Hebrews (Session 14) Kingdom Addendum

okay well we are in session 14 of 16 total session 14 exploring the epistle to the hebrews and last time we were in chapter 12 we will go to the final chapter next week but i thought it would be appropriate of course to backtrack and do some a little ground work here you may recall last time we encountered chapter near the end of chapter 12 verse 22 it says but ye are come unto mount zion and unto the city of the living god the heavenly jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels he's speaking prophetically that's where they're headed but these are three labels for something very special for a city the city isn't the city that's in front of them then it's actually an illusion to the new to jerusalem it's coming and this really is a the author's way of alluding to the messianic kingdom the millennial kingdom as we call it and that's been all through this letter so far the chapter one three times in the first 11 verses of chapter four in chapter six with all its troubled issues that was also mentioned uh it's mentioned three times in chapter 10 and of course comes up here in chapter 12 through 28 um and we encountered last time i thought it would be appropriate for us to try to pull together the illusions that we made along the way and maybe fill in some others so some of this will be review some of this may be new to you the pervasive mention of the city jesus spoke about the city where he is now preparing a place for us paul spoke of the jerusalem of god as being a city that is free and not in bondage in galatians 4. this is the city that abraham sought and that was alluded to in the hall of faith in in hebrews 11. and the writer will mention it again in chapter 13. so i wanted us to focus on this idiomatic use of jerusalem in a very special way john describes the city as the abode of all the redeemed for all time uh who enter it by the resurrection at the rapture or translation if you will in the to the general assembly and church of the firstborn the writer uses that very interesting phrase here which are written in heaven and to the to god the judge of all to the spirits of the just men made perfect this is a review from last time the general assembly the term in the greek actually implies a festive gathering church of the firstborn strange phrase to use this is an illusion he's writing let's let's remember something else very fundamental to understand this letter this letter he's writing to jewish christians these are not jewish unbelievers these are jews that are justified by the blood of christ but that are stymied in their spiritual growth and his whole passion from the first verse to the last verse is for them to move on to spiritual maturity but he sees speaking of them as the the church or the assembly of the firstborn that's is he's just he's using the phrase the same way james does in terms of jews being the first fruits and uh the and to the spirits of just men it's interesting he calls them spirits why because they're not the ones that have passed on are not yet united with their bodies they're in the bosom of abraham and because the resurrection of the old testament saints has not yet taken place in fact most scholars believe that the resurrection of the old testament saints isn't until the second coming in contrast to those that are dead in christ that raptured at least seven years maybe more prior to that point so there's those subtleties are included in the the the subtleties of the language here and it should be notice noted then that the author here is making a clear distinction between the old testament saints and the church saints in these illusions wherefore we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve god acceptably and with reverence and godly fear and this going into the fifth of the five warnings wherefore we see he the writer is putting himself in the same category as his readers wherefore we so if the writer is indeed paul as we believe it is um he's he's putting himself in the same categorization as his listeners receive a king which cannot be moved let us have grace and so forth the millennial messianic kingdom will give way and usher in a new order and that's what we want to talk a little bit about tonight let us have grace and again he always hammers grace did you realize that paul's the only writer that does and we'll talk about that especially next time five major warnings we've gone through and i'm not going to repeat the details here other than just the danger of drifting was in chapter two the danger of disobedience in chapter three failing to mature which is the main thrust of the whole uh epistle but in chapter five the dangers of willful sin in a special sense in chapter 10 and then finally just the danger of indifference the danger of indifference in in this fifth warning and the main thrust these five parenthetical warnings are not incidental to the main theme they are the reason for the entire epistle and great paul's paul's passion is that great loss awaits those who fail to persevere loss of their salvation no loss of reward big difference loss of reward and honor in christ's coming kingdom we need to understand the differences the revelation goes and behold i come quickly jesus says hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown what's that all about we want to talk about that tonight a little bit so our agenda is we're going to talk we're going to once again put in focus so there's no misunderstanding the paradigm of salvation past present and future what does it mean we want to touch on eternal security and the difference between justification sanctification inheritance and paul's paranoia we've talked about these things the past but i think it's important to get these in focus before we move into some of the topics tonight and you might call if you want a title for tonight it's thy kingdom come we sip the lord's prayer right thy kingdom come what on earth does that mean we pray that don't we our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come what does that mean is isn't that kingdom come already apparently not what is he talking about and we're going to talk a little bit about the davidic covenant an overlooked covenant by to many everybody knows the abrahamic covenant indeed every one of our benefits can't derive from the abrahamic covenant but the another of the unconditional covenants was the davidic covenant we want to understand that and we'll talk a little bit about the kingdom events and what does it mean to be an overcomer broadmaker is fond of saying i am saved i am being saved and i will be saved what does it mean past tense present tense future tense past tense we call that justification 100 done by jesus christ you can't add to it to try to add to it as blasphemy it's a gift of god of everlasting life received by faith alone in jesus christ that was the banner that led to the reformation that truth is the driving truth for all of us being justified our passport has stamped innocent not guilty we may not have changed yet but if we've accepted christ we are declared guilty we're justified okay the pr that's that's in the past hopefully if anyone hasn't accepted christ i want to talk to you come see me when we're through here now most of us are work in progress we're not god isn't finished with any of us and that's we call that sanctification that's a progressive work that involves faith and the works of the believer we're not saved by those works those works testify to the fact that god is working in us and that we're in a work in progress the future tense is glorification and so that's a result of the previous two steps and all believers will be glorified that's what roman that's the most amazing thing about romans 8 it's usually quoted to to to exemplify justification no it's even even glorification we're we're just destined to be uh to to be receive a resurrection body but not all be equal that's the part we want to get into here past tense justification separate from separation of the penalty of sin you're in christ you have you're no longer declared guilty present tense separation from the power of sin there's no reason for a christian today to sin because he can call upon the holy spirit the unbeliever that's not true he is in bondage to sin but the believer is not he may stumble he may fail to invoke those resources but that's that's what the that's the glorious aspect of the first seven chapters the epistle of romans deals with and the future tends to separate from the very presence of sin and that happens after a thousand years in a special way past tense justification present tense sanctification future tense glorification we generally in this in the institute we have the students avoid using the word salvation because it's ambiguous what do you mean by salvation well i was saved from alcoholism last year or something well that's not what we're talking about here we're talking about sateriological salvation i was saved from a burning building no the salvation we're talking about here is being from the pit of hell so there's the three past pre past present future senses of salvation now why am i getting into that because i want to anchor without getting into a whole lengthy study here the eternal security issue justification is for us sanctification is in us justification declares the sinner righteous sanctification makes the sinner makes the sinner righteous justification removes the guilt and penalty of sin but sanctification removes the growth and power of sin so that's the distinctives there now around this whole area we have several views for 400 years or more there's been a theological war between the calvinists and arminius calvinism is typically typified by the five points of calvinism not all calvinists embrace all five so i won't take the time on that the key one is this whole idea that if you're a true believer you'll persevere to the end and perseverance thus becomes the test of reality that's why sometimes a theologian will call this viewpoint experimental predestination yes you're predestinated how do you tell if you've been predestinated well you wait to get to the end if you've persevered then you're predestinated well that doesn't give you assurance does it so that's it fails in a sense this effectively denies the assurance of salvation because proof is always in the future and so it's not very it's not satisfactory from that point of view the armenian goes the other way around he says justification can be lost because these believers are in danger of losing their salvation as a result of sinful behavior that's their approach and so they believe that the believers eternal security rests in christ's work indeed and the individual the individual's decision to continue in faith and not fall away so to the armenian you can lose your justification works play a key role in retaining salvation that means suddenly your eternal destiny derives from your your works your perseverance and uh now there are these are both strangely similar both views acknowledge that christ's completed work is absolutely essential both acknowledge the importance of works in the life of the believer both so they both are correct in what they assert they're both wrong and what they deny although the direct opposition between these two views has endured for between four and five i guess 500 years but they both are very close to the roman catholic view is that that emphasizes works as the basis as salvation now so you've got the calvinism eternal security but conditioned upon completing now the preserve perseverance is saying and and this would be classified as the experimental predestinations yes you're predestinated but you can't tell until you get there okay armenia only those that persevere to the end are safe these two views are what populate most theological libraries supporting one or the other there is a view between these two that is has been widely overlooked by many authors and that is the whole view of what we'll call the partakers or the overcomers this view emphasizes eternal security in the sense of justification because your security in christ is entirely in his hands in his father's hands but there is a distinction drawn by this this view between entering heaven and inheriting entering and here and in other words the variation of rewards and we're going to focus on that a little bit tonight and just that we could spend the whole evening pulling out verses that support the eternal security issue i'm going to just pick one pair in john chapter 10 verse 28 and 29 jesus says i give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand that's quite a statement if you've accepted christ you are now his responsibility is what he's saying he goes on this is my father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand as you read john 10 you may miss the fact there are two hands involved i usually like to gesture this way can i get out if i tried my answer is i don't think so and i'm going to paraphrase walter martin's quip that if if you can lose your salvation i have a new name for god butterfingers that's perhaps a little irreverent way of expressing it but it makes the point if you have accepted christ you are now his responsibility he's able to brag to his father in john 17 of all that you've given me i have lost none he makes the footnote exception of judas of course he uh in fact he in that in that famous prayer in john 17 he hands that responsibility to the father so that's gives that gives rise to this view so we're talking about justification salvation here if you have accepted christ you are secure because of what he did 100 you can't add to what he did but paul just to take another verse with from a different point of view makes a very strange statement he makes many statements like this i've just picked one of a series but let's which is paul says but i keep my under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when i have preached others i myself should be a castaway strange phrase here's paul he wrote 14 of the books of the new testament he he wrote the book on eternal security called romans 8 and others what's he afraid of losing his salvation no no but lest by any means when i preach to others i myself should be a castaway we need to understand what he's talking about here because it affects every one of us while on the one hand we can be secure in christ in terms of being assured of entering heaven there is a inheritance that god has set aside for us that we can forfeit if we are not faithful and we cl categorize all that into a topic of rewards back in hebrews chapter 3 you may recall a very key verse says for we are made partakers of christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end for we are made partakers this is this is a very key word it's the metacoi in the in the greek the one who shares in more than just a companion he's a comrade a partner in a work officer dignity a medicoy are we medicoy if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end there is an essential aspect of perseverance to the end in other words what this is saying that our behavior matters our behavior prior to being saved does not that's been paid for stamped done but from that point on we start a report card and as a key word here if if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end that's the name of the game that's what we're going to call here shortly being an overcomer not being overtaken i want to talk about entering versus inheriting if i invite you into my home that allows you to enter my house it doesn't allow you to rearrange the furniture when when dan and i arrive in florida tomorrow we'll sign in in a hotel that gives us a room and access place to use a place to be great we do i don't think we inherit the hotel unless we're paris hilton or something right entering and inheriting are not the same thing entering heaven and inheriting what's there for you are two different things and so this summarizes that inheritance privileges will be widely variable every one of us in this room that have accepted christ we will be together in heaven but once we're there we may discover a surprising divergence of benefits while we're there based on our walk and so that's what we want to talk about a little bit we pray in the lord's prayer thy kingdom come thy will be done earth is in heaven there's nothing by the way more certain than this but what does it mean what on earth is this kingdom is talking about here that leads me to another set of terms that i'm going to badger a little bit because i think it's it's i have to tell you through most of my ministry i have accepted the presumption of most commentators that there are two terms that are equivalent and i'm reminded of a situation in optics those of you that have had any interest in astronomy know what i'm talking about when i say talk about resolving power you get a cheap telescope and look to the star and you see a star but you spend a lot of money and get a really good telescope expensive telescope and you look at that same star and you discover it's a double star the ability of the optics to resolve two things more clearly is called resolving power it actually follows a mathematical formula it's a measure of quality of optics called the resolving power the same thing is true in language and there are two terms that most people think are synonyms and that's the kingdom of god in the kingdom of heaven and you'll find most commentators assume that the writers of the gospels use are referring to the same thing and i thought i accepted that for many many years but suspiciously and i i'm now come to the conclusion for a variety of reasons that these are not the same thing the kingdom of god of course is everything that's outside god himself that creation precedes the earth the universe within that category is a subset called the kingdom of heaven there are 739 references new testament to heaven only matthew uses the term kingdom of heaven he does it 33 times and most commentators well he was jewish that was just his choice it was just a linguistic choice and i've learned over my 60 years of study that i every time and all through those 60 years i've come across things that i had to change my view had a i learned a little more and made it a little more every time i've had to change my view it's always been in the direction of being more specific more literal than before some say well that's just well matthew just used that term no five times matthews is the term kingdom of god there's one place where he uses it adjacent to each other and some people use that art well it proves their synonyms no it doesn't proves the opposite he is being more denotative than his forebears because matthew uses kingdom of heaven mark luke and john for many similar incidents use kingdom of god that doesn't exclude the kingdom of heaven but but matthew by being more precise is highlighting something more specific he uses the term kingdom seven times and his and father's thy kingdom uh five additional times so matthew's kingdom of heaven he's emphasizing that and one of the things that we're called to do is rightly divide the word of truth well kingdom of god what are we talking about that's beyond visibility it includes angels long before the earth was created chairman and so forth it began prior to the earth it's inclusive of everything god has created plus some kingdom of heaven is a little different turns out it's physical it has locality in fact we do well to note the difference between in in both hebrew and german the word of and the word from is the same word if i'm phone habsburg that means i'm from hartsburg or i'm of hapsburg this is the kingdom from heaven and so could and and would probably be helpful if that's the way it was translated in case it's physical it has locality it involves mankind only it is a political institution we'll see that in daniel chapter 2. it has a capital it's called jerusalem it has a palace we're going to look at the floor plan of that palace it was usurped it's destined to be regained according to matthew 11. back in daniel chapter 2 you may recall that's a chapter where daniel is interpreting the strange dream of nebuchadnezzar which turns out to be a metal image that represents all the different kingdoms forthcoming on the planet earth and daniel not only recounts that dream he explains what it means daniel chapter 2. by time you get to verse 44 we discover that these four main kingdoms gold silver bronze iron iron mixed with clay that these are all going to be replaced by a new kingdom in the days of these kings shall the god of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever clearly daniel understood and his listeners understood that was a kingdom like the predecessors babylon budo persia greece rome these are kingdoms god's going to set up his that's going to replace all those right okay this whole saga as i was trying to figure out how do i summarize this in just one session it's really a study that that could take many sessions psalm 2 is one of my favorite psalms it describes a cosmic war and it lays out the whole story so we're gonna just explore briefly psalm chapter psalm two there are four speakers there's the voice of the nations in the first three verses the voice of the god the father in the next three verses the voice of the son in the next three verses and then the voice of the holy spirit in the next three verses kind of interesting this is actually you you talk about the trinity here is you're going to eavesdrop a conversation among the trinity interesting and we learn a lot from this why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed oh that's interesting saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us you know even as a kid when i read this the audacity of this i can understand the world not believing in god i can understand the world doing all kinds of things to offend god i could not imagine the world taking up arms against god we're going to break their bands of sunderer and cast away the yeah right so the first thing here is rage and vain imaginations against the lord as you know that's step one when did that start well it dramatically started when they rejected the child in the manger that became the presentation of the messiah that's reinforced from acts 4. acts 4 24 when they heard that they lifted up their voice to god with one accord they said lord thou art god which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant david has said why did the heaven rage and the people imagine it's quoting david in psalm 2 right here the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the lord and against his christ for the truth against the holy child jesus whom thou has anointed both herod pontius pilate with the gent with the gentiles and the people of israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done the rejection of course of christ okay so we've looked at the first three verses let's take the voice of the father who then he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh the lord shall have them in derision wow the derision of the lord supposing that his covenant is going to be set aside it's an illusion of ii samuel 7. we'll take a look at that very critical unconditional covenant that affects every one of us that he then confirms by oath in psalm 89 verse 34 37 let's just take a look at these verses they're pivotal in the old testament second samuel 7 verse 8 now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant david god says thus saith the lord of hosts i took thee from the sheep coat from following a sheep to be a ruler over my people over israel okay so far so good for i was with thee whithersoever thou witness and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight and have made thee a great name like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth moreover i will appoint a place for my people israel and will plant them that they may dwell in the place of their own and move no more neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore as before time and as since the time that i commanded judges to be over my people israel and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies also the lord tellthee that he will make thee a house david wanted to build a house no you can't do that i'm going to build you a house god said david and when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers i will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels and i will establish his kingdom and he shall build a house for my name and i will establish the throne of his kingdom for a long time know what it says forever i think god means what he says and says what he means i will be his father and he shall be my son if he commit iniquity i will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but my mercy shall not depart away from him as i took it from saul whom i put away before thee and thine house of thy kingdom shall be established how long forever before thee thy throne shall be established forever and that's what gabriel told mary in luke chapter 1 verse 32. we celebrate that every christmas but we may not appreciate the significance of what he's saying here this is the davidic covenant promise of posterity of the house a throne of royal authority a kingdom rule on the earth and certainly established forever the throne will be re-established amos 9 11 quoted in the council for jerusalem acts 15 indicates the tabernacle of david will be re-established in jerusalem this cannot be applied to the church by the way so let's not get confused with this replacement theology nonsense let's take a look at ezekiel 37 a few verses there and saying to them thus saith the lord god behold i will make i will take the children of israel from among the heathen whether they have gone and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land that sound like the church to you i don't think so and i will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of israel and one king shall be king to them all and they shall be no more two nations neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore at all neither shall they defile themselves anymore with their idols nor with their detestable things nor with any of their transgressions but i will save them out of all their dwelling places wherein they have sinned and i will cleanse them so shall they be my people and i will be their god and david my servant shall be king over them wow four times the scripture seems to indicate david is going to rule yet in the future in israel most of us presume that that's just the son of david not david himself maybe maybe not he's been resurrected why couldn't he we don't know i mean there's good scholars that debate that issue but in any case david by king shall be over them and they shall have one shepherd they shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them and they shall dwell in the land that i have given to under jacob my servant wherein to your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell therein even they and their children and their children's children for a long time no forever and my servant david shall be their prince forever they're prince now that's interesting because when you study the temple in the millennium it keeps speaking of the prince is that a title of christ or is that a title of david in some subordinate role under christ don't know could be good many people speculate about that both ways moreover i will make a covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting covenant with them and i will place them and multiply them and will they will set up my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore my tabernacle also shall be with them yea i will be their god and they shall be my people this is the background of the readers of paul's epistle to the hebrews so that you can understand the presumptions they're making here and the heathen shall know that i the lord do sanctify israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore wow let's take a quick look at the oath that god confirms in psalm 89 my covenant will i not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips god speaking do you think he takes himself seriously absolutely once have i sworn by my holiness that i will not lie unto david his seed shall endure forever whoops i thought his seed ended at jeconiah wow give any good jew jeremiah 22 30 and say what do you do with that one because after jechenia that's the royal line no there'd be no one prospering after that and where can the messiah come from it's got to come from the line of david the answer of course is a virgin birth yes he shall endure forever his throne as the son before me and it shall be established forever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven say law psalm 89 okay but now the father's continuing here he says then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure what when did this vexation start with the fall of jerusalem jesus predicted that as he rode that donkey he wept if you just known this thy day the things that belong to your peace but now they're hidden from your eyes luke 19. this generation shall not pass so all these things both fulfill jesus says and in 38 years later jerusalem was wiped out over a million and a half men women and children slaughtered by the romans in nine months were any christians there no why because of the letter paul wrote to the christians and we'll talk about that next time some surprising discoveries this vexation starts in 70 a.d and how far does it go hosea 5 15 i will return to my place god says must have left it until they acknowledge their offense singular and specific acknowledge their offense in their affliction they will seek me earnestly that's the purpose the great tribulation is to wrap this up i'll vex them in a sword as pleasure matthew 24 29. yet have i set my king upon my holy hill of zion where is this king sitting in heaven no on mount zion the establishment of the rejected king on mount zion laid out here okay let's see what he says let's talk a like the father has spoken now let's see what the sun says i will declare the decree the lord hath said unto me thou art my son this day have i begotten thee when did you when when did god say that at his baptism and of the transfiguration right and here ask of me and i will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession satan offered that to him in the temptation and it was strangely his to offer or it wouldn't have been a temptation no he went the hard way he went by way of the cross praise god ask me and i shall give thee thy inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession for thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel that whole those three verses are a quote by jesus himself alluding to the commitments that that his father gave him okay the subjection of the earth to his rule is that going on right now you know there are people many good pastors that teach that the church's job is to is to subdue the the world for the messiah really i don't sound strange for our ears perhaps but that's what they really believe no that's not biblical it's the other way around anyway so here's the order we've had in psalm 2. the rage and the vain imagination against the lord is anointed in the first three verses the derision of the lord supposing the setting aside of his covenant in his oath which of course he won't the vexation from 70 a.d through the great tribulation that's in verse 5 the establishment of the rejected king on mount zion and the subjection of the earth to israel that's what we're talking about that's thy kingdom come that's what you're praying for when you pray the lord's prayer well there's still one there's a few verses to wrap this up in psalm 2 the voice of the holy spirit verses 10 11 12 be wise now therefore ye kings be instructed you judges of the earth save serve the lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry and he perished from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him the concept of kiss here simply it means homage to doing homage here and uh the um there's a um it's a strange use of the word bar for which normally means sun but jerome and others render it to give pure pure uh uh worship is what it's really saying and so uh psalm one then started with a beatitude psalm 2 conclusive beatitude blessed are all they that put their trust in him so we're right here trying to get our mind around the davidic covenant the scepter of judah it was promised to the tribe of judah back in genesis 49 david's promised kingdom was a political kingdom david's house was a dynasty a royal line the the northern kingdom wanted had the civil war had nine different dynasties judah southern had only one namely the house of david that was even emphasized strangely but to do god's remarks to abraham in genesis 17. it was prophesied and david was prophesied in advance his genealogy is we find encrypted in genesis chapter 38 now that's the book that's the torah the book of moses long before joshua judges and samuel and so on you'll find boaz ruth uh they're laid out they're 49 letter intervals fascinating of course in ruth four that's what connects bethlehem to the house of david is the book of ruth it was also confirmed by oath in psalm 132 psalm 89 which we looked at in several places solomon's david's sons fail by the way okay jecadia it's a it's a downward thing to find jack and i which has a blood curse on him and of course that's how god gets around all that with a virgin birth by going through not solomon but through nathan the second surviving son of bathsheba to get to the line of mary through whom our messiah comes the blood curses on the solomonic line not on nathan's line okay so jesus has a legal claim through joseph because he is the legal father of jesus christ but there's an exception in the torah having to do with the daughters zelophehad which upon which christ's legal claims through joseph obtained mary was the line of david and and her father adopts her husband as his son and that's what i'm way that all works that's a whole study and so right but the main point is david's throne itself did not exist during jesus time on the earth so how is jesus going to sit on the throne of david he couldn't of during his ministry what does that mean he has yet to do so that's yet forthcoming the covenant is declared to be everlasting it's an unconditional covenant that's all through the scripture you can chase these down on your own it was confirmed to mary by gabriel it was recognized by the first church council in acts 15 where james quotes amos 9 verse 11 in this regard and of course we are praying that every time we do the lord's prayer thy kingdom come that's what we're talking about now it's interesting how the number of 12. you know it's interesting all of us said how many have noticed the number seven in the bible that's a number for the kingdom of god it's interesting that the number of the kingdom of god excuse me yeah the the number of king of heaven is always 12. it really fascinated me to realize this there are 12 tribes in israel right how many apostles are there 12. and those apostles are declared that they will rule over those 12 tribes right that's in matthew 19 and in luke 22 you'll find the same verse where jesus says it tells them the 12 apostles and by the way those apostles don't include paul because paul is not an apostle to the jews he's an apostle to the gentiles that's why paul didn't sign his letter because he doesn't want to step into the shoes of being an apostle to the jews because that was not his calling much as much as he would have preferred it that was peter's role they divided up he paul went to the gentiles so paul is writing a letter to those that he loves and he's concerned for but he doesn't sign it as an apostle for that reason but anyway there's twelve twelve apostles they're two twelve tribes twelve apostles they're twelve kingdom parables there are twelve kingdom mysteries if you'll take there are 12 000 sealed from each of the 12 tribes in revelation 7 right the new jerusalem has 12 gates 12 found ocean stones and it's 12 000 furlongs by 12 thousand furlongs by twelve thousand furlongs it implies that it's a three-dimensional thing at least there's there's uh twelve kingdom parables two of them have a very troubling remark in them the guest at the wedding feast the guy that didn't have the right garments gets cast into the darkness that's outside and most of us me included have read that for years always assuming that was while they're set to hell we don't realize the subject of the parable everybody there saved but this guy was not authorized to attend the wedding feast so he's cast to the darkness that's outside whatever that means the stewardship of the talents has that same strange phrase cast into the outer darkness in your english it's actually the darkness that's outside okay let's take a look by the way as long as we're on all this the millennial temple it's an actual temple this is not an allegory the description of the temple is in ezekiel 40 through 48 it's highly detailed tells you the thickness of the walls and steps and all that stuff so it's not symbolic it's a literal temple all nations not just israel all nations will worship there somehow offerings and sacrifices are resumed boy does that bother a lot in fact there's so many aspects of this temple that are non-levitical it almost didn't make it into the canon the way the the priests are dressed and the things they do are not the way or instructed in the levitical system no this isn't the levitical system this is melchizedekian turns out offerings and sacrifice are resumed why i thought christ died once and for all for everything right they're there for the same reason they had offerings in the old testament their memorials in advance these would be memorials after the fact celebrating what the cross of christ strangely enough here's a here's a corker this is a disturbing thing that your seventh-day adventist friends will never fail to point out to you do you realize the millennial temple is not open on sunday it's open on shabbat and on the new moon now don't misunderstand me i'm not 70 adventists but that's one thing they point out that most christians have no grasp of what the sabbath is really all about that doesn't mean we're shackled to observe the sabbath we have the opportunity to do so if we choose the sabbath is all about celebrating god as creator anyway moving on if we take a look at the tabernacle just it's the basic model for all this stuff and in this diagram east to the bottom which is very typical for this sort of thing we have the linen fence the first thing you see 75 feet by 150 feet if you use a foot and a half as an approximate cubit here that turns out to mean it's if that's basically the the length of noah's ark 300 um anyway if the perimeter is the same perimeter as the length i don't that means anything i just mentioned it and if you go through the on one door one gate you come to the altar the sacrifice and then the laver where you washed and if you went through that properly then and if you were a priest not just a levite but a priest then you could enter the holy place and the holy of holies and if we take a little closer look at the basic structure of the mouse the the the tabernacle proper we find that as you go in its single door you that's called the holy place it has another inner sanctum called the holy of holies the menorah is the only source of light in the place you have the table of showbread 12 loaves changed every shabbat for each of the 12 tribes and the golden altar are more precisely the altar of incense which is just outside of but associated with the holy of holies inside the holy of holies you got two things not one two things we always visualize one because we think of the ark of the covenant as having the lid of gold no no no no they're two separate things that turns out to be important if you when you study that more carefully the ark of the covenant is wood covered with gold it's deteriorating it's ancient but the lid as we would visualize it the mercy seat is not the way it's usually portrayed it's actually a seat and is gold and it is visualized in both the torah and also in ezekiel as as if god is sitting there in fact when he's the high priest once a year goes through great ceremonial preparations when he enters it that one time on yom kippur he sprinkles the blood between and in front of the cherubim and ezekiel gives us a clue there for the soles of his feet anyway so there's a lot we could talk about that we have a whole briefing on that if you want to chase it down but uh every one of the every detail every every physical dimension every material speaks of jesus christ the word was made flesh and tabernacled among us john tells us is i am the door anyone that comes through but by me is a thief and a robber i am the light of the world i am the bread of life and interceding for us in hebrews 7 25 and of course our sin bearer and our propitiation for our sins is is every detail and the entire project sits on silver sockets it rests on his blood silver being the symbol for blood we go on and on anyway the second temple herod's temple is not the one we're seeing in ezekiel the one heaven ezekiel again has the same you know styling no excuse me excuse me this this is a solomon's temple you have not one table of showbread you've got ten of them not one lamp so you got ten and you have the the expansion of the of the uh the tabernacle when you get to the the physical temple itself and there's a molten sea and a holocaust altar and so forth okay um you have an inner court an outer court there are a couple of things in the temple that were not in the tabernacle there's a place called the porch and there's two pillars one that have names jacquin and boaz if you want to get into all of this and understand a spiritual significance i encourage you to get my wife's book books i should say because the same model is exemplified in the way of agape and the be transformed and it also it's prominent in her latest book king the kingdom the power and the glory she'll talk about the personal stories for the priests and how that's where the priests stored those things that the unmentionables their own little idols and let's talk about ezekiel's temple we again recognize the same basic architecture i'm turning on the side because it'll be easier to talk about i've now shifted east to the right side of the diagram but this is pretty much the same as we're familiar with the previous one and but we're going to add some things here we're going to add chambers for singers and as this thing grows we're going to add priest chambers on either side and priests kitchens this is not symbolic this is a real place and we have inner gates and we have chambers of the outer court and we have people's kitchens and we have outer gates and i'm very intrigued with these outer gates because the word there for outer outermost in ezekiel 40 20 for example is the same word that occurs in matthew 8 12 and also in those two kingdom parables where it speaks of the darkness that's outside it is the view of some and i'm inclined that way myself to regard the casting the outer darkness people who are saved they're in heaven but they are not qualified to attend the wedding supper and so they're excluded from the central festivities at the moment and that's not a view held by everyone but it is the view held by many of the modern exegetes that i respect the exegesis that originally got behind this was g.h ladd but charles stanley erwin letzer head of moody and others have him have the same view most of us have a tough time i first encountered this view uh several years ago in the writings of joseph dillon and uh dillo i mean joseph joseph c dilla dillo uh illuminated so many of these things i thought was terrific but i couldn't go quite this far but since then i'm convinced that he's right in any case we have a holy district here that may surprise you there's jerusalem but the temple is not in jerusalem it's almost 50 miles to the north if you look at the holy district it is 50 miles by 50 miles and we have it divided with the living quarters for the sons of zadak up there near the temple of course sons of levi and then food growing areas on both sides of jerusalem apparently and then there's a portion for the prince who's the prince is that david who knows we'll see and i should mention that many good scholars have slightly different ways of rendering what the they do they what they infer from the text itself this is just one rendering to highlight some of the issues clearly the topology of the uh ground will be very different because it will be highly different there there's going to be a river coming out of the temple feeding jerusalem and then going to the dead sea on the one direction and the mediterranean on the other that's all described and so the division of the land take that whole thing and we have going to the north judah reuben e from manasseh naphtali asher and dan and going to the south again we have the 12 tribes inherit the land surrounding this far greater than the present bounds of of uh israel as we see it today and it's my personal speculation that this may have a lot to do with genesis before genesis 3. if the garden of eden was east of eden the garden was east of eden right and we know that the the the cradle of civilization was the fertile crescent and that was east of eden itself the garden of eden was east of eden then eden itself is where israel is today so there may be a pre-history here that will give all this a relevance that we can only guess at today okay well you and i are looking for the harpazzo right the rapture of the church most of us have studied prophecy know what happens on the earth after the harpazzo comes the emergence of the world leader maybe two of them then the great tribulation this period of time of trouble such the world had never seen to that time that will be of course interrupted or it climaxes the battle of armageddon which is interrupted then of course by the second coming well that's all in the earth moses make our little diagrams you've seen mine in the past what's going on in heaven at this time what happens in heaven right after the rapture not you married supper no not yet there's something the next thing that happens is the judgment seat of christ the bema see yes and then we have the marriage of the lamb not necessarily the wedding supper there seems to be some hints in the text that the wedding supper is on the earth when the kingdom has said is set up on the earth the marriage has already taken place by then it's celebrated in the supper apparently then of course the second coming of christ and then the davidic kingdom is established let's diagram this another way if we look at time we we are in that interval of daniel 9 25. well actually at 9 26 i should say the interval uh yeah 9 26 i've got to correct this diagram here that then we encounter the 70th week which is a seven year period the harpazo takes place sometime prior to that 70th week why because the seven weeks defined by a treaty that the antichrist uh enforces a covenant that he enforces and he rises to power after the habazo according to thessalonians 2. by some distance is it a day is it 30 years who knows but the main point i want to focus on here not what's going on on the earth here we have the judgment seat of christ the bema seed as it's called and the marriage of the lamb on the earth meanwhile of course we got this seven-year enforcement by the world leader we have it being violated in the middle of that seven years the abomination desolation and the two halves of that week are the most documented periods of time in both the old new testament three and a half years 42 months 1260 days in each case but okay after the marriage supper of the lamb oh of course the great tribulation is not seven years it's three and a half until jesus himself labels it the last half of that seven year period but that climax is an armageddon which then is interrupted by the second coming so prior to that second coming we have two events apparently taking place already in heaven be my seat of the bema seat of christ marriage the lamb that when he sets he comes back he sets up his kingdom for how long for a thousand years in fact the first thing that happens as what he's back on the earth is the sheep and goat judgment the more you study it the stranger it is it's mortals being condemned to hell on a basis of works strange you want to understand what that's really all about i won't take the time here to get into that here then is the marriage supper celebrating the the marriage there is there are two periods 1290 days and 12 30 13 35 there's a total of 75 days 30 and 45 that are a mystery many people speculate no one's sure near we can find out but it's clear that there's some very important timings issuing there after he gets back but before some of these other things get started and at the end of the thousand years we have the great white throne that's the final big one if you will that's after a thousand years and it's that after the great white throne that we have a new heavens as well as a new earth a new heavens as well as a new earth satan has had access to heaven heaven's due for a refurbishing and that's also when we have the new jerusalem the strange structure that apparently comes down and hovers over the earth that may represent the commingling then of the wife of yorevave and the bride of christ okay now the judgments the bema seat we've mentioned that one if the authorizing verse is in second uh corinthians 5 10 that's where rewards are administered crowns and assignments and and what have you that's where the kingdom parables focus on the talents the virgins the uninvited guests and so forth that's also the call of the bride to the marriage of the lamb the bride of messiah in contrast to the adulterous wife of your which of course is an illusion israel the sheep and goat judgment that's first thing that happens after he gets back and that's on the earth there's three parties involved the sheep and the goats and my brethren we need to understand what that's really all about another study but mortals are judged on the basis of works very strange you want to study that carefully great white throne which i assume none of us are going to be involved in and that's at the end of the millennium and that's we have the new heavens new earth and so on the bema seed that's the one we need to focus on that's what the epistle of hebrews is really dwelling on the bema seed now this is not a the you get people teaching that the bema seat is where the athletes got their rewards it's not a place of judgment that's not true it is true that that's what's going to be the role here but the bema seat the word in greek that's what pilate sat on when he judged christ in matthew 27 19. that's what herod was sitting on when he was smitten by worms in acts 12. that's what yellio when he was sentencing paul in acts 18 and festus that's where he had his trial sentencing the judgment see the bema seat is a judgment seat and this is the judgment seat of christ now indeed everyone in before this seat according to second corinthians 5 10 we're all saved we're there to receive the rewards for our faithfulness none of us are there because of our faithfulness we're there because we've trusted christ we're there because of his faithfulness yet he's out he's there to hand out rewards let's talk about that in first corinthians 3 let's not speculate for other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is jesus christ now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood haste doubles two groups those that are not flammable gold silver precious stones and those that are flammable wood hey stubble every man's work shall be made manifest ev for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is it's not testing the man it's testing his work he's saved like make that clear here in a minute if any man's work abide which he hath built thereon he shall receive a reward devoutly to be wished huh if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so is by fire in other words like a refugee so if you're say if you're there you're saved by jesus christ what you're what you inherit will be a function of your inheritance your faithfulness inheritances can be forfeit in the old testament inheritances can be forfeited in the new testament important study you need to take it on if your work abides you shall receive a reward what kinds of reward we'll talk about a few but in any case you're still saved because you're there because of what christ did not do not because of what you did the bema see let's map this a little bit let's map faithfulness horizontally first corinthians 3 11 15 we've just read okay now there are those that have been overtaken and those that are overcomers to the degree that you've been faithful you are an overcomer to the extent that you're saved but you just haven't got it together the world the flesh or the devils had the best of you so to speak you have you you don't have any coupons in your book when you get there okay now the overcomers boy there's seven promises specifically in the book of revelation among the things there's also the carnal christians are down over here on the left side they're christians they're carnal christians but they're christians they're saved by the blood of jesus christ have they walked the walk a apparently very poorly if at all right now in between these you've got five crowns promised five crowns let's take a look at those you got a crown of life mentioned two places james 1 and revelation 2. for those who have suffered for his sake how many of you have suffered for christ's sake great okay praise god you've got a few i think there'll be more of us before the next few years unfold and that's a privilege most of us are going to have opportunities we can't even imagine and praise god for those this comfortable world that we've enjoyed for several generations is over for lots of reasons and that's going to be good for the kingdom there's a crown of righteousness for those who love disappearing how many really love the apparent crime you know there are christians that abhor the apparent they they are not in love with the rep the coming of the lord and i i i i i won't start on that one but anyway uh for those who loved his appearing okay the crown of glory first peter talks about for those who feed the flock are you feeding the flock you don't have to be publishing books or being on a platform to do that the most powerful place you can do that is in your home in small groups and a crown incorruptible for those who press on steadfastly now by the way i personally don't think there are five well there's one more here is there five crowns crown of rejoicing for those who win souls i don't i personally will be surprised if there's only five crowns these are five that happen to be mentioned they sort of overlap in my mind i think there's probably dozens now maybe they're and they're given for different reasons but there are crowns there's stephanos there there's not the these are not diadems they're stephanos and their rewards their rewards for works and by the way they're never promised angels that's interesting in revelation summarize it near the end behold i come quickly jesus says hold that fast which thou hast let that no man take thy crown that no man take thy crown him that overcometh will i make a pillar in the temple of my god and he shall go out he shall go no more out and i will write upon him the name of my god and the name of the city of my god which is the new jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my god and i will write upon him my new name he that hath an ear let him hear with the spirit saith to the churches and he's in of course that's one of the seven letter seven churches and i suspect that's the letter to sardis i think isn't it huh let no man take thy crown him that overcometh while i make a pillar in the temple of my god he shall no more go out i will write upon him the name of my god the name of the city of my god which is new jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my god and i will write upon him wow do i really know what each one of those things mean no but it sure sounds good doesn't it no you have a pretty good idea what you're talking about overcomers seven the eat of the tree of life not heard of the second death hidden manna white stone new name given power over the nations white raiment assured pillar new name yeah it was revelation 3 12 sit with christ on his throne they shall inherit all things that is in revelation 21 that's the overcomer are you an overcomer have you been faithful behavior matters there are twelve judgments okay gee if that's what's happening what do we need to do well how are we gonna be judged by how we treat other believers that's all through the scripture how do you treat other believers how do we exercise our authority over others in general how we employ our god-given abilities how we use our money yes that's there too all through the scripture how we spend our time that's probably even more important than our money what are your priorities where do you spend your time how much we suffer for jesus that's a privilege and it's well rewarded how we run that particular race which god has chosen for us every one of us is in a slightly different race yet you're challenged to discover what race you're in and run it faithfully how effectively we control the old nature boy that's a challenge how many souls we witness to and went to christ i don't like the idea of winning to christ the holy spirit does that but you understand what it's saying yeah how we react to temptation boy how much the doctrine of the rapture means to us the doctrine of the rapture is one of the yardsticks that's going to emerge at the bema seat second timothy 4 verses 8 9 check it out how faithful we are to the word of god and to the flock of god and that's all through the scripture you can get these from the notes the bema seed we have overtaken people overcomers we have carnal christians on the left we have five crowns among other things awarded there's one thing left to talk about or at least suggest that's the bride is the bride of christ in the body of christ synonymous some people many good scholars take that for granted there are some scholars that think there's a distinction here that the bride is the faithful subset they're the ones that wear their own reignment at the festivities brain being the the badge of their faithfulness not the imputed faithfulness of christ which all of us would have to have to be anywhere and the bride is is uh thus it's a they argue that a bride is always taken out of the of his body the most it's just the most intimate subset of the body that's certainly true of eve taken out of adam when eliezer is assigned by abraham to get a bride for isaac he insists that they go she's called out from their own people and it's interesting that he takes with him 10 camels i think that may be a linkage to the 10 virgins by the way but anyway she's always seen a reign in her own reignment that could be very significant so that's a possibility i i throw it out for you to do your own study but i want to throw some caveats and wrap it up here apply the berean doctrine acts 17 11 search the scriptures receive the word with all openness of mind step one step two check it out for yourself come to your own conclusions from your own study remember you're not under the law the messiah is the fulfillment of the torah as matthew 5 17 declares and alter the entire epistle of hebrews as hammers away all through it from end to end at the same time i'm going to suggest you avoid a works trip don't make a list of the things you're going to do for christ be led by the spirit the stuff that you do no matter how noteworthy it might be if it's of the flesh it doesn't count you need to walk by the spirit not the flesh that's what the epistle of the galatians is all about and if you want a place to go after hebrews assuming you've been through romans your next step is to go through galatians then you'll have the trinity paul wrote the just shall live by faith who are the just the book of romans how shall they live the book of galatians by faith book of hebrews the three are a trilogy written by paul and structured as accordingly remember that you are you do not need the sin sin should not be reigning in your life anymore that's what the holy spirit is a resource you can call upon romans 6 hammers that for you you're going to walk with the lord you don't fall behind you don't get ahead of him the challenge is taken step by step he doesn't necessarily give you a flash of vision of where you're going to be 10 years from now he will illuminate your step one step at a time that's his style that's part of the faith is taking that step one step at a time don't and hebrews 4 dealt with that okay in our final i should say our next session will be hebrews 13 when you read hebrews 13 the question you want to be thinking about beside reviewing your notes about the whole package is does it have a happy ending and i have a surprise for you when we get there the session after that will be our last session and i'm going to append to this whole series a review that will have some surprises for you that affect all of these things from out of primarily luke 21 so with that let's stand for a closing word of prayer

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Length: 69min 31sec (4171 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020