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Posts Tagged ‘Ark of the Covenant’

The Doctrine of God

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , , , , on September 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 7:17

The plan of the church in the tabernacle is represented by seven pieces of furniture as follows:

  1. THE BRAZEN ALTAR – Representing the cross or death to sin.
    1. Justification – Made just as if you had never sinned.
    2. Salvation – Redemption – Bought and paid for.
  2. THE BRAZEN LAVER – Representing Death to Self typified in baptism – Entering into a Covenant relationship with God.
    1. Baptism – Entering into a Covenant of death, burial and Resurrection with Christ.
    2. Sanctification – Made clean and acceptable to God
    3. Consecration – Putting aside that which is cleansed for the purpose of God’s use alone.
  3. THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK or Lampstand – Representing the union in the spirit of man and God. It does not merely represent the baptism of the Holy Spirit, since one may be baptized in the Holy Ghost and not live in the Spirit, but it represents the bringing forth of the fruits of the Spirit. It represents man and God working together as one unit.
  4. THE TABLE OF SHEWBREAD – Representing the feasting on the Body of Christ – God’s dining table – The King’s Table
    1. Feeding on Christ in the Body
    2. Feeding on Christ within one’s own spirit
    3. Feeding on Christ in Jesus, who is not only in us, but with us.
  5. THE GOLDEN ALTAR OF INCENSE – Representing the offering of the soul.
  6. THE MERCY SEAT – Representing the overshadowing of the Body of Christ.
  7. THE ARK OF THE COVENANT – Representing the manchild.

These seven pieces of furniture represent:

  1. The seven stages of progression in the history of the church which will eventually produce a perfect church, spoken of in Revelation 12:5 as the “MANCHILD.”
  2. The seven mysteries of the gospel which will be and are being revealed within man. As we walk in them, we receive the revelation of them. God is daring men and women to walk blindly by faith into the blazing light of the WORD. Jesus said in John 7:17, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
  3. The opening of the seven mysteries is the opening of the Seven Seals, Revelation 5:2. As these mysteries of the gospel are opened, the world is being brought nearer to the final fulfillment of all things.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 41-43)

Thought for today: God is daring men and women to walk blindly by faith into the blazing light of the WORD.

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Seven Divisions

Posted in The Firstfruits Company, tagged , , , , , on August 31, 2018| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Romans 8:29

The human being at the very height of his development, as shown in the lesson from the Tabernacle of Moses, will give up his life in order to be absorbed into a higher life form, the MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST. Instead of being a whole, he becomes a part. Even at the height of his wholeness or perfection, he pours out all his goodness which he received of God for one great ACHIEVEMENT, “the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 3:14.

We need to note at this point that the Church as a division of the Tabernacle is represented by the outer court which compasses and envelops the other two divisions. The second division, THE BODY OF CHRIST, is represented by the holy place, which is also a part of the church. The third and final representation of the HUMAN DWELLING PLACE AND MEETING PLACE OF GOD AND MAN, the human body, is represented by the holy of holies. This is the reason why a human life is such a precious thing to God, and should be to us.

The seven divisions are distributed under the three headings as follows:

1. The Church (The Outer Court):

a. The Brazen Altar (brass altar)
b. The Brazen Laver (brass basin)

2. The Body of Christ (The Holy Place):

a. The Candlestick (lampstand)
b. The Table of Shewbread (the dining table for the priests)
c. The Golden Altar of Incense

3. The Human Body (The Holy of Holies):

a. The Mercy Seat (the cover of the ark, made of pure beaten gold)
b. The Ark of the Covenant

From this chart, one can readily draw the inference that the duty of the church is to lead the man to the fiery Altar of sacrifice and to the watery grave, the Laver, for washing and cleansing. Beyond this, the work is on the inside of the believer’s own heart, where the work of the Candlestick or Lampstand (Holy Ghost), the Table of Shewbread (Christ-life), and the Golden Altar of Incense (total separation unto God of one’s whole human and spiritual life) takes place.

The third stage of development in the human soul, as depicted by the Mercy Seat and the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle, brings man out of himself and into the nature of the Father. It is the third experience and the end of all flesh (carnality).

From this third experience, man comes to be like Jesus in His natural body. He walks and lives in flesh and blood, yet without sin. Then afterwards in a resurrected body – human, eating if he wants to, but Godlike enough to come through the wall or disappear at will. This is the experience Paul describes in 1st Corinthians 15:51-53.

Romans 8:29 bears that fact out that we shall be like Jesus, not only spiritually, but physically also. It must be, that one day soon, the Lord will truly answer our prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth (our being), as it is in heaven.”

“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren,” Romans 8:29.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 27-28)

Thought for today: Let us press forward to the third stage of development which brings man out of himself and into the nature of the Father.

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The Covenant of Baptism

Posted in The Covenant, tagged , , , , , on March 6, 2018| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 3:3-8, Matthew 3:11

Have you ever thought of what baptism really is? Baptism is a covenant that the believer makes with God. It is permanent. It is a death, a burial, and a resurrection. The thing that dies is not the thing that rises. The thing that rises is a Christ thing. The man’s heart, his mind, his soul, and his behavior must change radically. It is not “Oh, I got changed yesterday.” No sir, it is a continuous change, a gradual change. The ugly caterpillar goes into a chrysalis and changes, changes, changes, until he undergoes his metamorphosis and becomes a beautiful butterfly. Until that day, the change is yet continuing, or should continue.

However, this change is arrested, retarded, or stopped by some of the church doctrines that we have. The believer is no longer functioning under God, for he has not made CHRIST HIS LORD. Jesus is my Saviour, oh yes. I did not have to do anything. All I needed to be saved by Jesus was to be a sinner which I did not do; I was born that way. Born a sinner, Jesus saves you, and now you must turn around and make a covenant with Him that you will follow Him all the way. That is baptism. Outside of this, there is no baptism. You could be wet with water until you continuously drip. You will not be baptized unless that consciousness has come to you.

Some of you have been baptized and feel if you go down in the name of Jesus (someone said “Jesus” over you) and come up again, you are made perfect. You are mistaken. Those of you who believe that you are baptized to become a member of a church and get the right hand of fellowship when you are baptized, YOU ARE NOT BAPTIZED. You must make the covenant with God and then go down in the water. That is baptism and you must know what you are doing. Baptism has the following three steps: Water, Holy Spirit, and Christ. Man baptizes you in water, Jesus baptizes you in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit baptizes you into Christ. That brings you into the holy place.

There is the outer court, the holy place, and then you are still going on further. You are going into the holy of holies where the overshadowing of God will deliver you from all harm. Psalm 91:1 says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” You will go into the ark of the covenant, where you become a permanent part of God.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 2, pg. 4-5)

Thought for today: Baptism is a covenant that requires continual change until our metamorphosis is complete and we are fully changed into the image and likeness of God.

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What Pleases God?

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on December 26, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Revelation 8:4-5

Revelation 8:4, “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

Leviticus 16:13, “And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not.“ This scripture says that the smoke, or the essence of the soul of man, must cover the Mercy Seat and the Ark of the Covenant before we speak to God. That means that our offering must be perfect before God. Revelation 8:4 says that the angel had it in his hand and was offering it up to God and to His throne. This is the very essence of the soul of the people of God. We are talking about a mind that is dedicated to God, a heart that is in tune with God; the emotions that have been weaned from the world and from the emotional outbursts of the normal, carnal, natural man; the will that is dedicated to God; and the desires that have been completely turned to God and belong to God. This is what was being offered up to God. Another scripture says that it comes up to God as a sweet smelling savour. GOD IS ABSOLUTELY PLEASED with the man who offers his heart and who cries from his heart and soul towards God.

Revelation 8:5, “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”

What on earth are we looking at here? All of a sudden, we see people offering themselves to God. Without that offering, there is no overshadowing, no covering. In other words, God is saying that the true people of God will find safety under the shadow of His wings before the destruction breaks out. The angel came and took the fire from the altar and “cast it into the earth.“ There is a similarity here between this language and the language in Revelation 16:18. The “fire” that is “cast… into the earth” is the RESULT of the rejection of the Word of God which will be preached.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 156)

Thought for today: May our offering be perfect through the cry of our heart and soul unto God.

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The Mystery of the Man Child

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , , , on November 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Revelation 8:1-6

Revelation 8:1, “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.”

We must understand what is meant by “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” It means, of course, that there were no angel movements, neither spiritual movements by men. Those whom God had anointed to preach had stopped preaching, the angels who were anointed to help them had stopped helping them, and those who were anointed to work, to do service, had stopped working.

What could have caused that? THE DEATH OF THE SONS OF GOD. In chapter 6, dealing with the fifth seal, the souls of those under the altar who called to God said to Him, “How long…dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” And He gave them “white robes” and “it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

We see here a picture of what happens in heaven when the sons of God are slain. When Jesus Christ was slain, His work was cut short, there was no more healing of the sick, no more deliverance for a period of time, because the Son had died.

Coming back now to the sons of God, He said things ceased for “about the space of half an hour.” We have to look at this as a PROPHETIC UTTERANCE. A spiritual half an hour could be anything. We have to get the revelation. For a space of time there was no movement. None of God’s business was being done.

Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” This is the time we are reading about in Revelation 8:1, a time when the sons of God will be slain.  “Silence in heaven” is talking about the death of the sons, even as it was the death of Christ Jesus. The sons will die. The sons of God will be dead for three and a half days.

The sixth seal is symbolic of the overshadowing. Now we are dealing with the seventh seal which is the church of the man child. God has always described the church as feminine, as a woman. The reason is because the church had no power in itself to give forth life. It had to receive life to give life, like a woman has to receive the life, or the seed, from her husband in order to bring forth a child. We the church were receiving life from God and bringing forth nothing.

The church has been described as a barren woman. Hannah, for instance, was a barren woman and she brought forth. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was a barren woman. God always uses the barren woman as the type of the church. This barren woman church has never brought forth anything but now she is being overshadowed by the Mercy Seat or the two angels on the Mercy Seat which is a symbol of God Himself. No man can overshadow and bring forth God. Man can only bring forth man. When a person is discipled to another human being, he cannot rise above that human being, because the master is greater than the disciple, but if we are discipled unto Christ, then we will bring forth Christ.

God has brought the female church to the point where she will bring forth a male church which is called the church of the overcomer or the man child-church. (The words “man child” will be described in other devotionals.) Let us really understand what we are writing about.

The child that this woman church will have (churches always bring forth churches) will be a life-giving being. The church will be a life-giving church. Why? Because the church will have Christ in it. Remember the picture we saw in the first chapter in Revelation with the Christ standing in the middle candlestick? This is the same picture that we are seeing through the whole Revelation, as we speak of this seventh seal. The seventh seal is the mystery of the man child.

This mystery of the man child therefore is a type of the ARK OF THE COVENANT.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 153-154 & 165-166)

Thought for today: As Hannah cried out for her barrenness and was delivered so also may we cry out to God that we may be part of the man child company.

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