Our death to the world, to sin, and to self-will, is in accordance with the four faces of the cherubim.

We die first to the "lion," to the part of us that strives for security and mastery in the world. The young lions suffer hunger until they catch the prey. Jesus was tested with the invitation to use His Divine faith to make bread.

Next we die to the "ox." The ox is the servant. Mankind bears the load of sin. Christ has come so we may be free to choose to serve righteousness, to bear the yoke of the Lord. Jesus was tested with the invitation to worship Satan. He was offered the opportunity to govern, through Satan, the kingdoms of the world. But no man ever governs sin. He who commits sin always is the slave of sin.

Then we die to the "eagle." The eagle represents our will to fly through the universe of God in the pursuit of our destiny. Jesus was invited to "fly" from the top of the Temple of Herod. It is only as we accept God's creation, as we enter His rest, that we are saved from the curse of striving to manage our own destiny in the Kingdom.

Finally we die to the "man." All of that which is essentially true of our personality is brought down to death. Then we can be given the face of a true man, the eternal man that God has had in mind from the beginning.

We become a man, a son of God. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and God shall be his God, and he shall be God's son. The Christian redemption and discipleship bring us to what God means by "man." It is man who has been given rulership over all the works of God's hands (Hebrews, Chapter Two).

The descendants of Adam are not "man" according to the way in which God intends that the term be defined eventually. The only true Man who has ever appeared on the earth is Jesus. We are being made in His image, thus becoming "man."

The brothers of the Lord Jesus are the ones who will be raised in the first resurrection. They are God's trees of righteousness. They are God's trees of life. They are witnesses, judges, kings, deliverers, and priests of God and His Christ. They are the pillars of the Temple of God, the firstfruits of the new Jerusalem.

There is another judgment as we enter the fourth level of life—the waters to swim in (verse five). This judgment is not a death to the world, or to sin, or to self-seeking. Rather, it is an evaluation of our willingness to set aside all else that we may gain Christ. Paul had left all that He might receive Christ to the fullest extent.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (Philippians 3:8)

The fourth judgment is a step past the redemption of our personality into a willingness to set aside all else that we might be an integral part of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To be continued.