Both my wife and my oldest daughter have prophetic gifting. They both see the things that I see in the Spirit (mainly dealing with the revelation of the Word) and sometimes even before I do. Just last weekend my daughter dreamed that manna covered her yard (which is within a half mile of our farm) and then she woke up. As I considered her dream this morning I felt the LORD would have me write this post.

Many Christians see the great tribulation approaching, even on our doorstep. Some believe it will last seven years after the pattern of Joseph’s seven years of famine. I believe that it will last 3 1/2 years according to the Books of Daniel and Revelation which describe it in terms of “a time, times, and half a time,” “1260 days,” and “42 months.” Some believe that Christians ought to store up food for this terrible time, again according to the pattern of Joseph’s years of plenty and famine. I do not. Christians do not need to store anything for this coming time, and it is not because they are going to be raptured before it happens. Only the firstfruits manchild of Revelation 12 will be glorified before the tribulation. They are the only Christians ready; the rest still have to buy oil from those who sell according to Matthew 25. They will not be ready in time, for they are just now waking up.

Jesus always taught in parables and this includes all of the historical accounts written in the Bible. Most of the narratives relate historically accurate facts as well as prophetically predict future events. Joseph, for example, fulfilled a type of God’s overcomer. Although in the world he was not of the world. He did not succumb to lusts of the flesh and he suffered for it. According to the Biblical record Joseph was perfect. This is not because he was actually perfect during his natural life. It is because he fulfilled the saying of Jesus, “Be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Every overcomer desires this perfection even though he fails in this flesh and mourns his still carnal position.

The number seven in the Bible means “complete.” God always uses the number seven to illustrate that the particular matter spoken of is now complete, or finished. Thus he created the earth in a complete week of seven days including the Sabbath day of rest. This pattern continues for man’s allotted time on earth. He has been given six one thousand year days and God will bring a Sabbath rest in the seventh thousand year period.  In Leviticus 4 we see the priest sprinkle the blood seven times before the vail. In Leviticus 8 he sprinkles the blood seven times to anoint the altar. In Leviticus 26 God warns Israel that he will punish them seven times for their sins. In Joshua 6 we see seven priests bearing seven trumpets walk around Jericho seven times. Psalm 12:6 says, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” And there are many more examples.

Similarly Joseph’s seven years of plenty and seven years of famine point to complete prophetic realities. Joseph did collect and store food for seven years and he did sell food for seven years after that, but the point of the story is not that there will be some future seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. The point is that Joseph completely filled his storehouse in heaven. Consider what Jesus taught us about storing.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 KJV)

 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:16-21 KJV)

Many people, including Christians, counsel us to buy guns and food to prepare for the horrible times coming on the world. I don’t believe that Jesus would buy or wear a gun and I don’t think he would dig a cellar to store grain like Joseph did. No, the parable of Joseph means that Joseph stored up treasures toward God in a complete way so that he would have abundance with respect to all things necessary, especially heavenly things. He represents the overcomer who has stored up treasure in heaven and who will be able to withdraw from his treasury as others, including himself, have need of it.

If I store thousands of dollars worth of grain and food on my farm, then I can be assured that when tribulation comes one of three things will happen: 1) I will give it away to those who have need besides myself; 2) People who learn I have food will come and steal it by force; or 3) the beast government will confiscate it. If I have no extra food, however, there is nothing to steal or confiscate. But, since I have treasure in heaven, I can pray for and expect to receive my daily manna. I will have enough for myself, my family, and to share with those whom God brings!

Tribulation is coming. Be sure your treasure is stored in heaven and not on earth.

Entering God’s Rest (7)

So, now let’s assume that you have received the gift of faith by God’s grace and you have believed in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and for your spiritual salvation.  Legally, that is, in God’s court room, you have now been justified by faith.  What now? Is that it? No, now you begin your walk with God. Now you can start down the “narrow path.” Now you need to begin to “labor” to enter God’s rest.

For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:10-13 KJ2000)

Now we come to the crux of the matter. So far we have learned that to even have a chance of entering into God’s rest we must have true faith in God.  Faith is God’s gift to us who believe. This faith marks the beginning point for anyone who would follow after God and who would walk in Jesus’ ways. Yet, as soon as we come to faith, which is not of works, God says, “WORK to enter my rest!” And this is the command that has befuddled Christians since the dawn of time because most then proceed to think that they must perform certain spiritual duties or perfectly obey certain Biblical laws before they can really be accepted by God. In theological terms they link this command to work in Hebrews 4:11 to their “justification.”

Justification, though, is a legal term which states that “based upon Christ’s work and his gift to you of faith in that work, you have been declared “righteous” before God.” It is this legal transaction, one that I can’t even begin to understand, that reconciles us to God. Justification establishes our relationship with God and thus allows us to communicate with him and get to know him. Justification, however, does not literally make anyone righteous. It is the laboring to enter God’s rest which actually transforms us. One term the Bible uses for this labor is “practicing righteousness.”

When we first believe in Jesus we usually remain as bound to certain sins as before. Yes, I know that sometimes Jesus casts out demons and delivers people from addictive bondages when they come into “saving” faith, but this is not the norm. It’s usually not that easy. Justification by faith deals with our spirit and its eternal abode. It does not deal with our soul, the place “where we live,” so to speak. Our soul is our mind, our will, and our emotions. Our soul is what we think of as “you” or “me.” I can’t really know your spirit, but I can know your soul.

The problem of understanding justification versus laboring to enter God’s rest (or, practicing righteousness) has been compounded through the centuries because translators have used various words to translate the Greek word psuche, which means “soul.” On the other hand the Greek word pneuma is usually translated “spirit.” In Hebrews 4:12, quoted above, the Greek word translated “soul” is psuche and the word translated “spirit” is pneuma, which is correct.

Sometimes the word psuche is translated as “life.”  For example, when Jesus says, ”whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it,”  (Matthew 16:25) it is the Greek word psuche which is translated “life” here. Jesus is talking about the salvation of the soul, not the spirit in this passage. He is dealing with the spiritual aspect of laboring to enter God’s rest, not justification by initial faith in him.

Because of the various contradictory translations many commentators speak of “saving one’s soul” when they really mean “saving one’s spirit.” Hebrews 4:12 attempts to draw the distinction between soul and spirit as the discussion now moves from mere faith in God to “working out our salvation in fear and trembling.”  (Philippians 2:12) The reason for this is because the salvation of our spirits has been accomplished by the one-time work of Christ by shedding his blood on the cross for our sins. It is a done deal. The salvation of our souls, however, has not yet been accomplished, but is an on-going work which is typified by the exodus wilderness journey.

It is precisely because of this confusion, of not distinguishing between the soul and the spirit, that most people utterly miss the meaning of the book of Hebrews. This book contains at least five stern warnings against losing our salvation. One group of Bible scholars, the Calvinists, say that all of these warnings deal with people who were never really saved (spiritually saved, that is). Another group, the Arminians, believe that these warnings indeed do speak to Christians and that all Christians bear the risk of losing their eternal salvation. Calvinists believe in the doctrine “once saved always saved.” Arminians believe that you can lose your spiritual salvation. Both are right to some extent, and both are wrong to a very great extent.

Men can never lose the salvation of their spirits because Christ’s work has accomplished this for us. They can only lose their souls which means that they will miss out on the first resurrection, even if they actually believe in Jesus. This explains the reason for the many warnings in the Bible which apply to Christians. Christians who fail to save their souls will have their part in the Lake of Fire, along with total unbelievers. The Lake of Fire is that place, thing, or process which many mistakenly call “hell.” The Lake of Fire brings about the destruction of carnal, unbelieving souls so that these ones may ultimately enter into the Kingdom of God. For remember, outside the Kingdom “are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.” (Revelation 22:15)

As we continue in the book of Hebrews we find that only the mature, only those who ultimately learn to discern between good and evil and then actually will (choose) to do the good make up this company of believers who enter into God’s rest. See Hebrews 5:14. This company goes by many names in Scripture, for example, the Bride of Christ, the manchild, the two witnesses, the order of Melchizedek, the remnant, Gideon’s 300, and the overcomers.

Part 8: The Two Witnesses

Part 1: Entering God’s Rest

What is fire in the Scripture?  What does it represent?  Why did God’s Law demand that certain sinners be burned after they were stoned to death for their sin?  To illustrate endless torture in Hell as most religious people think?  Hardly.

1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2He said,

“The LORD came from Sinai

and dawned from Seir upon us;

he shone forth from Mount Paran;

he came from the ten thousands of holy ones,

with flaming fire at his right hand.

3 Yes, he loved his people,

all his holy ones were in his hand;

so they followed in your steps,

receiving direction from you,

4 when Moses commanded us a law,

as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. (Deuteronomy 33:1-4, ESV)

Notice in this passage that “flaming fire” is at, or in, God’s right hand.  Notice also that his “holy ones” are in his hand.  God’s holy ones literally comprise his flaming fire.  These are those who follow in God’s steps.  They know his way.  These are those that receive direction from their LORD.  They respect and obey the law he commanded Moses.

Now consider the book of Daniel.

9″As I looked,

thrones were placed,

and the Ancient of Days took his seat;

his clothing was white as snow,

and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames;

its wheels were burning fire.

10 A stream of fire issued

and came out from before him;

a thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;

the court sat in judgment,

and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9-10 ESV)

Here once again we see God described in terms of fire.  Fire defines his very throne, the symbol of his rule and authority.  So, now let’s consider what Jesus meant when he told his disciples that they must be salted with fire.

43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:  44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:  46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.  47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:  48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.  49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.  50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. (Mark 9:43-50)

Everyone shall be salted with fire.  You and I are no exceptions.  So, then, are we to pluck out our eyes when we look upon anything or anyone with lust?  Are we to cut off our arms or our feet if we find that we sin by using them?  Isn’t this what Jesus tells us to do?  If he does not mean for us to do that, then what does he mean?  Can we follow any instructions that he gives us?  How can we know what to do and what not to do?  How do we know when he speaks literally and when he does not?  How can I know anything!

“The sum of thy word is truth,” declared the psalmist.  Study this word.  Learn it.  Know it.  Obey it.  In Scripture “fire” describes the application of God’s word.  Those who learn to apply it in this life save their souls and become tools in the hand of God.  Those who do not shall have their part in the Lake of Fire.  They too will be salted with fire in due course.  Jesus tells his disciples to apply the word now.  Salt yourself with fire now, while you still have a choice in the matter.

Chapter 2 of Hebrews tells us that Jesus qualifies as man’s high priest before God because he himself took on the nature of man and then suffered and tasted death for every man.  The next chapter warns us of disobedience again, saying,

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end… (Hebrews 3:7-14 KJV)

Israel under Moses set the pattern for all later-day believers.  Each generation before today died before entering God’s kingdom.  None were glorified although many earnestly yearned for their new body and believed the Lord’s second coming was at hand.  All before us have died in the wilderness of the testing of their faith, but not all have failed.  Hebrews 11 lists many champions of faith who prevailed and will receive a “better” resurrection.  The Book of Hebrews exhorts us, just as it did the dead Christians before us, to work out our salvation in “fear and trembling” as Paul says.   Think of this book as the water (of the Word) that sprinkles (baptizes) the seed of the Spirit in you.  Think of it as the Book of the Overcomer.

Which seed did you receive when you believed in Jesus?  Which seed are you?  Are you that which hears and then immediately forgets or never understood the wonderful truths of God’s Word?  Are you that which once heard and were very zealous for the Lord, that is, until temptations or persecutions came your way?  Or, again, are you that which walked with God for some time, but then the cares of this world or your desire for riches choked the Word within you?  Have you become hardened to God’s Word because of the deceitfulness of sin?  Or, have you persevered along the way and continued to bear fruit for the Kingdom?

Every person to whom Hebrews was written once believed.  Harden not your hearts as did those in Moses’ day!  Do not provoke God in your day of temptation in the wilderness, the wilderness which now is.   And why did they and we err and fall into hardness of heart through temptation?  Because we have not known God’s ways!  Make it your goal today, while it is still called today, to learn something more of God’s ways.  He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. (Psalms 103:7 KJV)  To know God’s ways is to know his mind and is an essential step in becoming like him, which is the goal of our creation and all faith.

The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.  (Psalms 145:17 KJV)

Blessed is every one that fears the LORD; that walks  in his ways. (Psalms 128:1 KJV)

The salvation of man’s spirit is the “first” salvation.  It comes before any other salvation, of which there are two more, the salvation of the soul and the salvation of the body.  No area of Christian theology remains so misunderstood as the salvation of the soul.  Virtually every popular Christian preacher, theologian, and writer believes the many Scriptures relating to the salvation of soul actually deal with the salvation of the spirit.  Such is not the case.  Let’s first look at a few Scriptures dealing with the salvation of the spirit.

Scripture renders spiritual salvation as our “new birth,” being “born again,” or “begotten of God.”  This is the first thing Jesus tells Nicodemus when he says,  “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3   Nicodemus answers in unbelief and Jesus continues with even a more mysterious word.

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ” John 3:5

Jesus first tells Nicodemus that one must be born of the Spirit before he can even see the Kingdom of God.  This means that one cannot even become aware of the reality of God’s Kingdom unless he becomes born of the Spirit.  The word “born” here means “begotten of God.”  This occurs when a man believes in the LORD Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins and for his reconciliation with God.  It is at this point that one receives the earnest of the Holy Spirit.  This occurs when the “seed” of the Word impregnates our spiritual egg (so to speak) and brings new spiritual life to us.  This spiritual event Jesus calls being born again or begotten of God.

Becoming born of God has nothing to do with man’s own will.  God sovereignly brings new life to whom he will when he will.  This is why Paul says,

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

God gives men the gift of faith by his grace (grace means “unmerited favor” or “unmerited gift”).  Men cannot muster up enough faith to bring their own salvation.  God must somehow bring this faith to a man.  Thus faith and spiritual salvation has nothing to do with man’s own works.

Some people attempt to move on in God before their new birth even occurs, but this is not possible.  This is what Paul means when he says,

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 2 Corinthians 13:5

Paul says that Jesus Christ dwells in believers, but he does not dwell in unbelievers, the reprobate.  These few Scriptures introduce us to the salvation of the Spirit.  Jesus’ second answer to Nicodemus first introduces the salvation of the soul.  Remember, he said, “except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

It is one thing to see something and quite another to enter into it.  I see my house before I enter it.  I see a city before I come into it.  I view the mountain before I climb it.  Likewise, one must see the Kingdom of God before he can enter it.  The salvation of the soul is all about entering the celestial city, the Kingdom of God, the New Jerusalem.  Now we will begin to learn how to do it…

The following command does not deal with some future event we all wait for:

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. (Revelation 18:2-5 KJV)

God commands each of us to come out of Babylon now.  If we wait until she stands fully judged, then we fail the test and lose our rewards.  Not only that, we ourselves will actually share in her judgments and plagues. 

While it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the rebellion. For who, when they had heard, did rebel? did not all that came out of Egypt by Moses? But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:15-19 KJ2000)

What, then, is Mystery Babylon?  What does God require that we leave?

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour. (1 John 2:15-18 ASV)

God requires that we come out of the ways of the world system and that we walk in his ways.  What are the ways of the world system?

1. Public Schools
2. Sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman
3. Working for any business which conducts work that is contrary to God’s laws.  This includes corporations like Monsanto which genetically modify plants God created, corporations which pollute our streams and air, pharmaceutical companies which work to outlaw natural remedies and create drugs which affect men’s minds (sorcery), military manufacturing companies, armies which promote an evil agenda, medical companies which perform evil deeds like sex-change operations and abortions, and so on.
4. Living off the public with large multiple retirement paychecks
5. Wearing the latest fashions
6. Wearing the latest hair cuts
7. Tattoos
8. Piercings
9. Watching television programs
10. Watching most movies because they include much blood lust and sexual lust
11. Allowing your teenagers to date
12. Airplane trips to Europe (now you can stand by while strangers ogle your wife and daughter as they strip search them before boarding the plane)
13. And on and on. 

I am not trying to make a list of dos and don’t for you.  You need to learn to discern what is the world’s way and what is God’s way.  Failure to learn this principle of coming out of Babylon will lead to our judgment just as surely as it led to Achan’s death in Joshua’s day. 

Rest reigns as one of the preeminent doctrines of Scripture.  Sadly, most people never learn this foundational law of creation.  Rather than seek to understand God’s revelation of the seventh day and the sabbath rest, men prefer to call those who obey God’s Law “legalistic.”  Some even accuse Moses of legalism, especially with regard to the following passage:

And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses. (Numbers 15:32-36 KJV)

Amazing, isn’t it, that God would condemn a man to death for picking up sticks on the sabbath day?  Surely he was about to do some evil deed with those sticks, like light a fire to keep warm or to cook his food.   No, the point was not that he would do some evil deed.  He had disobeyed the Law which said,

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:9-11 KJV)

God commanded that no one in Israel, not even the slaves or the animals, work on the seventh day.  God considered this man’s act of collecting sticks to be work.   Moses and the people knew that this act was work.  They did not know the penalty for disobeying the statute.  So, Moses asked God and God prounounced the verdict, death!  But, why death?  Was God looking for extraordinary obedience from man on this particular day?

No, Jesus taught that God implemented the sabbath for man’s sake, not man for the sabbath’s or God’s sake.  The law of the sabbath teaches us the principle of entering into God’s rest.  To enter his rest means that we do not have to outwit every enemy, hoard food, or connive to earn enough money for all our lusts.  It simply means that we learn to trust God.  We don’t use the doctrine as an excuse to quit working and providing for our families.  We don’t use it as a talisman to protect us from stupid acts like jumping off of high cliffs into rock filled water.

The reason that breaking this law brought the death penalty under the Old Covenant is because God means the doctrine to teach us to “lose our soul (life)” in this age so that we will gain it in the next.   Jesus says that if we gain our soul (life) in this age, then we will lose our soul.  He means that we will not attain to the first resurrection of the dead, will not be accounted overcomers, and thus will  not rule in the coming Kingdom of God on earth.  This is that which Jesus taught on the sermon on the mount when he exhorted his hearers to stop worrying about all their needs.  “Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.”  Stop worrying about tomorrow and enter into God’s rest today while you still can.

The Two Witnesses (7)

The next thing we see in Joshua concerning the two witnesses concerns bringing God’s people into rest.  The book reads,

And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them;  Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD’S servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising. (Joshua 1:12-15 KJV) 

Here we see the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Mannasseh serve as types of the overcomers because they have entered God’s rest before any of their brethren.   God gave man the Sabbath Day in order to teach us the importance of entering his rest .  Entering God’s rest  reveals one of the highest goals of all Scripture.  This explains why disobedence to the Sabbath brought the death penalty under the Old Covenant.  It was not because Moses was “legalistic” as I have heard some foolish pastors proclaim.  The Sabbath represents dying to self and allowing God to live through you.  It means giving up your plans, your programs, and your selfish ambitions.  Yes, it even means giving up your ridiculous prophesies which never come to pass.

Hebrews 3-4 teaches more about entering God’s rest than any other place in Scripture.  Hebrews 4:9 proclaims, “There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God.”  Many have mistakenly taken this to mean that Christians must keep the Sabbath in the same way as Old Covenant Israel did.  Therefore Puritans strictly forbade partaking of any enjoyable activities on that day.  Even great movies like Chariots of Fire show a perverted view of this doctrine by its main hero and its application to young people playing ball on Sunday.  The sabbath rest remaining for God’s people does not deal with religiously “not working” on a certain day of the week.  I know Christians who take Saturday as a Sabbath.  I know others who take Sunday.  And I know a few who take a different day each month depending on when the new moon rises.  I personally rest all day on most Sundays, but if I have to, I will work.  Yes, Moses did teach us that we could not work on the Hebrew sabbath day, which I believe to be Saturday.  The New Covenant takes this natural concept into the spiritual dimension.

The purpose of entering God’s rest now is to cease from our own labors.  Our own labors bring nothing but death.  As Jesus said, “the flesh profits nothing.”  Most church programs, even if they began in the Spirit, have devolved to works of the flesh.  Thus God remains displeased with much that we do.  He desires us to wait upon him.  He would rather us do nothing than to do works of the flesh that we attribute to Him.  Many preachers and prophets have gone forth in these last days, but many speak from their own minds, not the mind of the Spirit.  The overcomers represented by these two and one-half tribes in Joshua have entered God’s rest before the third day.  These are those “alive and left” when Jesus comes to be glorified in his saints.  These are those, along with the ones of the first resurrection that also entered God’s rest, who bring the remaining people of God into rest in the coming Kingdom.

Jesus spoke many words that we have not understood, nor applied to our lives.  I personally am always challenged by his statement to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”  My problem is that I see incredible need in the world and want to do something about it.  I pray, but seldom see what I know to be the answer to that prayer.  For example, I have never seen a person raised from the dead, a lost limb restored, a blind person receive sight, etc.  And, I’ve heard about the great “end time revival” for over thirty years and have seen nothing but false signs and wonders and countless false prophets.

That leaves me with only one apparent option, the political one, the option of trying to bring in the Kingdom of God in the flesh.  But, friends, let me tell you, that ain’t gonna happen.  While we dwell in this mortal flesh we will sin.   We will fall into temptation and we will never be able to bring about or “bring in” God’s kingdom through our earthly efforts.

Right now the Kingdom of God dwells only within us who acknowledge that Jesus has come in the flesh and that he is in fact coming in our flesh.  This mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of Glory.”   We cannot enforce this kingdom in any way.  Remember when the young man wanted Jesus to tell his brother to give his inheritance to him?  Jesus said, “Man, who made me judge over you?”  Jesus claimed no authority over legal matters of this world.  He did not even try to take the religious leaders’ position. 

What does Jesus say about our position in the world?  “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (John 15:19 KJV)  And, “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:14-17 KJV)

What is our purpose then if God does not call us to change the political scene?  “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”  (John 17:18-19 KJV)

Jesus sends us into the world to bring truth to the world, just as he brought truth to the world two thousand years ago.  If we really know the truth, then that truth sanctifies us, sets us apart for God’s use.  God’s true servants today display this sanctification.  Do not pretend to yourself or to others that you know the truth if you walk in daily debauchery.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18 KJV)

And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 2:28-3:3 KJV)

When you allow God’s truth to sanctify you, you will know it.  Others will see and feel your peace and become ashamed of their own sin.  The goal is that they too will become sanctified in God’s truth.  True sanctification means coming into agreement with God and submitting to his molding you into his image, an image “not of this world.”

Paul tells us in his letter to the Colossians that, without the indwelling Christ in our hearts, we possess minds alien to God and hostile to all of his ways.  Then he reveals God’s solution to man’s rebellion.  He calls it, “the Mystery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”   Following is a summation of this mystery in a nutshell.

First, Paul prays for the Christians at Colossae to be filled with the “knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in  a manner worth of the Lord.”  The entire prayer in chapter one is worth reading.  Indeed we should pray this prayer for ourselves and others we know if we seek to mature in Christ.

Second, he assures us that God has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  Here is one of the Scriptures theologians rely upon when they say that the kingdom of God has already come.  The kingdom has come in this spiritual sense, but as Hebrews teaches, we do not yet see all things in the natural subject to this kingdom.  This explains how the kingdom can already be (in the spiritual) and yet is not (in the natural).  There is coming a day when we will literally see all things subject to the Lord Jesus.

Third, Paul explains how Jesus reconciles all things to God by virtue of the fact that he himself is the image of the invisible God, that he created all things, and that the fullness of God dwelt in him bodily.  By virtue of these truths he was empowered to make peace between God and man by his blood on the cross.

Fourth, he tells how men who were once alienated from and hostile to God in mind have now been reconciled to God in Christ’s flesh by his death.  It is this “alien mind” which causes men to do evil deeds.  The remainder of Paul’s letter deals with fixing this problem.

The solution to man’s alien mind, says Paul, lies in partaking of the “mystery of the Gospel.”  This mystery has been hidden for ages, he says, but has now been revealed.  The mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.“  Col. 1:28

Here, then, lies the key to all Scripture.  Here we come to understand the mind of God with respect to man’s duty and relationship to him.  Now take this key and fly back to the beginning, back to Genesis chapter 1 and God’s (Jesus’) creation of man.  There re-learn that God made man in His image.  His image.  His image.   Now return to Paul’s message.

Colossians teaches us that Jesus in the flesh “is the image of the invisible God” and that in him “all the fullness of God” dwelt.  But, Jesus never sinned.  Jesus never possessed a mind alien to God.  Here we learn that by some spiritual mystery Christ Jesus may dwell within us and that it is this particular indwelling by which we may one day be glorified!  This represents the culmination of man’s creation.  In Christ man comes full circle.  He was created with glory in the first man, Adam.  Through his six thousand year sojourn as a foreigner in a foreign land and with the tutoring help of God’s Law, he learned to discern good and evil.  But, he could not perfectly obey that Law in his own strength.  Thus that Law could never bring him to reconciliation with God on to salvation and then to glorification, being like God.  Now, Paul tells us, the only way to salvation and glory is Christ in you!  Next, we will begin to discover how this works its way out today in the world through each of us.