ENTERING “THE WAY OF LIFE” AGAIN
March 25, 2001 am
MF Blume
Genesis 3:1-12 Now the serpent
was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every
tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of
the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which
is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither
shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye
shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made
themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in
the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And
the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he
said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?
Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest
not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she
gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Genesis 3:22-24 And the LORD God said, Behold,
the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he
put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden,
to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and
he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
This story is in the beginning of the Bible to do more for us than
simply provide us with information about our origins.
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It is to give the reason and foundation for our need of being saved by
Jesus.
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It is to show that God wants to return us to the original place that he
created man to dwell.
The way of the tree of life is a major issue in the entire Bible.
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It’s a path.
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And God wants us to walk in that path and to dwell there.
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And this way of life is spoken of throughout the Bible.
John 14:1-16 Let not your heart be troubled:
ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go
ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not
whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but
by me.
Jesus is the way!
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He begins by speaking about trusting in Him.
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Believe in Him.
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And then He speaks about places in the Father’s house.
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He said they knew the place and they knew the way there.
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That way was Himself.
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He is the way.
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That is the reason that He began by saying they must believe in Him.
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait
gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it.
He speaks here of the way of life again.
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And keeping in mind the imagery of the Garden, we find it is no wonder
that we read these following words immediately after the above.
Matthew 7:15-20 Beware of false prophets,
which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye
shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns,
or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit;
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring
forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every
tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the
fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Recall that the Garden of Eden not only had a “way of the tree of life”,
but also two kinds of fruit.
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God wanted the people to eat of the fruit of life but did not want them
to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
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And Jesus warns us, when speaking of the way of life, that we watch out
for false prophets who will be known by what fruit they offer you!
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If they offer the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil to you, then
you will no more enter in by eating that then Adam could stay in the Garden
when he ate of it.
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The devil wants to keep you out of the way of life!
Recall that the way of life was associated with the tree of life, when
we read that the cherubims kept the way of the tree of life, which bore
fruit of life.
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And here Jesus connected the way of life with fruit also.
Hebrews 10:19-20 Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and
living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is
to say, his flesh;
Jesus’ flesh is the living way.
So this issue is throughout the Bible!
The way of the tree of life is a protected way.
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Cherubims and a flaming sword were said to KEEP the way of the tree of
life.
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To KEEP means to PROTECT and GUARD.
And we have already studied that the cherubims were not what many people
imagine and picture them to be.
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They are guardians.
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But they are not guardian angels.
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No angel ever looked like this:
Ezekiel 10:1 Then I looked, and, behold,
in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared
over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness
of a throne.
Ezekiel 10:14 And every one had four faces:
the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face
of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of
an eagle.
And Ezekiel 1:10 uses the term OX instead of CHERUB in chapter 10.
They were fearsome looking creatures.
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They actually represent the church, which we have studied elsewhere in
our studies already.
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But these were the appearances of the cherubims.
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It is important we study this because this is part of the entire story
that explains why we need to be saved today.
They are associated with the way of the tree of life.
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They guard this way and protect it.
There is also a sword associated with the way of life.
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It’s a flaming sword that turns every way.
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And it stands in the entrance of this place where God put man in the beginning
to live.
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And later in the New Testament, it is no coincidence that when we also
read about a “rest” in which God wants us to enter and dwell, that there
is also a sword.
Hebrews 4:11-12 Let us labour therefore
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged
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.
Notice that the cherubims and the sword KEPT THE WAY OF THE TREE OF LIFE.
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They protected it.
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And this note in Hebrews 4 helps us understand in just what manner the
sword protected the way.
The Bible says that entering this rest of God is like entering the Garden
of Eden.
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Its saying the same thing.
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This is where God wants you to come.
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And the WORD OF GOD is like a sword at the entrance that cuts and divides
our souls from our spirits.
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We are told to labour to enter into this rest for the distinct reason that
the word of God is like a sword that does a perfect job of spiritually
cutting into our lives.
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It sounds odd and perhaps gruesome if you do not get the idea Hebrews is
actually saying.
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The reason we are to labour to enter because the word will cut perfectly
is because the labour this is speaking about is the labour found in this
verse:
Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached,
as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it.
It is believing the Gospel.
Just as Israel could not enter into the promised land due to unbelief,
we will not enter this rest either without mixing the word with faith.
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Israel failed to do that.
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Getting the Word mixed with our faith will help us enter the rest.
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We must commit this labour because the word acts like a sword and will
cut away all unbelief that keeps people out of the rest!
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This explains verses 11 and 12.
So after reading that and comparing taht with the sword in the Garden entrance,
we clearly see that the way that the sword keeps the way of the tree of
life is that it doesn’t allow UNBELIEF to walk there.
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It preserves “the way” from the defilement of doubting God.
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It keeps it holy.
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It keeps it pure and undefiled.
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So, if you do not believe, then you will are therefore defiling.
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You will therefore be excluded by the sword.
I want to walk in “the way”!
Isaiah 35:8-10 And an highway shall
be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean
shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though
fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous
beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed
shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to
Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain
joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
I want to walk on this high way.
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Notice that wild beasts cannot walk there.
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Those who walk on this highway are safe!
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Since the way of life is protected by the sword and the cherubims, we see
now that the people who walk on it are therefore protected also!
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The reason God protected the way of life from evil is not keep mankind
out, but for mankind to be cleansed by God from sin and to walk in this
way and thereby be safe in His care!
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He doesn’t protect a road just to protect a road.
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He protects the road so that those who walk on it are protected!
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Adam could not tread upon it because he was sinful.
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He was unclean, and the way was protected from uncleanness.
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Its a privileged place of walking.
Notice that Isaiah said that this highway is a road where the ransomed
of the Lord shall return and COME TO ZION.
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We return to the Garden!
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And notice this!
Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount
Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and
to an innumerable company of angels,
The saved Church of people have come to Mount Zion.
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This means that they must have walked the protected highway of holiness!
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It’s a highway of holiness because it s a protected way.
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Its separate from all other ways.
The only ones who dare to walk this highway are the ones who are willing
to be cut asunder and exposed to the sword of the Word.
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Many people want to go to heaven, but they do not want to lose some things
that the sword must cut away from them.
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The sword cuts away desires that are sinful and unholy.
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It cuts away adultery and fornication.
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It cuts away attitudes against people, and gossip and grudges.
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It cuts away self exaltation and self-centredness.
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It cuts away bad feelings towards others and hatred.
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It leaves all that is good and right.
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It protects the road from the kind of people who are wicked and unforgiving
towards others.
Unbelief must be mutilated away from our lives by this sword.
At this time let us turn back to the reference of the voice of God that
came towards Adam after he sinned.
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I used to think this was simply God walking through the Garden whistling
a tune or speaking softly.
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Then I realized that the COOL OF THE DAY in which they heard this voice
actually means SPIRIT OF THE DAY, or CLOUD of the day.
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SPIRIT and CLOUD and WIND all come from the same Hebrew idea.
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God was often spoken of as dwelling in a glory cloud in the Bible.
Exodus 16:10 And it came to pass, as Aaron
spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they
looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared
in the cloud.
Exodus 40:35 And Moses was not able to enter
into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and
the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
And when the cloud came it was accompanied by noises like thunder, or rushing
waters, or a trumpet blast, or the sound of a marching army.
Ezekiel saw God’s glory and cherubims were associated with it in Ezekiel
1:4; 10:1.
Ezekiel 1:22-28 And the likeness
of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour
of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. And under
the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every
one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered
on that side, their bodies. And when they went, I heard the noise of their
wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the
voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down
their wings. And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their
heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings. And above the firmament
that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance
of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness
as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber,
as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of
his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward,
I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so
was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance
of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon
my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
So the NOISE was there.
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And the Hebrew word for VOICE in the reference to the VOICE of God moving
in the Garden is NOISE or SOUND.
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Adam was not hearing God whistling or softly speaking, but rather was hearing
thunderous noises, or rushing waters, or a marching army, etc.
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And that is why he hid himself because he was afraid.
God was coming in judgment.
And because there were cherubims associated with this NOISE, if you
compare the rest of the Bible to this picture, this was the entity that
stood at the entrance of the Garden as well!
Remember the Exodus story and the part in which God came down in a cloud
and stood between the Egyptians and the Hebrews at the Red Sea, protecting
the people from the armies.
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He caused darkness on the side of the Egyptians, but she forth light on
the Hebrews.
So this cloud has a twofold work.
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It can speak of judgment and blockage, as well as covering and protection.
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That is the reason that the VOICE or NOISE of God that came in the CLOUD
of the day, or the WIND or SPIRIT of the day, came in judgment against
Adam but also protected the way of the tree of life.
Notice the beginning of Genesis.
Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and
void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and
there was light.
The SPIRIT of God moved upon the waters that were previously covered in
darkness.
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And the word MOVED UPON in Hebrew means FLUTTERED, like a dove.
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This was the glory cloud of God.
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The same cloud that allowed the Hebrews to experience light in the darkness.
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This cloud covered the earth and then God’s Word spoke forth light into
that earth.
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It caringly and gently brooded over the earth.
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And light came forth.
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That is the reason that Genesis 3:8 calls it the SPIRIT OF THE DAY, or
the CLOUD OF THE DAY.
The same Hebrew words translated as MOVED and WITHOUT FORM in Gen 1:2 are
found together again in only one other place in all of Moses writings.
Deuteronomy 32:10-11 He found him
in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he
led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
The words WASTE and FLUTTERETH are the Hebrew words for WITHOUT FORM and
MOVED
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This is describing the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.
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God caringly found Israel in a WASTE, WITHOUT FORM, desert, and fluttered
or moved upon Israel.
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And He guided them.
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He protected them from trouble beneath His wings.
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The wings are not the wings of God as though he were a bird.
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But this glory CLOUD had cherubims in it, whose wings sounded like rushing
waters, etc.
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Those are the wings that God fluttered with, because we read that He rides
upon a cherub.
2Samuel 22:7-12 In my distress I called
upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his
temple, and my cry did enter into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled;
the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth. There
went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured:
coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and
darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and
he was seen upon the wings of the wind. And he made darkness pavilions
round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.
Notice that darkness is his pavilion.
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The Hebrew word for PAVILION also means TABERNACLE, BOOTH or COVERING.
When we read that God PLACED at the Garden of Eden Cherubims and a flaming
sword, the word PLACED literally means TABERNACLED or TEMPLED.
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So this glory cloud was a sort of TABERNACLE or PAVILION.
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It covered the WAY of the tree of life.
Notice this passage:
Isaiah 4:4-5 When the Lord shall
have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged
the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment,
and by the spirit of burning. And the LORD will create upon every dwelling
place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day,
and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall
be a defence.
God would create a cloud upon Zion that would be a DEFENSE.
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The word DEFENCE also means COVERING, DIVINE PROTECTION or CANOPY.
Jesus said that He is the way of Life!
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And in John, where we read Genesis notes of the beginning, the light, the
word, a series of days, the Spirit of God coming down upon Him in baptism
like a dove, we also read this:
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The word DWELT among us.
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The Word "DWELT" literally means "TABERNACLED".
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And the TABERNACLE of God was His pavilion or GLORY CLOUD.
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And John said we beheld HIS GLORY.
People, Jesus is the way of life!
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You need to get inside of this pathway!
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In Him is protection.
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In Him is Joy.
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As the Spirit Cloud of God’s glory gently covered the wasted earth and
spoke forth light where there was darkness, Jesus is the word and is the
light of the world.
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And as that cloud came in judgment against Adam and drove him out of the
Garden, and protected the garden from uncleanness, He will guard you and
keep you in His cherubimic wings from all harm.
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He gently covers those who are His, but on the outside looking on, He is
a fearsome guard and protector against sin and evil.
Matthew 23:37-38 O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Let us walk in this way of Life again!
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Get in Christ and stay inside Him.