The Good Laodicean - THREE MEALS FOR THE WINTER AHEAD

No. 76 - THREE MEALS FOR THE WINTER AHEAD
By: John J. Blanchard
Saturday, October 22, 2005

Here we are at the Feast of Tabernacles 2005, and after the Feast we will be facing a long winter ahead. The sustenance from the Feast of Tabernacles is meant to carry us for a long time. It is food to get us through the long winter. My father used to say on a cold winter day you need some food that sticks to your ribs in the morning. You need something solid. That is the way the Feast of Tabernacles should be. It should be solid food that we can take home and get sustenance from for the long winter ahead.

Another expression that you may have heard is, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.” So one of the goals at the Feast of Tabernacles should be to equip the brethren to get food. I think the job of a minister, of course, is to tread out the grain, to put the sermons and the Bible studies together and to provide good pasturage for the flock. If the flock is a healthy flock, the flock knows how to go about the word of God and obtain food and to study and grow. The relationship with Jesus Christ is one on one. A pastor is just a facilitator. A minister is just to help, but the person has to have a relationship with God. The goal of this Feast is to try to help each of you, and myself, to go home with better tools and better equipment to search out the word of God and obtain food for the long winter ahead.

Basically what we are doing is trying to learn how to use precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little and have God speak to us through His word. That scripture is quoted from Isaiah 28. If you would, please turn to Isaiah chapter 28. We are not going to read just that isolated couple of verses there. I want to read a few verses around it because they are quite intriguing.

Isaiah 28, verse 1: “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine!” Remember the verdant valley (the valley of vision we spoke about the other day) is a valley that is full of lush growth for God.

Verse 2: “Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who will bring them down to the earth with His hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot…” We are being told here by the word of God that the people have some problems who are at the head of the valley who are more or less in charge of the valley. They are drunk. They are having difficulty obtaining the food to parcel out. We will see that as we go along.

Verse 4: “…and the glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valley, like the first fruit before the summer, which an observer sees; he eats it up while it is still in his hand.” What is the first fruit before the summer? Aren’t the firstfruits the first harvest (the spring harvest)? Pentecost is in the spring just before the summer gets going. We are seeing here that those charged with the responsibility of feeding the flock that are in the valley feeding on the grass are not able to bring in the food for the flock. There is a shortage of food. Therefore, their flower is fading. As God looks and sees His spring harvest (Pentecost) is actually getting past, and summertime is approaching. He says they are not ready. There is something wrong here.

Isaiah 28, verse 5: “In that the Lord of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people…” He knew there would be a remnant who would want to hold fast. “…for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.”

As we spoke of earlier in the Feast, the Church has been in a tremendous battle. The sermonette this morning brought that out again as well. This tremendous battle where the walls of Jerusalem are coming down and the temple is being destroyed needs to be turned back some how. This needs to be fought off.

Verse 7: “But they also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way…” Those who should have been the first line of defense have fallen and are out of the way. They are letting the enemy pour through the gates. You can picture this. It is a spiritual battle, but you can picture this happening just as it did physically in 586 B.C. Once the gates were torn down and there were holes in the wall, the Babylonians poured through the wall until they reached the temple. They tore the temple down.

Continuing in verse 7: “…the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through intoxicating drink..” (which means false doctrines) “…they err in vision…” They can no longer see. “…they stumble in judgment. For all the tables are full of vomit and filth; no place is clean.”

God speaks now of a conundrum He has here in verse 9. “Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?” He says am I going to have to go to the babes in Christ.

Isaiah 28, verse 10: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” He says do I have to go to babes to get this done? It is difficult because you have to understand precept upon precept, line upon line. You have to know the book. It takes years to become proficient in the book. But He said My crown, My pride, My joy is astray. They have gone off, and they are erring. They are drunk. Their judgment is very poor. What am I going to do? God answers the question here.

Verse 11: “For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, ‘This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest,’ and, ‘This is the refreshing’; yet they would not hear.” God says I have been trying to say this to the people. I have been trying to say this to those in charge of the people, the overseers, that the rest is coming. The time of refreshing is nearly here! That is the Millennium, brethren.

Verse 13: “But the word of the Lord was to them, ‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,’ that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.” The misuse of the word ends up causing those to misuse it to fall backward, which means to fall into Satan’s clutches.

Verse 14: “Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.’”

Now you see the surrounding information around this precept upon precept. God says the scornful people within Jerusalem have made a deal with Sheol, a pact with the devil! That pact states we are going to be safe! We are in a place of safety. We are going to a place of safety. We do not have to worry when all of these calamities come. It is not going to hurt us! When the overflowing scourge comes and even Jesus Christ comes back angry, He is not going to be angry with a Philadelphia remnant. Could He be? No! He is angry at all the other brethren! He is angry at the world. God says this is a scornful way of thinking, and it has led to errors in judgment, blindness and drunkenness. God says now what am I going to do? How are we going to get this message out? That is what we are talking about today. What is God doing to get this done?

We need to define a few terms here so we understand. What are stammering lips and another tongue? If you were to go into the Hebrew and find what these words are, you would find that stammering lips is laeg: lips that talk like a buffoon or a foreigner. It comes from another word just ahead of it in the Strong’s Concordance: laag which means to deride or to speak unintelligibly. When you talk it is unintelligible and cannot be understood.

“Another tongue” is lashown and leshonah which means the tongue or the instrument used for licking, eating or speaking. Figuratively it means speech or an ingot or a fork of flame and a cove of water. When the tongue is used to proclaim God’s truth with the good water or a flame of fire like an ingot (like gold nuggets, like precious jewels) that is another tongue. So putting this together with stammering lips, God is saying we have a message about the rest and about the refreshing that is to come that may sound foolish and it may sound unintelligible, but it actually is a flame of fire and a cove of water for people. It is to tell them the rest is coming. The refreshing, the Millennium, is almost here! Put aside your erroneous thinking, and let Me talk to you. That is what God is saying here.

The term “rest” means this: menuca in Hebrew, to repose peacefully. Figuratively it means consolation, comfort, specifically through matrimony and an abode. Specifically through marriage and through a house to dwell in is what the rest is. Undeniably it is the Millennium.

“A time of refreshing” means a time when the raging of the waves of the sea and the wind has stopped and the sea has gone calm. It is a respite from the storm. That is the storm that the earth has been going through for six thousand years and that the Church is enduring right now in a terrible way.

God says in verse 12 to “hear” means to hear intelligently with attention and obedience. It is the word shama in your Strong’s Concordance.

God says I want them to hear about this rest and about the comfort that is coming. I want them to understand it is just around the corner. I want them to hear intelligently so that they can pay attention and obey. He said we have a real problem because so many have gone astray and are drunk with false doctrines.

I want to continue reading now just a little bit in Isaiah 28 just to show you how God feels about this and what He will do. We cannot look into every aspect here for time’s sake, but you will get the drift of it.

Continuing in Isaiah 28:16. “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation…’” We know this is Christ. “‘…a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.’” We are going to be careful.

Verse 17: “‘Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet; the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.’”

Verse 18: “‘Your covenant with death will be annulled…’” Christ is saying here the covenant (this deal) that you have made with Sheol is going to be annulled. “‘…and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it goes out it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night; it will be a terror just to understand the report.’”

We are starting to understand the report, brethren, that the devastation that has gone over the Church day and night has been going on for a long time now. It has been terrible to wake up to the fact of what has happened, and it is a terror! To wake up too late and realize you cannot buy, sell or change your condition in time will be incredible terror! This is why these things are important. We are just getting the drift here. We cannot go into every aspect of this, but we are getting the feeling for what God is trying to tell us here in Isaiah 28. He is telling us why it is important to be able to put together precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little and understand these wonderful and amazing thoughts of God.

What I want to do with the remainder of the time today is boil down three concepts. They are three subjects that weave their way through the Bible. With those three subjects in mind, in the next few days that we have remaining at the Feast, we will have some sermons that build on those and give us a clear picture that we can take home, study, digest, prove, learn and grow from.

1. WE ARE TO HAVE CLEAN GARMENTS
I want to start by leaping right off from yesterday’s sermon which was “Spiritual Economics 101” if you recall. We talked about garments. So the first subject I want to talk about today is garments for just a little bit. It will not be in as much detail as yesterday but to show that there is another side to this.

We read Revelation 19:7-8 yesterday, but we will read it again. We are told an interesting thing about having garments. Revelation 19, verse 7: “‘Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come…’” This rest has come. “‘…and His wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” We went into that in great deal yesterday. Let’s just touch on it.

We learned that the righteous acts of the saints form an economy of light. It is an economy that God is paying close attention to, to see how well we participate in it amongst one another because that is where the inheritance and the reward will be based. It is where our garments will come from.

As we looked at yesterday, it is based on things like forgiveness, repentance, obedience, acts of love and compassion and judging one another lightly. With these things and a registered mark from God, one hundred and forty-four thousand individuals down through time are sealed if they work diligently within this economy right up until the end. They must hold fast to the end.

There is another economy at work out there, brethren. It is a dark economy. It is not the economy of light. It is the economy of darkness. I want to just touch on that a little bit today, too. Turn to Revelation chapter 13. You remember yesterday how we saw that the ten virgins were told to go buy. We saw that Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter 3 says go buy, sell and trade.

Revelation 13, verse 16: “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

I think building upon “Spiritual Economics 101” and “Applied Economics 101” that we had yesterday, we can now see deeply into the word of God here. We are not talking about computer chips, credit cards or Big Brother watching us! Those are physical delusions to get our mind off the economy that we want to be a part of versus the economy we do not want to fall in to, which the Church has! That has the mark of another being there. We want a registration (a seal) from God.

Turn to Revelation chapter 18. We are just touching on this. We do not have time to go into depth, but you will see what we are getting at here. There is something very deep there. It is far more so than we ever thought. Revelation 18, verse 1: “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.’”

Brethren, Satan has always owned the earth since he took it captive in the Garden of Eden. So there is something here because Revelation is written to the Churches. If you recall at the very outset, Christ told John write this for the Churches. If you continue on, you will see something interesting here.

Verse 4: “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Coming out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.’” Who are God’s people? Who have covenanted with God? God’s people are the Church. It is those who have been baptized and received the Holy Spirit. This goes exactly with what we have been learning about how the son of perdition has gotten into the Church and sits in the temple of God. This is heavy stuff, but it is a warning!

God says I will always tell my people before I do anything. I will always tell them what to do and how to get things corrected and turned around. I will always tell them how to stand in the gate and fix the problem. Brethren, that is what He is doing in the last days. He is telling us how to come out of these false doctrines and to stop preaching death, destruction, pain, suffering and portraying God in a wrong way. We need to stop doing this to the world. They have had six thousand years of that. We are supposed to bring them the glad tidings (the good news). We are supposed to have the beautiful feet that bring them news of peace, joy and the rest that is just ahead. We are supposed to be telling the world and the Church the time of rest (the time of refreshing, the marriage, the new house to dwell in) is almost here! We need to wake up to this fact.

Turn, if you would, back to Revelation chapter 3 speaking to our Church era. Revelation 3, verse 14: “‘And to the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write, “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the beginning of the creation of God…”’” These things Christ says to the Church.

Verse 15: “‘“I know your works…”’” Put in there your unrighteous acts. If the righteous acts are the clothing of the saints, unrighteous acts would be the opposite. Continuing with verse 15: “‘“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are luke-warm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”’” Decide whether you are going to be cold or hot. Decide whether you are with Me or not. “‘“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked…”’” God has never told a lie in His life! If He is telling us in this era that we are poor, blind, wretched, miserable and naked, He is telling us the truth, brethren. Spiritually we have lost our garments! Spiritually we are in tough shape because we bought into the wrong economy.

If the righteous acts of the saints are the truth and doing those things that we know we need to do, then that is what puts clothes on. We need to be combining faith with works and believing God. If that is what puts clothes on, the opposite is what takes clothes off. It is not rocket science.

Turn to James chapter 5 for a little bit more information on the condition of the Church in the last days. You will notice we have to go here a little, there a little, precept upon precept and line upon line. God did not spill the beans all in one spot, and He certainly cannot anyway. It is too vast of a plan, covering too much time. But He says precept upon precept, allow Me to speak to you. Hear what I am telling you, and you will know what to do. Those are Christ’s words to us. Here is what He tells us in James 5.

James 5, verse 1: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!” Remember God is not concerned with the physical billionaires on the planet. Of course, they could learn lessons from this, but He is talking about the true rich people, which are His people. The people of God are the rich people on the earth because of what we possess. The pearl of great price and the talents He has given are what make us rich.

Then He says in verse 2: “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire.” Think eat up the body of Christ, brethren. “You have heaped up treasure in the last days.” This is undeniably talking to the Church in the last days. “Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.”

What has happened in the Church has been a horrible slaughter of God’s people. It has been a time of a stripping of their clothes, of moth-eaten garments, of corroding silver and gold, of losing sight of the precious things we were given when we were called and baptized. This is what has happened, and that is why it is devastating. That is what makes this time at the end the worst time the Church has ever gone through. Turn to Hosea chapter 2 for more information on this.

Hosea 2, verse 1: “Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ and to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’” I think we are getting a hint right from the outset. “Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ and to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’” God is going to show us how to fix this, but first we have to learn what our problem is. That is why in Revelation He does it in exactly that order.

Let’s continue in verse 2: “‘Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; for she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!’” We found out in Galatians 4 the Church is the mother of us all. “‘Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; lest I strip her naked and expose her, as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.’” This is what we are going through. It is a thirst and hungering for water that we cannot find and the food that we cannot find. There is ruined pasture.

Verse 4 of Hosea 2: “‘I will not have mercy on her children, for they are the children of harlotry. For their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, “I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.”’”

Think of what has happened in the former association. Where have they gone back to? We are seeing here that God says I am not going to put up with this. That was My bride. That was the mother taking care of My virgin daughters for Me.

Continuing in Hosea 2:6. “‘Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and wall her in, so that she cannot find her paths. She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.’ For she did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil…” God supplied us with what we needed. “…and multiplied her silver and gold which they prepared for Baal.”

Verse 9: “‘Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time and My new wine in its season, and will take back My wool and My linen…’” (no garments) “‘…given to cover her nakedness. Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall deliver her from My hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her New Moons, her Sabbath, all her appointed feasts.’” Our feasts have been robbed of joy, brethren.

Verse 12: “‘And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, “These are my wages that my lovers have given me.” So I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. I will punish her for the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers; but Me she forgot,’ says the Lord.”

This is a very insightful set of scriptures and sobering. It is not something we want to read at the Feast of Tabernacles because we want to portray the joy that is coming. But there is no point in hiding our heads in the sand. There is no point being an ostrich at this time. It is not going to do us any good. We have to face up to the realities of the situation, and then ask God for help. Then we will have the joyful feasts and the wonderful occasions once again. The gates will be shut to the enemy! We will get the enemy back out.

Continue in Hosea 2:14 we will get a glimpse of the hope to come. “‘Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.’” We were called out of Egypt. We understood that at one time. We will sing for joy once again.

Verse 16: “‘And it shall be, in that day, says the Lord, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Master…’”’” This is undeniably talking about the marriage to Jesus Christ.

Verse 17: “‘For I will take from her mouth…’” (the things that we are saying) “‘…the names of the Baals…’” I will take those false doctrines from her mouth. “‘…and they shall be remembered by their name no more. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creeping things of the ground.’” There will be the fulfillment of this new covenant. “‘Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, to make them lie down safely.’” War will be over! The peace will be here. The times of refreshing will be here.

Verse 19: “‘I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in loving kindness and mercy…’” That is what we need, brethren. We need love, kindness and mercy.

Continue reading in Hosea 2:20-23. As stated in verse 23 God will say, “‘You are [now again] My people!’”

The vomiting out of Christ’s mouth is meant to be a very temporary state for our own good, so that we would return to Him and admit our ways, our sins, our unrighteous acts, our thoughts, the way we condemn the world, the way we condemned our brethren. Once we do that, God just wants to pour so much out on us!

Turn now, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 51. There has been a lot of fear and intimidation in the Church, brethren, but God comforts us here in these verses. Isaiah 51, verse 7: “‘Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is My law: do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but My righteousness will be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation.’”

There should be no fear and terror in the Church. We should love one another, respect one another and feed on the truth. Do not fear those who project the image of “follow me to a place of safety” or who project the image of “everything is all right here”. Do not fear them when they condemn or when they are harsh. God says I will deliver. I will deliver those who are righteous.

This is a very spiritual battle we are involved in, and we will be delivered in a very real yet spiritual way by Jesus Christ. He will return to rule physically, but we need spiritual help right now. Revelation chapter 3 sums it up for us, speaking to Laodicea. We will skip down this time to verse 18. Revelation 3, verse 18: “‘I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.’”

God is holding out another chance to us. He is holding out an olive branch. He says I do not want your nakedness revealed to the world. I want My Church covered for My namesake, but you need to buy some things from Me while you have time.

Concluding with verses 20-21: “‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.’” That is not a shabby reward, brethren! To be able to see and turn around is going to be a wonderful thing with tremendous inheritances and blessings.

Verse 22: “‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.’” God is looking for people who want to hear, who believe His word and want to do something about it. That is what He is looking for. You and I have been begotten of the Seed of the Holy Spirit, and we have a responsibility.

2. BEGOTTEN OF THE SEED OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
That concludes the first of the three subjects (the garments) I would like to cover. Now I would like to focus on what I just said: we are begotten of the Seed of the Holy Spirit. We are begotten of the Seed of the Holy Spirit in order to learn the truth, in order to grow in holy righteous character, in order to grow in gold, silver and precious jewels that God can use. But we are also called to grow from that Seed to become a tree. That is what Isaiah said in Isaiah 28. It sounds silly to the educated, but it is not. I will show you how wise that really is because the words come from Jesus Christ.

In the Garden of Eden there was a very special tree. Genesis chapter 2, verse 9: “And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

There were many trees there that were good, but there was one fantastic tree called the tree of life. Of course, there was that opposite tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One would be the start of an economy of light. One would be the start of the economy of darkness. There would be enmity between those two systems until Jesus Christ would come and put an end to the rule of the spiritual tyrant. But there was a tree of life there.

Turn to Luke chapter 23. We will go to the New Testament to see who and what was this tree of life. Jesus Christ was being led away to His crucifixion. Read Luke 23:26-31. Using the King James Version Christ’s words here are if they are doing this to the green tree, what do you think they are going to do to the dry tree? That meant that the Church would go dry some day. It would be so dry that some will cry out and say, “Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore…” I wish I had never been called! I wish I had never received the Holy Spirit. I wish I had never been begotten of that Seed because now I have blown it! Those days are going to come. Christ has never lied.

He said if they are doing this to the green tree, what do you think is going to happen when you have gone dry? It is a serious situation to find ourselves in, but God is saying we can fix this. I can do anything if you let Me help you. I am the Almighty!

Revelation chapter 2 confirms that Jesus Christ is the tree of life. He is that green tree of which we want to be part of the seed and part of the fruit. Revelation 2, verse 7: “‘He who has an ear, let him here what the Spirit says to the Churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.’”

In chapter 3 speaking to the Laodiceans, Christ said I will feed you. He will feed us now, but the food that we will have to share with Him forever is still from Him. It is the tree of life in the Paradise of God which is that restful place, the Millennium, just around the corner.

Jesus Christ is the tree of life. He is the one behind the economic system of light, and is opposed utterly and in every way to the system of darkness. But we must bear fruit after the tree of life and not after the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Turn back to Psalm 1. We are going to shed a little bit more light on this subject before we close this one out. Like I say, we are just looking at glimpses here, brethren, to lay the foundation for the upcoming sermons. Psalm 1, verse 1: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful…” We have learned where that comes from.

Psalm 1, verse 2: “…but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” That is what the word of God tells us. If we follow the truth and we let it bear fruit in us, we are a tree planted by the rivers of life.

Verse 4: “The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

We want to be a tree planted by the river, soaking in those good waters of life and bearing fruit. Now it does not sound so silly to say, yes God, I would like to be a tree. David did not think it was silly. Turn to Psalm chapter 52. Eventually David will rule the twelve tribes of Israel once again in the Millennium, and David did not think that was a silly concept at all.

In Psalm 52 David says here in verse 8: “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.”

King David knew and said I will wait for you God. I will wait for all of this to come to fruition, and I am very pleased to have been called to be a tree in the house of God. This is not silly. These are not silly thoughts. These are the thoughts of God that are higher than men’s thinking.

Now I want to show you a very quiet lesson from Jesus Christ. It is very quiet but there nonetheless. Turn to Mark chapter 8. We can now get some very interesting insights into some of the things Jesus Christ did very quietly that would come out later. Read Mark 8:22-26. Do not tell them this. It is recorded for us today to understand.

Did Jesus Christ make a mistake the first time? Was He losing His touch on healing? Did He fail to give the guy 20/20 vision so everybody around him looked like trees? No. The man was looking at Christ, and He said what do you see now? He said I see men walking like trees while he was looking at Christ. Christ was showing us something deep. He said okay and then He touched him with a little more spit and mud and asked now what do you see? He said I see men clearly. Now I see clearly.

You are looking at two types of vision portrayed there: your physical eyesight and your spiritual vision. The spiritual vision is something we must have in order to put precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little and to understand the very deep thoughts of God. That is the second little mini subject. The third one is related.

3. GRASS SYMBOLIZES PEOPLE
We want to look at grass. Can you get any simpler than grass? It is probably the most prolific thing growing on the land anywhere on earth today, that is grass and it is everywhere.

Turn to Isaiah chapter 40. Christ wants to comfort His people He tells us in verse 1: “‘Comfort, yes, comfort My people!’ says your God. ‘Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.’” Now we can appreciate what God is telling us here.

Verse 3: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’”

He says I want all flesh to see what I have done with you and what I am about to do. Then He goes on to say to the people: “The voice said, ‘Cry out!’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry?’” What do you want me to say? “‘All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.’” Cry out that all flesh is grass, and I want all the grass to learn about Me.

Verse 9: “O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’”

Do not be judging the world heartlessly, harshly, wanting the earth to face utter destruction and your brethren as well! Don’t do that! Bring the good news. In Isaiah 52 it says how beautiful are the feet that bring this good news!

Continuing in Isaiah 40, verse 10: “Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him…” (He is bringing the inheritance.) “…and His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.” That is the promise.

We have come through a horrific time, but we are starting to see the promise bear fruit. God is not going to leave us forever, but it is up to us to do that one thing: open the door and let Him show us our condition. After that, it is awesome, brethren! It’s just awesome! This is what He is saying here. Then I want all the grass of the world to see this!

Turn, if you would now, to Revelation 8. You are going to see just a little bit. We do not have time to go into this, but I want to show you how significant these little things really are. They are not little; they are huge.

Revelation 8, verse 7: “The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.” Now if you and I are looking for the forests of the world to catch on fire and the grass of the prairies around the earth to catch on fire, we are wasting our time! We saw by the things that we just looked into, there is deeper meaning here. We need to pry into God’s word, put precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little. And we need to beg God for understanding to get it revealed to us so that we can act upon it and bear fruit for God.

Please turn to Isaiah 55 where God tells us something about His thinking. If we think we are going to figure this out because we are smart or educated, we have another thing coming. Isaiah 55, verse 8 God tells us: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

We need to beg God for help. We need to beg Him for food. We need to beg Him for patience, kindness and mercy towards us, because we are never going to figure out His thinking. It may sound silly to some when we start to learn and utter it to other people. If it may sound silly, but do not be embarrassed. Some day the whole world will understand these things, and it will not seem silly then. It won’t seem silly at all, because these are the thoughts of God.

We are learning, brethren, something that He said back in Romans. Turn to Romans for our final scripture. Romans chapter 1, verse 18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…” Suppression of the truth will come to light, brethren.

Verse 19: “…because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…” The entire creation helps us see the invisible thoughts of God and vision His plan and understand what He is doing. That is what creation is for actually!

Romans 1, verse 21: “…because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts…” (futile in their thinking) “…and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools…” They turned from the economy of light to an economy of darkness, and that is what brings the real foolishness. That is what brings the unintelligence. That is what makes us go down the tubes and takes our clothes off and lets the moths destroy and the rust corrode.

Over the last few days of the Feast we are going to try to plumb the depths of God’s thoughts. With His help and through the lens of His beautiful creation, we are going to learn about the wonderful things that God has in store for His people!