No. 61 - SEASONS OF THE CHURCH, PART I:TO BE A WITNESS By: John J. Blanchard Saturday, March 05, 2005 I want to start today’s sermon, brethren, by turning to I Corinthians chapter 13, the love chapter, because that is going to help us get in the right frame of mind to look into a subject that is very important. Sometimes people have a tendency to run off with and think about this in strange ways, let’s put it that way. So let us get our minds focused now the way they should be (the way our lives should actually be focused) by reading I Corinthians 13:1-13. That puts our mind in the proper perspective because as we read in the beginning of the chapter, we can understand all mysteries and prophecies and it profits us nothing if we do not have love. We can have tremendous faith and make huge sacrifices, but if we do not have love for our fellow human beings and love for our brethren in the Church, it profits us nothing. It is all a waste of time. Paul goes on to say that we understand in part. He himself, who learned from Jesus Christ and knew the other apostles personally, could understand only part of what the scriptures were saying and what Christ was saying. At this time I think we know more because of history. We have seen many more prophecies fulfilled, but we still see only in part. So we have to keep that in perspective. HANDLING GOD’S THOUGHTS No one can understand the mind of God totally. In due fact, all we can understand about the mind of God and His thoughts is what He shares with us and when He is ready to share it. Anything we try to force or put our own slant on when we study the Bible is to our own hurt and the hurt of other people. So let us keep in mind that no one knows all of God’s thoughts. No one understands the entire Bible. As we study the Bible, let us remember to do it in humility because of those things. We have human frailties, and we have human mind power and human reasoning abilities. They are far, far short of God’s. Remember Isaiah 55 that we have often quoted that His thoughts are so high above our thoughts. They are as high as the sky is above the earth! Those are His thoughts compared to our thoughts. Let us keep that in mind as we study the word of God. So many times we see people speaking with great pride and with great arrogance that they understand the Bible. They throw their weight around because they feel they are an authority on the Bible. None of us is an authority on the Bible the way God is an authority. He wrote it! So when we handle the word of God, it is a good thing to handle it with trembling hands because we are handling God’s thoughts. Even more so when we are trying to convey it to someone else. Realize what we see in the scriptures and what we understand are God’s thinking, and we are allowed by Him to share this with someone else. Be very careful not to be arrogant. There were people who were used mightily by God. An example is Moses who was considered the meekest and humblest man on the earth in his day. Another one is Daniel who received the prophecies that were recorded in the Bible. When Daniel received those from the angel he said don’t talk to me. I am a man of unclean lips. I am a sinner. I am not worthy to receive this knowledge. Are you and I in any better spiritual shape than Moses or Daniel? No, I think not. We are a far cry from that kind of people. Let’s understand when we look into God’s thoughts, we should do it with reverence. We should do it with honor to Him and give Him the praise and the glory that He deserves. It is His Bible, these are His thoughts, and we are simply His tools and His people that He is using. That is what we have to remember. I think that is the main lesson in I Corinthians 13, because if we have love, we are also told in another place that love covers a multitude of sins. If we are making a mistake and we are doing it in a loving manner, we are likely to get forgiveness for it. That is what we are being told. Having said that, I would like to give you the title for today’s sermon. It is “Seasons of the Church, Part I: To Be a Witness.” This will be followed up next time with Part II. I want to start by talking about the covenants or the agreements that God has made with His people and their rewards. We know there is a first covenant and a second covenant. I would like to take a brief look at them. Let us start with the first covenant by turning to Exodus chapter 19. THE OLD COVENANT Exodus 19, verse 1: “In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.” This whole congregation of Israel was encamped. Continue reading in Exodus 19, verses 3-6. God said if you make this covenant (which means an agreement or a contract) with Me, you will become My special people in all the earth. You will be a holy nation, a nation of kings and priests, a very special people. You will be My treasure, He said. Of course, the people did make the agreement. I would like to follow through with some of the prayers and what have you to show how they did humbly make this agreement with God. If you would, turn to II Chronicles chapter 6. We are going to see that God began to dwell with these particular people who became a special nation. We are going to read here part of the prayer that Solomon prayed dedicating the temple to God. This was actually the completion of this agreement made back there in Exodus. II Chronicles 6, verse 17: “‘And now, O Lord God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David. But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth?’” It is a very important and significant question. Will God dwell with human beings? Continuing in verse 18: “‘Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You; that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place.’” Solomon is recognizing that this is a tremendous moment in all of history when the Great God of the universe is going to dwell with men in a physical building built by men! It is an amazing thing because as Solomon said the heavens cannot contain You! You are bigger than the universe! Are You really going to do this? That is what Solomon is praying. Are You really going to do this, and if You do, answer the prayers of the people who pray to this place. Let us continue by reading some more of this prayer of dedication in verse 21 of II Chronicles 6. “‘And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.’” Solomon was saying when You hear us pray toward this place where You dwell, forgive us please. Continue reading II Chronicles 6:22-33. That is quite a prayer of dedication. That is only a part of it. He says if we are ever overcome by enemies due to our sins, if there is ever a famine in the land, if we ever have pestilences, if we ever have locusts, please God hear our prayer when we pray toward Your house. Hear and answer that prayer and forgive Your people. Restore their blessings. Bring the rain to end the drought. Stop the locusts from devouring the food. Release Your people from captivity and forgive their sins. Not only that, but Solomon goes on to say forgive anyone in the world who prays toward this house where You dwell. Anyone who will recognize the wonder of Your name and who You are as the Great God, help them and forgive them. In other words, the temple was for the benevolence from God toward mankind wherever they are as long as they recognize that He is the Great God of the universe. This is part of the first covenant. Read to see what happens just by flipping a page in your Bible to chapter 7. We will conclude and show what God did after Solomon was finished with his prayer of dedication. He came and dwelt in that building with awesome glory! II Chronicles chapter 7, verse 1: “When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying: ‘For He is good, for His mercy endures forever.’” God dwelling there made it possible for the people to have mercy, forgiveness of their sins, to get the wrongs righted, to get the wicked dealt with, and to get curses that were placed upon the people reversed. They understood the Great God in all His power and glory was now dwelling in this physical building! What an awesome thing. Nothing like that had ever happened between man and God before. This was a fulfillment of the promise made back in Exodus. In Exodus we were told that God said if you will make this agreement with Me, I will come and dwell with You. I will bring all of these blessings. But if you break the agreement after we have made this agreement, there will be certain consequences (certain punishments) to teach you to come back to Me. If you come back to Me, I will reverse those punishments and once again bless you. If you recall the whole story at Mount Sinai, the mountain shook. The people were terrified. There was a cloud over the mountain and there was lightning. They could hear loud trumpets blowing. Then they heard God’s voice, and they were terrified. They went ahead and made that deal with the Great God of the universe. Eventually when a physical temple was built and they were not just wandering through the wilderness carrying the ark of the covenant, God came. He kept His promise. He dwelt in that temple. That was a physical agreement between a physical people and God. That physical nation became a special nation (God’s treasure) upon all the earth. God made physical promises to that nation. He also told them and warned them of physical correction and punishment if they broke their agreement. There are consequences for breaking an agreement with God, but they are for your benefit and my benefit. They were for their benefit. People have to learn to live up to their agreement, and they have to learn that it is actually good for them. Isn’t it a good thing to have food, rain and protection from one’s enemies? Of course, it is. These are good things. God wants to shower good things on His people. But why is this specifically important for us today? Didn’t that happen thousands of years of ago? What is the significance for us today? The significance is that what God did with that special nation (those special people back then) was recorded for us to learn from today. He is going to repeat that in a very special way from the first coming of Jesus Christ onward to our day that we presently live in. Let us read about that in I Corinthians chapter 9. TRAIN YOURSELF NOT TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES I Corinthians 9, verse 24: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” Before I get into how what was written in the past is for our benefit today, let’s pause for a minute and look at this race that Paul said he is running. He said I am running for a crown. It was not a physical crown, but I want to make a comparison to a physical race. When someone runs a marathon, they receive a prize at the end. That can be a gold medal if it is the Olympics or a crown or whatever the case may be. They did not get to that point where they could run that race and win it without bringing their body into subjection. That means they stopped eating junk food. They stopped doing things harmful to their body. They stopped smoking or never had started smoking. Or they may have stopped taking harmful drugs. They trained hard. They ran mile after mile, day after day so that they could work up to the point where they could run in a race for 26 miles. This was not just to complete it but beat everyone else in the race. It takes tremendous condition and effort. Paul said that is just for a physical crown. He said now I am working toward a spiritual crown (an imperishable crown), and I have to do the same things. I have to bring my body into subjection and my mind into subjection. Like we saw in I Corinthians 13, ultimately the goal is to have love for my fellow man. I need to have a forgiving attitude. This is what I am working on, Paul said. Starting in chapter 10:1 he continues. I Corinthians 10, verse 1: “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea…” So after he says I am running this race, he said think about what our past generation had to do here when they went through the Red Sea, when they fled Egypt and they were under the cloud wandering in the wilderness. He says think about this for a minute. Verse 2: “…all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” It was a type of baptism for ancient Israel. Verse 3: “…all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” It was Jesus Christ who was working with ancient Israel. Continue in I Corinthians 10, verse 5: “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.” He said let us not make the same mistake. They came out of Israel. They saw the mountain shake. They heard God’s voice. They saw the lightning. They made an agreement with God, and they broke it. Because they broke it, God was displeased with them. Their bodies were left in the wilderness. Of that generation that made the deal with God at Sinai from the age of 20 on up, no one survived to go into the promised land except Joshua and Caleb. God means it when He says if you are going to make a deal with Me, I will definitely keep My part. You have to do your part. Continuing in verse 7: “And do not become idolaters as were some of them.” We are getting a list of some of the evil things. “As it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.” Continue reading verses 11-13. The sins we commit are the same sins that were committed by ancient Israel. There are only so many things you can do: stealing, lusting, killing, hating, whatever. They are the same sins that have plagued mankind forever. But God said I make a way out for you. It is up to you to take that way out. Train yourself. Paul said, I am training myself. I look at ancient Israel as an example, and I am training myself not to make the same mistakes. This is what Paul is saying. I want to make my spiritual agreement with God and not make the error that the physical ancient Israel did by breaking their agreement with God. So I train and I overcome myself and get rid of sin so that I can be pleasing in God’s sight. The term here “example” if you were to look it up in the Greek means shape or resemblance or a type of what we go through. What ancient Israel went through was a type of what we will go through spiritually from Jesus Christ’s first coming onward. It is a type. It resembles what we are going to go through. We need to keep that in mind because it is something that is spiritual now. We can spiritually break the commandments of God and spiritually break our covenant. Christ spoke of that, too. He said I go beyond the letter of the law now. We talk about the spirit of the law. It is a bigger issue with greater promises. A SPIRITUAL AGREEMENT In dual fashion, God repeated that agreement that He made with ancient Israel with modern spiritual Israel. From Christ’s first coming onward, He offered those who were called by God the Father (who were drawn to Him) a deal just like at Sinai. This deal is if you will follow Me, I will come and dwell with you. But this is a spiritual agreement now. There is no physical temple to go worship at. We do not have a big beautiful building where God dwells. We cannot pray toward a physical building and have Him hear our prayer. We are talking spiritual. Let’s turn now to a few scriptures that back this up. Turn to Hebrews 12:18. “For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.” Here Paul is telling the Hebrews you did not come to a mountain like ancient Israel did. You have come to a different type of a mountain. They came to a mountain that was shaking and quaking. The trumpets were blowing, and lightning and darkness was around it. The voice of God came out and talked to them. You did not come to that kind of a mountain. What kind of a mountain did we come to? Let’s continue in verse 20. “(For they could not endure what was commanded: ‘And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.’” That is what God had said. While I am here on this mountain it is holy ground. Do not touch it! Verse 21: “And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.’) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” He said we have come to Mount Zion instead of Mount Sinai, and this Mount Zion is pictured as a heavenly Jerusalem. An innumerable company of angels surround it. We are an assembly or a church of the firstborn, the firstfruits of God who are registered in heaven. We have come to a Mediator of a new covenant, Jesus Christ, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Because in the first agreement when the people broke the law and they sinned they had to offer sacrifices at that temple. They had to go to the priest and say I sinned, I cheated my neighbor. I know the penalty for that sin is this bull or this sheep or whatever. The Levitical priest would slaughter it and they would pray to God. The person would be forgiven, but they had to do physical things to do it. Now there are better promises through Jesus Christ’s shed blood. Let us continue reading in verse 25. “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven…” This is where he starts to get serious with the brethren saying I just told you in Corinthians that most of them died because they could not keep their agreement with God. If God did that over a physical agreement with physical people, we who have the spiritual agreement (covenant) are we not in a more serious situation if we do not take this seriously and fulfill our side of the agreement? Verse 26: “…whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” Our God is a consuming fire. We understand the Holy Spirit is pictured by fire. That fire is given to someone who is baptized and receives the Holy Spirit. That fire should consume our lives to make us an offering to God just like the fire came down to the first temple and burned the offering. God came and dwelt there. This is not a horrible thing. It is a good thing. But we are being told here we are getting such wonderful things, we should take this very seriously. There is one big difference between ancient Israel and us today. Once we make this agreement with God, in a sense the yoke is light. He knows we are weak and we are going to continue sinning. We are still going to make some mistakes, but we have the blood of Christ, the perfect sacrifice. We have Him dwelling within us once we have received the Holy Spirit. With that blood of Christ all we have to do is pray to Him and repent. Sin is then gone. Ancient Israel had to go through all the rigamarole of praying to the temple, getting a sacrifice, taking it to the priest and having the priest kill it. Then they would offer it up to God and have the sin forgiven. There were other rituals they had to go through, too. You can read about them in Leviticus and Numbers, but we do not have to do that right now. That does not pertain because we have a perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ. All we have to do to keep our agreement is try to overcome, and when we fall short, ask Him to forgive us. It is really not that hard to keep our agreement, but it is very, very serious. Once we agree to do it we just have to keep our side of the agreement and continue to try to overcome. Turn, if you would, to I Peter chapter 2. The people being a sort of physical temple for God is discussed here. I Peter 2, verse 1 starts out with removing sins once again. “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Once we have tasted that the Lord is gracious, that He is forgiving and He has given us His Spirit (or He is drawing us to Him), we need to bring our life into subjection by getting rid of sin. That is what we are told to do. Verse 4: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’” We, in effect, become the sacrifice to God saying here is my life. I am working on overcoming, I am working on removing sin, You can have me. I am a living sacrifice. And the living stone that is the cornerstone of the temple (Jesus Christ) says it is okay. I will make this deal with you. I can put you into this position. You are running this race. You are working on your sins, and you are asking for forgiveness when you fall. That is what I want. You are developing holy righteous character. Continuing in I Peter 2:8. “…and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’” So the chief cornerstone has a wonderful blessing for us, but it can also be a stone of stumbling if we are not careful and take that calling lightly. It can be a stone of stumbling if we turn back and unrepentant sin becomes the order of the day. Or if we fail God in proper worship or whatever it may be, He can actually be a stumbling stone to us then. Let’s finish reading verse 8: “They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” This happens, unfortunately, to a very few. In the last days, it has happened to a lot, but God is going to help them. We understand that. We are going to see that as the sermon progresses. We can be appointed to a position running in the race and then stumble over Christ so that we can lose our appointment with God if we are not careful. We can lose whatever appointment we were going to be appointed to. Verse 9 of I Peter 2. “But you are a chosen generation…” These are the same words we read back in Exodus. “…a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” It is the same agreement only with a spiritual side to it. Once we are drawn by God to Jesus Christ and we understand what we are getting into we say yes, God, I understand. You need people to do a job. You need living sacrifices and living stones. All we are is flesh and blood that is a type of a stone. He said if you make the agreement and give yourself to Me so I can use you, I have for you wonderful spiritual promises. I have a wonderful inheritance for you. I have forgiveness for your sins. I have things you cannot even imagine. Where ancient Israel saw physical land with physical blessings with physical food and protection from physical enemies, God says I am going to give you the universe to inherit! I am going to give you a position to rule with Me forever if you will do this. That is how much I need people to come and make this agreement so these are the kind of promises I am in turn making. They are huge promises! They are far more than what we are worth, obviously. So this is then becoming a spiritual covenant with God with spiritual promises. It is a physical temple versus a spiritual one now. It is a spiritual sanctuary where God dwells. He dwells in a human being instead of a stone building. He makes an agreement with those human beings who are allowing Him to dwell in them and use those people. THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE Turn, if you would, to Ephesians 2. There are many scriptures we could read about this temple of God. We are just going to read this one. We are told here about this building (this dwelling) for God and this temple and how wonderful it is. Ephesians 2, verse 19: “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…” A household is a family. These are members of the family of God. Verse 20: “…having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” This is a miracle, but it is a spiritual thing. You cannot find a building of people and God dwelling there and see it physically. It is of the spirit, but it is very, very real. We must treat it as if it is real every day because it is that serious. Eventually it is going to be of benefit to the entire world just like Solomon’s temple was supposed to be with God dwelling in it. The temple of God is going to help free the world from its horrible tyrannical captor, Satan the devil, and the demons and principalities that now rule over the world. They cause all the suffering, hardship, anxiety, wars, earthquakes, tsunamis and all the horrible devastations you see out there. That all comes from this terrible being who is over the earth at this time. God said we are going to get rid of that system, but I need a few people to help Me do it. I will do the work. I will work through you, but you have to allow Me. You have to make the agreement with Me. Then you can become part of this royal family, this special nation, My treasures. I will make tremendous promises to you, and I will keep My promises if you will allow Me to do this in you. THE BODY OF CHRIST Let us now go to Ephesians 5. Just flip over a page. He characterizes His temple in another way here. We know it is called the body of Christ, and the body of Christ is made of many members. I think we all understand that. But it is said here in a little different, more intimate way. It is sandwiched in a place where he is explaining marriage, what marriage portrays, what families portray, and how they are sacred because the marriage institution is designed to picture something God is doing. Sandwiched in there is some very valuable information about the body of Christ. Ephesians 5, verse 29: “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.” Once the Church has become part and parcel as the body of Christ (the firstfruits) and the individual has been called and brought into that body of Christ, they literally become flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. He dwells there. He once again is using flesh and blood to accomplish His work, and it is called the Church. A lot of times we think of the body of Christ or we think of the many members, but we do not think once a person has made that covenant (that agreement) their flesh becomes Christ’s. Their bones become Christ’s. He dwells in the mind and in the heart, and that becomes His sanctuary just like He did in ancient Israel when He dwelt in a building. He says you have all come together to be the household of God fitly framed together, and I dwell there. Now this group of people becomes flesh of My flesh and bone of My bones! The miracle even goes beyond that. This has been going on now for two thousand years! The mind stays the same. Jesus Christ is the head of the Church. The mind that runs the body stays the same, but the body keeps dying off. We only live so many years. So the Spirit keeps getting passed on and passed on down through the ages with those firstfruits (those called to be the body of Christ during that time frame). Here we are in the beginning of the twenty-first century, and there is a body of Christ. It is at the end of the age. But there was a body of Christ in the year 100, the year 200, the year 300, 400 and onward. They are new people with the same mind, one mind. Isn’t that amazing! One is called into that. God says if you let Me use your flesh and blood and dwell there, I have promises for you. They are awesome because you are letting Me finish the work I have to do to beat this horrible being called Satan to get rid of him. I am forming up a government of people registered in heaven over this whole period of time. Once they have made this agreement and kept it until they day they die, they are registered. It is like having won the race for a specific position. It is an interesting concept. I will just talk about that for a second. A RACE FOR 144,000 POSITIONS There is not one race and we lost because Paul won or James or John won. It is a race for a 144,000 positions in God’s government! Then there are many other positions surrounding that but there are 144,000 main positions. Jesus Christ said in My house there are many mansions. There are many jobs to do. All of these have a race involved to fill that position because I have to get the person who subjects their body the best. They develop their character the best. They have the most love. It is not the one who can recite the most scriptures. It is not the one who understands the most prophecies. It is not the one who has the greatest faith. It is not the one who gives the most money away to the poor, but the one who is the meekest, humblest and loves the most. I am going to pick 144,000 of them. It is a miraculous thing God is doing, and it takes tremendous courage to use physical human beings in this way. But He says if you allow Me to do it, I have promises I am making to you that are so awesome you cannot envision it right now. That spiritual change takes place at baptism, and with the reception of the Holy Spirit, Christ begins to dwell in a living stone. He dwells in flesh and blood (in dirt, water and air) that has come together to form a human body. Christ dwells there. It is the mind of God. He uses those stones to form a body, and He does work with His body just like we do. We work with our body and we accomplish things. He is working with His body, and He is accomplishing things. His ultimate goal is to get rid of Satan, the demons and those horrible principalities and bring peace to the earth. This is what we are working toward. We are becoming the body of Christ and getting used by God to accomplish this tremendous work for Him. TWO CONGREGATIONS How God did this is with two separate congregations (two ekklesias). There is a first ekklesia: ancient Israel that made the deal at Sinai. The second ekklesia (the Church) was started by Jesus Christ the cornerstone. He lived, died and was resurrected and became the first stone in that building (the body of Christ) and who now dwells in people. You have two congregations, a first one and a second one. The first ekklesia and the second ekklesia. Both have made an agreement with God. Both realize their tremendous blessings for doing this. Both should realize their consequences for not fulfilling the contract. If we were to study the term ekklesia, we would find out that ekklesia is a Greek term. The prefix or “ek” or “ex” is a denoting of the point of origin. So these are the first people that God is working with. You combine that with the suffix “kaleo” which means to call. God calls people to start this process off. They are called-out ones. To put the two of them together, you have an ekklesia (a congregation, a Church). Church comes from the word ekklesia. You have a congregation that God is using to accomplish something. In ancient Israel the term congregation in the Old Testament comes from two words that are used to form this. Moed, which means an appointment or a fixed time or season, specifically festivals and holy days conventionally in a year. Within that year moed is yaad which means a fixed time or agreement for a meeting, appointment or marriage. THE SEASONS OF THE CHURCH The second word that is often used is edah which means congregation, which means a stated assembly of a family or crowd as a testimony or a witness. When you see the word congregation (congregation of Israel, congregation gathered for the holy days in the Old Testament) this is what that means. Putting that together, therefore, you have a covenant of these congregations that have made a deal with God to get together at fixed, agreed upon times and have an appointment with God ultimately leading to a marriage. As we know, Jesus Christ will marry the Church. These become the schedule of events in the history of the Church. These become the seasons of the Church. We enact them weekly just like ancient Israel did. You have the Sabbath that comes after six days of work. Every week we reenact that you work for six days and the Sabbath day you rest. That pictures the Millennium. We do this every year as a cycle. We start in the spring with Passover and Unleavened Bread. Then we go to Pentecost, then we go to the Feast of Trumpets, then Atonement and follow at the end of the year with the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. They go down picturing certain events or appointments that the Church needs to keep with God. It is a schedule of events, so to speak. The Sabbath pictures overall the Millennium. Passover shows Christ’s shed blood for His Church. Unleavened Bread pictures putting sin out of our lives, getting rid of the sin and overcoming the self. That is what Unleavened Bread shows us. Pentecost is the Feast of the Firstfruits (the first harvest of God’s firstborn children). Then comes the Feast of Trumpets portraying Christ’s return. After that you have the Day of Atonement, which is the final conquering of Satan and his horrible government. It is getting rid of the demon principalities that are over the earth. That allows God to usher in the Feast of Tabernacles. This is the schedule of events for the Church. These become the seasons of the Church. They are times and seasons that God keeps track of for the ekklesia in certain remarkable ways. God has given us a calendar and a way to keep track of these. First of all you have the week obviously. We work for six days and every seventh day we rest, picturing that the Millennium is coming. So every week we have a reminder of God’s plan. But we also have months and years. We do this cyclically, and we start it over again every year. Turn to Genesis chapter 1. Here God starts off showing us in the very beginning of His book how He is going to keep track of these things. Read Genesis 1:14-16. We are told here God said you can use the sun and the moon to establish days and years but also signs and seasons. Humanity has used these. Some cultures have used the moon. That is a lunar calendar. Other cultures have used the sun and developed solar calendars. They use these to keep track of their years. Each culture establishes their own special days. They have their own days that they want to honor their nation or in some cases a false god or whatever, but they pick certain holy days. But God said you can keep track of time every year, and this will go in a cycle every year. You can use the sun and the moon to keep track of time. God’s calendar keeps track of His seasons. We saw what those seasons are. Those holy days represent those seasons. God’s calendar is based on the moon. The moon (or the lunar calendar) keeps track of the scheduled appointments for the Church. So you can see that you can use the sun and moon to keep track of days and years. You also keep track of God’s appointment schedule. God’s calendar is keeping track of spiritual time, and man’s calendars have been devised to keep track of physical time. Each entire year in God’s plan portrays God’s entire plan in the heavens. That is why every year we start with the first month of the holy year as Passover. It goes right through to the Feast of Tabernacles. You repeat the cycle the next year. Every year we reenact what God is doing with His plan. Just like we do on the Sabbath in a week. Every week we have a mini portrayal of what is happening. Six days of work, working under Satan. The seventh day is one of rest where we can relax. It is God’s day. Every week we portray this, but over the course of a year we do it showing all of the holy days. It shows all the seasons. Then we start again the next year, because we need to repeat to learn this. THE SUN AND THE MOON Let’s look at some scriptures that back this up where we can keep track of these things spiritually. Read Psalm 19:1-6. David said night after night and day after day he can see God’s speech. He can see God’s plan. The sun is like a bridegroom. Jesus Christ is the bridegroom. Nothing is hidden from its knowledge (from His voice) because His light goes around the whole world. He will eventually illuminate everyone! His truth is not something that will be hidden from all mankind. It will be for all man’s benefit. Once an individual is called and can understand what God is doing, David says the sun, moon and what you see in the heavens are portraying a type of speech from God. They are explaining His holy days, keeping His calendar, showing us what He is doing. Turn to Malachi chapter 4. Here once again we see as the sun portrays a bridegroom, this specifically says the sun is representative of Jesus Christ. Malachi 4, verse 2: “‘But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.’” We are told here in God’s word that the “‘…Sun of Righteousness shall arise…’” Jesus Christ will rise from the dead, which He did. And Jesus Christ will return “‘…with healing in His wings…’” and heal the earth. He will get rid of Satan. The sun is a picture of Him, not only as a bridegroom but as One to come to heal the earth with righteousness. Psalm 104, verse 19: “He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knows it going down.” The moon is appointed to understand these seasons in God’s calendar. That is why to this very day the Jews keep track of the holy days by the new moons by keeping track of the lunar cycles. The Sun knew its going down. Jesus Christ came to the earth for a little while and left. Jesus Christ will come back like lightning shining from the east to the west just like the sun does. It comes in the morning and goes from east to west. It will be an amazing thing to understand what God has shown us all along in His word, in the heavens, in creation and all around us. But we have not been able to put that together properly until God was ready to show what He was doing. Here in the last days He says I want people to understand, because we are getting ready for an innumerable company to come along! The moon He says is for keeping track of the holy days for the seasons. Turn, if you would, to Psalm 136:7. “To Him who made great lights, for His mercy endures forever. The sun to rule by day, for His mercy endures forever; the moon and stars to rule by night, for His mercy endures forever.” When Jesus Christ is on the earth it is day. The light is here. In the Millennium when Jesus Christ is here, the light will be on the earth. You see other scriptures that say you will not need the light of the sun. It is not saying that God is going to get rid of the sun that is out there. What He is saying is the Son will be here. The sun in the sky is just a type of Jesus Christ. When He dwells here, the sun light will be everywhere. When He is on the earth, it is day. When it is night (as we are in right now for 6,000 years of night) we are working under Satan’s darkness. It was only day for 33 years when Jesus Christ walked the earth. It was day only where He was because He was dealing with just a few people. From the point where He was walking around Galilee and Jerusalem those people had light. The rest of the world was still in darkness. When the Millennium is here, the whole world will have His light. Everybody in the earth will bask in this light, as we were told in Psalm 19. This is a remarkable thing to understand, because now we can see in the scriptures certain things that will help us understand the thoughts and mind of God and show us where we are in time. First let us read John chapter 1 to grasp the fact that He is the light that makes it day. Read John 1:1-5. It was dark when Christ came, and He was the light of the sun. It was day when He was there, but the darkness could not comprehend. The people that He was teaching did not understand. They could not comprehend it. Of course, He could not reach the Chinese and all around the world where people were far away from Him such as Africa and South America. There were people dwelling there, but there was no way to share His light. But it was not His time at that season to share His light with the whole world. He was using the remnant (the tail end) of ancient Israel and getting ready to start the Christian era. He came in the darkness. We were told earlier who rules in the darkness. The moon and the stars rule. The moon because it reflects the light of the sun and that is why the Church is portrayed by the moon. The Church, the congregations of God (these two ekklesias) should reflect the light of the sun. They should reflect God’s truth. They should help the world receive forgiveness and help the world to understand God’s way by reflecting the light of the Sun. The stars also reign and the stars represent angels. During the night when Christ is not on the earth you have the moon and the stars working. In that period of darkness Christ came for 33 years, and He is going to come again and bring the Millennium. His light will then be over the whole earth. What a wonderful time that will be! SIGNS AND WONDERS Now we can use this knowledge to look at some other scriptures that have scared people. They are scriptures that have been confusing to people. Turn to Luke chapter 21:25. Speaking of our time now we are told: “‘And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring…’” People look at this, and they say does that mean there are going to be lots of tsunamis? Does this mean we are going to see tremendous cosmic events with the sun going dark, the moon turning to blood and stars slamming into the earth? This is what you can read if you were to look at other scriptures that go with this verse here. No, we are being told that there will be signs in God’s system (God’s Church). In Jesus Christ Himself (the sun) He will be showing us things. In the reflected light of the moon there will be things seen. With what goes on with the stars, the angels will be bringing messages to God’s Church. Of course, the demons will be fighting it. So you are seeing signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. We understand now that the sea pictures all mankind dwelling under Satan’s influence. Therefore, we see signs on the earth and people distressed because people are being told the world is about to be destroyed by God, that God is getting ready to punish everybody so that very few survive. People are being fed a whole line of thinking that is causing tremendous anxiety and distress on the earth. Of course, Satan is behind that thinking. God Himself knows He is getting ready to deliver mankind, to heal the earth, to prevent the death and destruction that Satan wants to bring upon mankind! You have two divergent concepts here in the last days. It depends on how well we understand the signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. How well do we know God’s calendar? How well do we understand what God is teaching us by His holy days? If we understand those things, it takes the fear away, because we know God is a good, loving and merciful kind Being. He wants what is good for mankind. The truth sets us free from being deceived by false signs and wonders. We have done it by looking at the sun and the moon in the scriptures and not the physical sun and the moon. God’s calendar of events (His appointed schedule) that we go through every year very cyclically gives us understanding. When we do the second part of this we will talk about that prophetic year, but today we just want to look at these seasons a little bit more. We want to understand what the signs and wonders are and who we watch to see them. Turn to Isaiah chapter 8. Jesus Christ is speaking here to the Father. Isaiah 8, verse 16: “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait on the Lord, who hides His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope in Him. Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.” That Mount Zion that we read in Hebrews 12 (God’s Church, the people that He is using) are for signs and wonders. Christ here is telling the Father here I am Father, Lord, with the children you have drawn to Me, and we are for signs and wonders. Genesis 1 told us that the sun and the moon are for keeping track of times and seasons. The signs and wonders are for doing just that, to know where you are in time. Turn to Acts chapter 2 because Peter’s words will become very clear to us now here. Acts 2, verse 14: “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, ‘Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.’” This is at the first season of Pentecost. Peter and the other apostles were gathered together and talking. If you recall, this is where a large assembled crowd was there, and they could hear them speaking in each of their own languages. They knew this was a miracle and something was happening. Some of the people were saying these guys must be drunk. Peter says in Acts 2, verse 15: “‘For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.”’” Peter is saying this is what was spoken of by Joel the prophet. That is what you are seeing here. What did he say this was? Read verses 19-24. Peter is saying you are witnessing this. People are saying how are we witnessing the moon turning to blood and the sun going dark, vapor and smoke? All we are seeing are guys we think are drunk and able to speak in any language they want! Peter says these are the signs and wonders! You are seeing the sun. You killed the Son. He went dark when you killed Him, but He was resurrected. That allowed the moon (the Church) to turn to blood because when you are baptized you receive the blood of Christ. That is how the moon gets cleansed. He said you are witnessing this here. The fire (and the vapors and smoke) is the Holy Spirit that came on us. That is what happened a few minutes ago. That is why we are able to come out on this balcony and speak to you in tongues. You have seen this tremendous miracle. The Jews who were present and knew their Old Testament said, of course, now it is making all kinds of sense. We used to read Joel and think the world is going to get destroyed! But no, it is Jesus Christ working with the Church. In that day 3,000 were baptized, which means 3,000 more people received the fire. Three thousand people were washed by Christ’s blood so more people joined the moon. Peter who knew what he was talking about had learned at Christ’s feet. He said that is what is happening this very day! That takes the mystery out of Luke 21 and Matthew 24. When we see signs in the sun, moon and the stars, we are seeing signs and wonders in Jesus Christ and His Church. Now, if you would, turn to Acts 10 just a few pages over. Read Acts 10, verse 39. “‘And we are witnesses of all things which He did…’” (that is Christ) “‘…both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree.’” Continue reading in Acts 10:40-43. A WITNESS FOR EVERY SEASON Here Peter says we have become witnesses. Once we have received the Holy Spirit and we have that Spirit dwelling in us, we are now witnesses of what Christ is doing in the prophets and the apostles (which he was one). Turn now to Psalm 89. We are understanding something here that is very important, because there are a lot of people very confused on what it means to be a witness today. Psalm 89, verse 34: “‘My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky.’” When Peter said you are seeing the moon turn to blood and he also said later in Acts we are witnesses, you are seeing here it put together that the moon is a faithful witness in the sky, as is also the sun. They are portraying what God does in His plan. Do not let your mind run away with thoughts on the two witnesses here because I want you to understand something. I do not want you to run off half cocked in the wrong direction. We are trying to understand what God is saying in His word about the two witnesses. We want His thinking to come into our minds and not what our preconceived notions are because there are many preconceived notions out there. There are many people claiming to be one of the two witnesses and people watching for one of the two witnesses, and not understanding that the two witnesses have been working for a long time! That is why Peter said back at that first Pentecost you are seeing this happen and the signs and wonders right here. Let us define witness. In the Old Testament the term witness is ed: a witness which means abstractly a testimony, specifically a recorder. In other words the prophets recorded what God wanted them to write. They became a witness of what God wanted them to say. It comes from the word uwd which means to duplicate, to repeat and testify. So those prophets wrote the things that were testifying of God and God’s plan, and they showed us by the holy days we duplicate this. We repeat it every year. The witnesses teach that. They teach to whoever will listen that this is the truth of God. Witness in the New Testament comes from the word martus which means a witness or figuratively an analogy of a martyr, someone who dies. It is related to the word marturion which also means evidence given of the Decalogue and martureo which means to be a witness, to testify and give evidence. When we are baptized, in essence our physical body dies because we now give our flesh and blood to Jesus Christ. That makes us a martyr, so not every witness has died a physical death at the hands of killers. Many of them have. But everyone who has become a witness of God and has given their life to Him is martyred. I will prove it to you. Turn to Galatians 2:20. It explains this very clearly. Paul writes, “‘I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.’” Paul says I died. As a person I gave my life to God, and He is now running my flesh. He dwells in me, and I am flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones. I am part of the body of Christ. I have given my life to God. That makes him a witness and a martyr. Paul did die a martyr’s death physically. But John was just as much of an apostle as Paul, he did not. He lived to a ripe old age and died of natural causes. Both of them were martyrs, because both of them gave their lives to God. Therefore, a witness is a martyr who is willing to lay down his life and live God’s truth. In other words, be evidence of the truth, testify of the truth and live God’s way. Every year we keep our appointments with God because they are portraying the appointments we are going to keep as a Church with God. The appointments are coming up such as Trumpets when Christ returns and the Feast of Tabernacles. We said we would be ready spiritually for them. Let’s identify these two witnesses conclusively. Turn to Revelation 11:1. “Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.’” We understand who the temple of God is. We looked at that. Verse 2: “‘But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.’” These two olive trees and these two lampstands stand before the God of the earth, and they are the two witnesses. Back up to Revelation chapter 1, and we will see who these people are. Read Revelation 1:13-16. That is Jesus Christ shining like the sun once again with the word of God in His mouth. He is standing in the midst of seven lampstands. Continue reading Revelation 1:17-20. So the lampstands that we read about in Revelation 11 are the Church eras. You have two sets of churches: the first ekklesia and the second ekklesia, but both of them had the sun working with them. Both were the moon reflecting the sun. It should have been. They were the holy nation, the righteous people of God, a special people reflecting the light of God’s truth. Each had two witnesses: the sun and the moon. Each had the signs and wonders working with that ekklesia (the first ekklesia and the second ekklesia). Turn now to Zechariah chapter 4 where it speaks of these two trees once again. Read Zechariah 4:1-4. Drop down to verse 11 and read through to verse 14. These are the two congregations forming the moon who stand on each side of the Lord of the earth. Christ came at His first coming between the two congregations: the first congregation (first ekklesia) and the second congregation (a second ekklesia). They both were the moon. Each had a job to do. The prophets in the Old Testament had the Holy Spirit and reflected the light of the sun to ancient Israel. The second ekklesia (the Church of God from Jesus Christ’s coming until now) reflects the light of the sun through the Church. They are both of these trees standing on either side of Christ, and He is in the midst of them. If you were to look up the term anointed ones here you would find it comes from the word ben and banah which means a builder of the family name and to build to obtain children. The term for oil here is yitshar which means figuratively anointing or to glisten, to press out oil as producing light, which figuratively means anointing. It comes from another word tsahar which means to glisten or press out oil. These are people who build the family name (children for God) by pressing out oil by working to overcome. They are getting rid of the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life and the sins that we talked about. They are reflecting the light of God in the lamps that have become the Church. The sun gives the plants the light. We must squeeze the oil out of that and produce light in our life and become the light of the world. That is what the moon does with the energy it receives from the sun. If you would, turn now to Psalm 52. We will build on this. In Psalm 52:8 King David says, “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise You forever, because You have done it; and in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good.” We know King David had the Holy Spirit, and he says I am an olive tree along with the other saints of God. He was part of the two witnesses in the first ekklesia, just as anyone who has received the Holy Spirit in the second ekklesia is part of the two witnesses during that dispensation. Turn to Matthew 5:14. We are told here, “‘You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’” He says when you are running this race and you are developing character, you are part of that lamp shining on a hill. You have not covered it. If you are not overcoming, you are going dark. No one can see the light of the Church. No one can visually see God working in His witness, the moon. It all goes together. If you put Revelation 11 and Zechariah 4 together, you see that there are two lampstands and two trees mentioned. They are both beside the Lord of the earth doing His work and allowing Him to dwell in them with the Holy Spirit. He is putting the light into them that bears fruit so they can press out the oil and keeps their lamps burning. It is keeping their lamps glowing for the world to see. THE TWO WITNESSES Therefore, the two ekklesias with the Holy Spirit are each a witness with Jesus Christ working in them. They are the prophets in the Old Testament who had the Holy Spirit. The apostles (and those who are descended from them, like the Church) are the second tree. Both are each in their dispensation part of the two witnesses because both of them have Jesus Christ working with them. Each tree is on either side of Jesus Christ’s first coming, and they are working for Him. They produce light by the sun that He shines upon them. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit guides them more and more into this truth and it helps them pray and overcome. Therefore each ekklesia is one of the two witnesses for their dispensation. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter 1. Read verses 1-8. This means right up to our time. The body of Christ is a witness for God (one of the two witnesses) with Him working in them. Let us conclude now with II Corinthians 12:11. “I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing.” Paul says you are forcing me to boast, but I am not less than the other apostles. Verse 12: “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. For what is it in which you were inferior to other churches, except that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong!” He says I have worked in you. I, an apostle, was for signs and wonders in you because I am part of the two witnesses. Now we understand what these two witnesses are. We have combined that knowledge with the signs and wonders. Next week we will put together the second half of how to keep track of the history of the two witnesses.