SERMONS

Deut 33:1 And this [is] the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
Deut 33:13-17 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD [be] his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, And for the precious fruits [brought forth] by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and [for] the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let [the blessing] come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him [that was] separated from his brethren. His glory [is like] the firstling of his bullock, and his horns [are like] the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they [are] the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they [are] the thousands of Manasseh.

Moses’ blessing upon the tribes of Israel mentioned Joseph.

• Joseph was separated from his brethren.
• He was different.
• He received visions from God.
• He went to the end of himself, cast into a pit by his brothers due to his visions.
• He ended up in Egypt as a slave, and then was imprisoned because the master’s wife lied, after she tried seducing him and his refusal to comply to her, saying he tried to rape her.
• In prison God was with him.
• Eventually he came forth from the prison and God gave him understanding to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, warning of a famine to come.
• And Joseph rose to power in Egypt and saved his own family from famine.

Joseph had the blessing of him that spoke from the bush.

Moses knew that the God that spoke to him, showing him how Moses’ way doesn’t work, but God’s way always wins, was with Joseph.
Joseph was a classic example of doing things God’s way.
A perfect example of one obeying the God who spoke to Moses from the bush.

Moses was, of course, referring to the experience He had in meeting God in the burning bush, and to the God he met there, when he referred to "Him that dwelt in the bush."

We already studied in recent services that the burning bush displayed by way of illustration, so to speak, the very concept God was relating to Moses when He appeared so.
God told Moses the seven "I will's"
The perfect will of God.
(The number Seven implies "complete" or perfect, since the first mention of the number was in reference to the completion of God's work upon the earth, when God rested the seventh day).
The words that God gave to Moses in the burning bush informed Moses that GOD would do the initiating and the scheming to deliver Israel, NOT MOSES.
So to meet the God who dwelt in the bush, is to meet the God who does the leading.
It is to know that God does the leading.
Not everyone knows that.
There will be a "burning bush" experience everyone must come to so that they, too, might learn that God does the leading and planning.
Before one comes to that experience, one will instinctively, and in error, try handling all of life's situations, and even the Church situations, in one's own weak human power.
Joseph was blessed of Him who dwelt in the bush.
Joseph knew that God leads, and we simply let Him use us in His way.

Because of that, Joseph became so much a picture of Jesus.

Listen to his uncanny parallels with the Lord.
Joseph is given visions from God and He tells them to his brothers.
He is then deemed a threat, and in jealousy, is sold by his own brothers.
Jesus speaks forth the words of God to Israel, his brothers.
He is sold to the Romans and is crucified by the desire of the Israelites, His own people to whom He spoke words of God.
After Joseph was sold, he finds himself a bride among the gentiles.
Experiences lead up to his exaltation in the Gentile world and gentiles are saved from a famine through his hand.

This would never have occurred had not his brothers sold him into Egypt.

After Jesus is rejected, His death on the cross was the means by which He would save all non-Hebrew nations from their sins.

Jesus finds Himself a bride from among the Gentiles, the Church.

If it had not been for His rejection, the gentiles would never have been saved.

Joseph sees his own brothers who sold him, come to him in the end and get saved from famine themselves.

In reference to his banishment by his brothers, he later told his brothers,

Gene 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; [but] God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as [it is] this day, to save much people alive.

Jesus has Israel come to Him in the last days.

Zech 13:6 And [one] shall say unto him, What [are] these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, [Those] with which I was wounded [in] the house of my friends.
Reve 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Notice that Joseph is so perfect a picture of Jesus Christ.

And Moses said that Joseph was one blessed of Him that dwelt in the bush.
He who spoke from a burning bush, which burning bush symbolized our unions to Him.

John the revelator saw a vision of Jesus in an almond-tree shaped candlestick, with candles burning, so similar to the burning bush.

John was exiled on the isle of Patmos for preaching the Gospel.

Reve 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Patmos, a rugged and bare island in the Aegean Sea.

Patmos means in English “MY KILLING.”

John was at the expiration of himself, so to speak, and saw God as one who is within the churches, who are His branches and extensions.

This morning we noted the life-changing experiences people will have when they come to the end of themselves, and are ready to hear from God.

There is more to say about this issue.

The coming to the burning bush was the coming to the place where the Word of God would re-educate the man Moses.
Moses came to the end of himself by the time he met God in the burning bush.
The burning bush was a distinct picture of the manner God works in this world.
It was like showing Moses an illustration of what He desired.
He wants to be the life-source of the work.
And He wants us to be his branches connected to Him.

John saw the seven churches in the form of the seven-branched candlestick.

Jesus was in the midst of the branches.

God wants burning bushes in the world where the people involved are branches of His Body and extensions.

And the burning bush sent a word to Moses that Moses must merely be a branch.

We are “de” branches, and He is di-vine.

There is a big controversy in the church-world today about what is part of God’s plan of salvation.

There are those who do not see any indication of a concept of the need to be amalgamated into the Body of Jesus Christ.
They work as Moses initially worked and failed.
They simply use their own ingenuity that they learned from Egypt, and get things done in their own ways.
When you come to the burning bush, you are about to change from doing things your way to God’s way.
And you clearly see the picture that God works in

We must understand the concept of being a burning bush to the people who come to hear from God.

There must be the message by just what they see here that God wants us to be in union with Him and how it is that we can become in union with Him.

The message of water baptism is a message that is avoided by so many groups simply because they cannot twist their brain around the truth that there is a real union of a believer with Jesus.

Some people have no idea of letting God have His way.
Anything that is a part of losing self to let God have His will, and anything connected to putting ourselves away, is foreign to these people.
Baptism is one example.
Those who do not see the absolute need of it are always those who run their own shows.
Those who cannot be led by the Spirit and do not know how to be led by the Spirit.

It is water baptism’s call to us to have faith that we are buried with Him into His death that is so pivotal.

We are amalgamated with Him at the point of His death on the cross.
Jesus said to John, while He was seen in the midst of the seven branches...

Reve 1:17-18 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

He introduced Himself as the one who was dead and is alive forevermore.

Get the picture.
While Jesus was seen in the midst of a seven- branched almond tree, He said “I am He who was dead and is alive forevermore.”
The experience of Jesus’ death and resurrection is the very part of Jesus life that gave us what we call the Gospel today.
If it had not been for Jesus’ death and resurrection, where would be?
His death is how we are first amalgamated into His Body.
His death is the experience He had that invited all the world, whosoever will, to unite with Him and be crucified with Him.
And so Jesus spoke words to John that reflected the picture John saw of the churches as branches coming forth from Jesus.
The fact that He died and resurrected to be alive forevermore is the reason there are churches who are regarded as His branches and extensions.

If you want to know God deeply and come into union with Him, searching soul, it is His death and resurrection that you have been given to enjoin yourself to Him.

Baptism is specifically said to be baptism into His death.

Roma 6:3-7 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Thank God that He opened the opportunity for me to be crucified with Him.

If it had not been for that one event of all events, I would never be free from my sins.

Since death frees us from sin, I can say I am freed from sin because God made His death my death when I was baptized into Him.

This is so similar to Moses.

Moses saw what God was trying to tell him.
“Moses, you cannot do it your way anymore. I am come down to do the work. You are a part of it, but only in the sense that you will be amalgamated to me as a branch, and be my extension. Amalgamate with me, Moses. Be a burning branch. You can only bear fruit of success in my Kingdom by being my extension, and not your own initiator.”

The reason we look at so many Old Testament heroes of faith who seem to foreshadow exactly what the Lord Jesus would do in the New Testament in saving us from sin, is due to the fact that they yielded to God so that His will would be done.

And they became extensions of Him in this world.
And if you were an extension of God in Old Testament times, and all during that past age, God was anxiously preparing to come and save man by His cross in the days ahead, making that the greatest thing in God’s mind, don’t you think that God is going to come through your life with hints of what was bearing on His mind more than anything else?

When the manner that God works in is presented to people, it is a burning bush they have confronted.

It is their opportunity to hear the greatest news they will ever know.
They can actually come into union with Jesus Christ and be His extension in this world.
They learn that the entire Gospel really is a message of how God made it possible for us to unite to Him.

Before I read about the world’s end and the coming of the Lord, I need to read about my union to Him.

After Moses was shown the picture of becoming God’s branch, we read of the great Exodus and the blood of the lamb.

Egypt was vanquished in death as God’s people came out in life.
And at the Red Sea, another wonderful picture is shown.

1Cor 10:1-2 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

All of Israel, three million Hebrews, it is estimated, were baptized into Moses.

They followed Moses instruction from God to stand still and see God’s salvation.
And they committed themselves to follow Moses.
They were baptized into Moses and started their march towards the promised land.
Moses represents Jesus Christ.
We begin the Christian march, journey, by hearing Jesus Christ and His message to us.
We cannot save ourselves, but we must let God save us by being baptized into Jesus Christ, and thereby starting our Christian journeys.

All of this is foreign to many people.

The concept of Church being a branch of Jesus after we have been baptized into union with Him, proclaiming that we can say we died with Jesus, is nonsensical to some very so-called “religious” Christians.

But all we want is the blessings of Him that spoke from the bush

Just to be His hand extended...

"HIM THAT DWELT IN THE BUSH"