TIME TO ENTER
THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST
May 3, 1998
am
MF Blume
Exod 12:25 And it shall come to
pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according
as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
Hebr 3:8 Harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Hebr 3:11 So I sware in my wrath,
They shall not enter into my rest.)
Hebr 3:14 For we are made partakers
of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Hebr 4:1 Let us therefore fear,
lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it.
Colo 2:9 For in him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Jesus, in Himself, represents something we must not miss.
- He is the LAND OF REST.
- Hebrews 3 refers to the
Exodus period at the specific point when the people were given chance to enter
the Promised land of Canaan.
- The land of Canaan was
called the "Rest."
- Jesus said He was the fulfillment
of the foreshadow of the Rest in the Land of Promise
Matt 11:29 Take my yoke upon you,
and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest
unto your souls.
The book of Hebrews tells us
that the land of Canaan was the REST for the Israelites, after dwelling in
a land called Egypt that was only torture and whipping and slavery.
- That land was only a foreshadow
of what JESUS is.
- Go to the land and receive
REST.
- Go to Jesus and receive
REST.
The Promised Land represents
the KINGDOM OF GOD in Jesus Christ.
- Jesus said we must be born
of the water and of the Spirit in order to enter the Kingdom.
- Elsewhere, the New Testament
teaches us that these things put us into the BODY OF CHRIST (Ro. 6:3).
- They put us into the CHURCH.
- We are baptized into Jesus
Christ.
- So even Jesus was trying
to tell people that He is what the KINGDOM OF GOD in the land of Israel represented,
when He told them to be baptized in water and Spirit to enter the Kingdom,
for we are Baptized by water and Spirit to enter Him.
1Cor 12:13 For by one Spirit are
we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we
be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Roma 6:3 Know ye not, that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Colo 2:9 For in him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
All that Israel would ever need
would be in that land.
- A whole country of their
own.
- And JESUS is the fulness
of the Godhead bodily.
- That means that all we
will ever need from God is in Jesus.
Go into the fulness of what God
has for you.
- Leave fallen creation and
this world of sin.
- Go back into the Paradise
God created for you.
- I am preaching about returning
to the Garden of Eden.
- The Israelites left Egypt
and wandered through a wilderness and came to the land of Canaan.
- And then doubt came there
way.
They had been 430 years in EGYPT.
Exod 12:41 And it came to pass at
the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day
it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of
Egypt.
They left Egypt and 3 months
later arrived at Canaan's border, Kadesh-Barnea.
- There they sent spies to
spy out the land of Canaan.
- Ten spies doubted they
could take the land, after God said they could take it!
- Two spies, Joshua and Caleb,
said they could take it!
- The ten infected the rest
of the nation with their doubt and God said the 40 days of spying the land
would become 40 years of more wilderness when they would die.
Between the Old and New Testament
there was 400 years.
- Often called the 400 silent
years when God did not speak to man.
- Jesus was then born and
grew to age 30 when He began to preach.
- 400 +30
= 430 years.
- Same amount
of time as Israel was in Egypt and left to arrive at Canaan's borders.
AT JESUS, people divide themselves,
as at the border of the Land of Canaan.
Israel celebrated the FEAST OF
TABERNACLES every year in Jerusalem. This was the feast of Tabernacles. A
feast they celebrated in thanks that they came out of Egypt, dwelt in a wilderness
in tabernacles or tents and finally came to the Land of Canaan.
John 7:2 Now the Jews' feast of
tabernacles was at hand.
John 7:14 Now about the midst of
the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
John 7:19 Did not Moses give you
the law, and [yet] none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
John 7:37 In the last day, that
great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this
spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for
the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
John 7:40 Many of the people therefore,
when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others
said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
- It was as though history
repeated itself.
- The people came to the
border of a great new Kingdom -- Christ.
- As Israel came to the border
of the promised land and divided over whether they should enter or not, the
people of Jesus' day, notably at the feast of Tabernacles, were divided over
whether Jesus was the Messiah or not.
- Dividing over the chance
to enter Canaan typifies people dividing over the Lord Jesus Christ because
Jesus is what the Land of Canaan foreshadowed.
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES:
Levi 23:42 Ye shall dwell in booths
seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your
generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths,
when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.
- Feast of the time Moses
gave law.
- Feast of time followed
pillar of fire.
- Feast of the time in wilderness.
- Feast of the time they
looked for Rest.
- Jesus was trying to tell
them that HE WAS the true end of the journey to every soul.
- On this day the Jews took
water from the pool of Siloam and poured it on the altar.
- Jesus was saying HE IS
THE PROVIDER OF LIVING WATER.
- He is the milk and honey.
- "I am what that Exodus
you are celebrating was truly taking people towards."
- "I am rest. I am peace.
I am the source of any of your needs."
- They sought to kill Him,
the One to whom the Exodus led them.
- The doubted Him as Israel
doubted they could enter the Land of Canaan.
Why not go all the way with Jesus
and enter into the FULNESS OF CHRIST? Why disbelieve and doubt?
- Some today will wander all
their lives.
- They know what they need
to do.
- But they live a wandering
life.
- They doubt everything.
- Just as they divided over
the Land opportunity, the people divided over Jesus.
John 7:43 So there was a division
among the people because of him.
- They were in the people
of Israel, but not in the fullness and too worldly to enter fullness.
- Like being in the Tabernacle
or Temple, but only in the holy place and not in the Holiest of Holies.
- The TABERNACLE had three
sections.
OUTER COURT
- The outer court represents
the EGYPT SECTION where the LAMB was slain and Israel began their journey
to freedom.
- In the outer court was
the brass altar where the sacrifice was made.
- In Egypt, they killed the
lamb and put its blood on the doorways to redeem them.
HOLY PLACE
- The second section of the
tabernacle was a room you entered after passing through the outer court.
- Holy Place.
- After they left Egypt,
they entered the wilderness.
- It was the in-between section
linking those in the outer court to the Holiest of Holies.
- It was between the outer
court and the holiest of holies.
HOLIEST OF
HOLIES
- This was the deepest part
called the SANCTUARY or HOLIEST OF HOLIES.
- It was past the veil.
- You left the Holy Place
to enter into the Holiest of Holies.
- This corresponds to the
land of CANAAN.
During the time of doubting they
could enter Canaan, God told Moses that they would die in the wilderness.
- The 40 days of spying would
turn into 40 years of dying.
- Then the people were scared
and changed their minds and said they wanted to enter now.
- But Moses said, No.
Numb 14:34-35 After the number of the
days in which ye searched the land, [even] forty days, each day for a year,
shall ye bear your iniquities, [even] forty years, and ye shall know my breach
of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil
congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they
shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
Numb 14:40-45 And they rose up early
in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo,
we [be here], and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised:
for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment
of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the LORD [is] not among
you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the
Canaanites [are] there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because
ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.
But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the
covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites
came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and
discomfited them, [even] unto Hormah.
The Amalekites defeated them
and they could not enter.
- It was like trying to enter
the Holiest out of God's will, since Canaan corresponds to the Holiest of
Holies in a grand temple.
In the Old Testament, Aaron's
sons, Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10), tried going into the Holiest of Holies without
being properly consecrated, like Israel trying to get into the land after
God said no.
- Fire came down and they
died.
- They could enter the Holy
Place, but not the Holiest of Holies.
- Israel was defeated by
the Amalekites around the region when they tried to enter Canaan.
Notice they would not enter because
it was God's will for them to enter, but because they were told they would
die in the wilderness.
- They were not a true people
of God.
- True people of God do what
God wills for them to do, and not only do it because they do not want to go
to hell.
- They want to obey God.
Because Israel doubted, and as
a result they would die forty years later.
- Moses wept.
- God originally was going
to smite the entire nation and wipe them out and raise a new people from Moses.
- Moses wept.
- And God decided to keep
the older ones out for forty years until they died so the younger could enter.
Jesus wept.
Matt 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.
It is uncanny that Jesus began
preaching 430 years after God spoke to Malachi, exactly the same amount of
years that Israel was in Egypt until they left and came to Canaan (3 months
in the wilderness). And then when they came to the border and doubted, God
said 40 years later they would die and the younger would enter. Exactly 40
years after Jesus wept for them, Rome's armies came to Jerusalem and destroyed
the city, and the Jews never returned to Israel until 1948.
- There is a time for us when
God talks to us like this.
- The time for Israel was
the day the spies returned.
- But they missed it because
they doubted, and God would not let them in again.
- Today is someone's time.
It could very well be that if you miss it today, another time might not
come.
Do not come for fear of hell,
but to obey God -- for the right reason.
Luke 19:37-44 And when he was come
nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude
of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all
the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed [be] the King that
cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master,
rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that,
if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And
when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou
hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong]
unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall
come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass
thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the
ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one
stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
If you had
known this day
Dani 9:25 Know therefore and understand,
[that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem
unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks:...
69 weeks of years, not days.
- Heptads (groups of seven)
- 69(weeks) X 7(years in
each "week") =483 years
Three possible decrees to rebuild
the City are in the Bible.
- 536 B.C. - In Kings
- 457 B.C. - In Ezra
- 445 B.C. - In Nehemiah
Nehemiah's reference fit the
bill:
Nehe 2:1 And it came to pass in
the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, [that] wine
[was] before him: and I took up the wine, and gave [it] unto the king. Now
I had not been [beforetime] sad in his presence.
Nehe 2:5 And I said unto the king,
If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight,
that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres,
that I may build it. And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by
him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it
pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
- Check Babylon's calendar
to discover the actual date.
- Find the new moon (for
the month)
- Astronomers reckoned it
at 20 hours, 47 minutes, March 14, 445 B.C.
- That would be 8:47 p.m.
- Find out when the Messiah
would come by calculating from Daniel's 483 years.
- (A year in Israel's calendar
was 360 days.)
- 483 years would therefore
be 173,880 days
- With calculated shift in
years, it comes to April 6, A.D. 32 - EXACT TIME.
Let us compare this with Luke's
account. Luke wrote the Gospel with a very clear and historically accurate
mindset as stated in the start of the Gospel.
Luke 1:1 Forasmuch as many have
taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are
most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which
from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed
good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very
first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou
mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.
Luke excellent historian.
- 7 men in office in Luke
3:1-2
- Only 1 day in history had
all these seven men in office at the same time.
Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth
year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea,
and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of
Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,
Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John
the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
When was this day?
- John announced Jesus Christ
and baptized Him.
- Jesus then began His ministry
that year.
- Tiberius Caesar began reign
in Aug. 19, 14 A.D.
- Luke said that this day
was in the fifteenth year of his reign.
- Add 15 years to 14 A.D.
- 29. A.D.
- Jesus began ministry in
29 A.D.
- He preached three years.
- Year of Inauguration.
- Year of Popularity.
- Year of Opposition.
- 29 A.D. + 3 Passovers (time
the moneychangers cast out was at Passover) and you get 32 A.D. April 6.
Zech 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter
of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee:
he [is] just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon
a colt the foal of an ass.
- The day Jesus rode into
Jerusalem on a colt was the day the people cried Hosanna, "Save us now, King,"
was fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. The march that day stopped as the people
rejected Him.
- And Jesus makes reference
to the DAY.
Luke 19:32-42 And they that were
sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them. And as they
were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the
colt? And they said, The Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus:
and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.
And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when he was come
nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude
of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all
the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed [be] the King that cometh
in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some
of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy
disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should
hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And when he was come
near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy
peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
- 173,880 days ago that day
a decree was made.
- THIS IS THE DAY.
- Literally the very day.
- Zechariah witnessed of
it, too.
- Time was given until the
day would come that would aptly prepare for what He was about to introduce.
- Miracles and healings were
done.
- All messianic fulfilments
was accomplished.
- Then He rode into Jerusalem
to await their response.
- But only a few accepted
Him.
- All Israel had that prophecy
in Daniel.
- They rejected Him at the
Feast and at the exact day as prophesied by Daniel.
- They missed their spiritual
"Canaan."
- Do not miss your Canaan
and entrance into your promised land.
- It is time to enter the
fulness of Christ.
- Time to cease wandering
and avoiding what you know you must do today.