fulfilling of this purpose even from the beginning. “For if that first covenant had been faultless, and then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel (whose house we are) and with the house of Judah (sacrificial praise bringing forth a new sound). Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers (our faithful church fathers) in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt (dark narrow place – flesh man); because they did not continue in My covenant (added deceitful doctrines and traditions, rituals), and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts (putting His nature into our souls); and I will be their God, and they shall be My people (God resident within man)”.

When speaking of the soul of man, lets remember, when God breathed into the dust of the earth man, man became a “living soul”. As a “living soul”, man was alive unto God, with the authority to take dominion over all of God’s creation. Man’s purpose was not only to take dominion, but with God’s blessings, man, male and female, was given the right to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. Gen. 1:28, “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth”. This is speaking, that man, as a “living soul”, was placed above every other order of life under God, for the purpose of filling God’s creation with seed after its own kind, filling the earth with “living souls”. Herein, we are made aware of a relationship between the man (male and female) wherein they walked with God in the cool of the day, a relationship without reservation because they were covered by the radiant light that emanated from within, the “living soul”. As a “living soul”, God’s light and life, from within, covered the outer dust of the earth body, wherein they could stand in God’s holy presence. This type of relationship is indicated as it was God’s custom to walk with them among the beauty of the realm of God called Eden. Note, first of all, Adam and Eve’s realm of life. Gen. 2:25, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed”. Is this not pointing to purity of relationship, not only between man and wife, but a high degree of holiness between God and His creation?

But, as mankind is well aware, something happens to bring change, as temptation came, Eve was deceived and she yielded to the sin of disobedience, which Adam then willingly partook of, and something was lost. As was His custom, God approached them, desiring their company, as was His purpose for the making of man, to only find them hiding from Him. In this account, we must recognize the condition of mankind today; losing their covering, man in this fallen condition continues to hide from God’s presence. Gen. 3:7-11 states, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings (this man continues to do today). And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool (spirit) of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves (mankind continues this activity today also) from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, where are you? So he said I heard your voice in the garden (realm of God-life), and I was afraid because I was naked; and hid myself. And He said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Is this not the position of most of mankind today, the need to always hide themselves from the manifest presence of the Lord God?

A generational curse is past down from generation to generation, with them living outside the realm of the available God-life, to fearfully know their own nakedness, but, always trying to find a man-made covering to hide behind. Is it not stated from scripture, that man, in a state of nakedness and desiring to hide, will not be able to. Is it not a fact that a trumpet is now blowing in our day, as the voice of God comes forth, searching for the height of His creation? As this trumpet blows, the season that is upon us is a season of judgment which means an uncovering. Isa. 47:3, “Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not arbitrate with a man”. Could this lack of arbitration be speaking of that portion of humankind which has not come into God’s new Covenant? That is, not becoming God’s remnant of people who are changed from the old Adam nature to the nature of God.

This brings us to our time and season in God. Are we not a people who are living in the “last” of the “last days”? Have not the seals of God’s mysteries been opened through the seasons, from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, until now. Are we not knowing and experiencing the opening of that fifth seal which depicts the changing of the soul from the old covenant to God’s new covenant? With the “fullness of times” being upon us, what the prophets of today are calling a shifting, is taking place. The new covenant must now be fulfilled, no longer a fallen soul, but again, a “living soul” moving into God’s holy presence, maintaining that renewed relationship with Him. Note the opening of the fifth seal as portrayed in the Book of Revelation. Rev. 6:9-11, “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed”. With this fifth seal being symbolized by the “altar of incense”, that piece of furniture resting in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, we should pay special attention as to what happens to this altar on the “Day of Atonement”. Are we not entering into that day now? If so, the altar is moving as it leaves behind the realm of the Holy Place to enter into the part of the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies? Herein, a new dimension, a new order, a new realm of life, a manifesting of a new covenant. Are we not God’s Temple, His Tabernacle, the place of His abiding?

How does all this shifting apply to the church of today? Is this something that should catch our attention, our concern, or should we just remain and continue to maintain our security as represented by the Holy Place? Let’s consider a word from Isaiah, which very much applies to the trumpet sound that is echoing across the earth today. Isa. 60:1-2, “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you”. Can we not hear the sound of this trumpet? Even as God called to Adam and Eve in the garden that day, is He not calling out again? How is the church, in general, responding? Hear the voice of the Lord as He speaks of these days that are coming and even now are upon us. Rev. 16:15, “Behold, I am coming as a thief (when least expected), blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame”. Remember, at the opening of the fifth seal, souls were crying out to God wherein God releases to them “white robes”. These “white robes” are received as a covering that is the results of the change that has taken place within the soul. No longer, a fallen cursed soul of darkness that is naked, but one that is now alive as the results of God’s New Covenant, a covenant that writes the nature of God upon the soul of man, a new nature overshadowing the body of man.

Just what is the soul? It is made up of four parts that express and manifest the nature that comes from within. These four parts are man’s mind, man’s will, man’s emotions and man’s desires. These areas of man’s makeup, when darkened by the curse, removes from man the outshining light of God’s glory from within. The removing of this light covering causes man to now stand naked. But, by again becoming a “living soul”, man once again knows the covering of God’s glory to manifest the intended nature of God. Our calling, as God’s creation, is to become the first-fruit sons of God that establish God’s kingdom on the earth.

Thus, as a church that is called to become the light of the world, how do we, individually and collectively, re-act because of the blowing of this trumpet, the voice of God that is walking in the realm of the garden? Note, that Adam and Eve, who made coverings for themselves prior to God approaching them, still, hid themselves from God. Why? Because they knew they were still naked before God. With God’s trumpet blowing today and the altar of incense representing the sacrificed soul moving into the presence of God, the shifting that is taking place, where do you stand? What kind of covering have you made for yourself, individually and collectively, as God’s representative church? Remember, at the releasing of God’s new covenant, the old covenant became obsolete and is passing away. Does this not mean, that the man-made coverings, passed down though the decades of time, maintaining the form of ritualistic doctrines and traditions, have become obsolete, to pass away as God’s first-fruits began to be revealed and manifest God’s nature? In this, mankind and much of the church stand naked before God. They are hiding themselves among the trees of fallen man’s mind-sets, socially, educationally, politically, economically and religiously. Man, hiding from God, not desiring His presence, therefore passing and agreeing with the laws that are purposed to remove God from society and kill the spirit of God in the form of religion.

But, remember, God declares, your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. HOW? By the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ, the lamb, on the outer court altar of sacrifice, the cross of Golgotha’s hill, the price for the new covenant has been paid. The High Priest, Jesus Christ has also taken some of his blood into the Holy Place and sprinkled it upon the Altar of Incense. With the Day of Atonement coming upon us now, this same altar is now moving into the Holy of Holies to stand in God’s presence. This altar is a type of the ultimate sacrifice of man’s soul, and an offering of worship and praise, before God. A dieing to the old man is completed that a new man might now live in the presence of God. Therefore, man’s soul, comes alive again, to become a “living soul” which is the results of God’s new covenant, that which becomes God’s nature written within. Now a new covenant man, herein, is manifesting the covering of God, from within the man, the soul, and standing before God in the Holiest of all. Friends, this is now God’s day, the day of the Lord. How are you going to re-act at the coming of God’s presence? Shall we hide ourselves to remain naked, or shall we be clothed upon by the covering that comes forth from the nature of God being written within the soul of man. We can become a people who are not any longer under outer laws and rituals, but a people who hear God’s voice and obey because it becomes our nature. This is the time of God’s first-fruits. A time of His appearance is now upon us, therefore arise, and shine, for your light has come. Isa. 60:3, “The Gentiles (nations) shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of you rising”. The trumpet is sounding; can you not hear his voice and are you willing to stand before Him?