The Message We Heard

Hebrews 4:1-3 (ESV Strong's)

1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

One aspect of fearing the Lord is the fear of not reaching Him. Once we see the light and blessings that lie ahead, we should be eager and intent on making that journey. The Holy Spirit will lead the way, just as Christ has shown us the way. Both are sent to us to bring us to the Father. 

The experience of the Israelites in the wilderness serves as example that faith is needed to complete the journey. Beginning the journey is an awesome and wonderful thing. Finishing the journey is the awesome and wonderful thing that is beyond our imagination. 

The key to our salvation is faith. It is placing our faith in Christ and keeping that faith. It was predetermined before the foundation of the world that we would come to Him by having faith in His power and grace. That we would choose Him. 

Jewfish Rapture

Ezekiel 37:11-14 (NIV)

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord. ’”

This passage speaks of what might be seen as the “rapture” of all of Israel. The Lord will “open your graves and bring you up from them;”. They will receive “my Spirit in you” and “settle you in your own land.” Their journey through the wilderness to the promised land will be fully accomplished at last. 

Then they will know even as they are known. 

Where Have You Been?

If you’ve seen the light, you’ve been with Jesus. 

The Seven Lamps

Numbers 8:1-4 (ESV Strong's)

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.” 3 And Aaron did so: he set up its lamps in front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. 4 And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

The seven churches in Revelation represent the lamps that gave light outside the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. Their light illuminates the way of the Lord. 

The Lord gave Moses the pattern for the lampstand and Jesus tells the churches in. Revelation the pattern of life He expects from the living lampstands. The tabernacle was a physical manifestation of the word of God and things to come. 

Transforming

Romans 12:2 (ESV Strong's)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We do not conform to the pattern of this world by transforming into the image of God, replacing our nature with His, and yielding to Him.

Consigned All To Disobedience

Romans 11:32-33 (ESV Strong's)

32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Why did God place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden? For mercy’s sake. Verse 33 tells us that His judgments and ways are beyond our understanding, but consider this. Disobedience brings the need for God’s mercy for mankind to be forgiven. Mercy is a choice of the one asking and for the other to grant. Both choose each other in the seeking and giving. The door to that bridge over troubled waters is the cross of Christ. It is open to all who would come. 

Renewal Of Your Mind

Romans 12:2 (ESV Strong's)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We are what we think. Transform your mind and conform to the reality of God. Be made in the image of God who is Spirit. 

At And On His Cross

One can agree with Christ and believe in Him. This describes the body of Christ. We meet Him face to face at and on His cross. It is here we begin to know Him and become one. This describes the Bride of Christ. 

In doing so, we leave the kingdom of the world behind and begin walking in the kingdom of heaven. He is with us and we with Him. We will inherit where we walk, like Abraham walking the length and breadth of the promised land. 

To Be With Him

We meet Jesus at the cross we share. We must climb up with Him to be with Him. In doing so, we leave the kingdom of the world behind and begin walking in the kingdom of heaven. He is with us and we with Him. We will inherit where we walk. Come and see where He’s staying. 

The Work Of God

John 6:29 (ESV Strong's)

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

God is doing a work in us, a new and marvelous thing. Our necessary work is to believe. To persevere is something we do. The work of God requires our agreement and action. 

Has Prepared

1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV Strong's)

But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

Jesus is preparing us to receive what God has prepared “for those who love Him.” This is the work of the Holy Spirit, a renovation that will transform us into the image of Christ. Then we will see and hear the heartbeat of God. We just need to follow the leading of the Spirit to get there. 

Everyone

Romans 10:13 (ESV Strong's)

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

While everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, not everyone will be ready for the wedding when the bridegroom comes. Consider the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. 

Eve was fashioned from a bone on the side of Adam. The Bride of Christ will also be taken from a small part of the body of Christ. 

People Of The Earth

Numbers 1:47-49 (ESV Strong's)

47 But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. 48 For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 49 “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel.

Those in the body of Christ are not counted among the people of the earth, for they are holy unto the Lord. They are a royal priesthood who have become the living tabernacle of our God. 

You Have Healed Me

Psalms 30:2-3 (ESV Strong's)

2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,

and you have healed me.

3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;

you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

The Lord heals us with life. We walk among the dead until we walk with the Lord. 

The Walk

Walking with Jesus is transforming into His image. We are saved from the curse of the old man for the becoming of a new creation of God. He is our beginning and our end. 

The Living Creatures

Numbers 2:1-2 (ESV Strong's)

1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers' houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side.

The four camps of the Israelites around the tabernacle correspond to the four living creatures under the throne of God in heaven. They will likewise surround the throne of David when Christ assumes His throne on earth. 

Among The People

Numbers 1:47-49 (ESV Strong's)

47 But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. 48 For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 49 “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel.

Those in the body of Christ are not counted among the people of the earth, for they are holy unto the Lord. They are a royal priesthood who have become the living tabernacle of our God. 

Shall Be Holy

Leviticus 27:9-10 (ESV Strong's)

9 “If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. 10 He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy.

If we vow, or confess, and give ourselves to the Lord, we are holy to the Lord. 

Jesus has substituted His life for ours, and we are both holy. We are to act and live like it. 

All He Had

Matthew 13:45-46 (ESV Strong's)

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

To access the kingdom of heaven we must trade our current life for the life of God. In John’s vision of the New Jerusalem he sees the gates of that city as being made of a single pearl. It is there we will find the riches of heaven and the meaning of life. 

We enter the city of God through pearly gates of our faith in Christ Jesus. It costs nothing, yet it costs our most valuable possession, our lives. 

The Lampstands Of God

Leviticus 24:1-4 (ESV Strong's)

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall arrange the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord regularly.

The lamp in the tabernacle corresponds to the lampstands in Revelation. The oil for the lampstands In Revelation is the Holy Spirit who feeds the light burning in the children of God. 

We shine as the light of the world outside the veil of the Holy of Holies. We are in the world, but not of the world. 

The Ancient Paths

Jeremiah 6:16 (ESV Strong's)

Thus says the Lord:

“Stand by the roads, and look,

and ask for the ancient paths,

where the good way is; and walk in it,

and find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Jesus has made the way, but we must take it to find God. 

God Has Prepared

1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV Strong's)

But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

Jesus is preparing us to receive what God has prepared “for those who love Him.” This is the work of the Holy Spirit, a renovation that will transform us into the image of Christ. Then we will see and hear the heartbeat of God. We just need to follow the leading of the Spirit to get there. 

The Work Of God

John 6:29 (ESV Strong's)

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

God is doing a work in us, a new and marvelous thing. Our necessary work is to believe. To persevere is to be made in His image. The work of God requires our agreement and action. 

Take My Yoke

Matthew 11:28-29 (ESV Strong's)

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Rest in Jesus does not mean sitting down. It means replacing our works of a self righteous life that leads to death with the works of Christ that lead to life. We trade one yoke for the other. We just head in different directions. It’s good for the soul. 

The Gravity Of The Natural

No matter how bright or clever someone is, they will never experience the Truth of God unless they encounter His Holy Spirit. They will be bound by the gravity of the natural. 

Leading To Sanctification

Romans 6:19 (ESV Strong's)

I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

We have been washed clean of sin by the waters of our baptism in the death of Christ. We now are immersed in the righteousness of Christ that leads to the perfection of a pure life. This is the sanctification into the eternal life of God. 

In Your Inner Being

Ephesians 3:14-21 (ESV Strong's)

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

There is someone who has entered our inner being to join with us individually inside the world of who we are. The light has entered the darkness within us and is at work to reveal that which is hidden by the darkness and bring us into the life of Christ. 

Adam was placed in the Garden to work the ground and multiply. The ground of our Garden is the love of God in which we are rooted and nourished to grow and be filled with the fullness of God. It is a work of God that coincides with our work in the ground of our earth. We must walk together with Him to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and the limitations of man. 

He will answer the questions we don’t know to ask and bring us to a place we cannot begin to imagine. He is the answer and we will know we are home. What He has begun, He will finish. 

My Statutes

Leviticus 19:19 (ESV Strong's)

“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

Keeping the statutes of God meant they would not marry into the peoples around them, but of only their kind. The seed is the word of God and is not to be mixed with the leaven of the world. The statutes of God would clothe them with the linen of His holiness which were to be then free from the threads of the world. 

Today we call this “putting on Christ.” We are in the world, but not of the world.