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We're Going to be Teachers!
Fred R. Coulter—October 2, 2012
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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to day #2 of the Feast of Tabernacles, 2012! I hope you're having a good Feast, got off to a good start and that everything is going well for you.
This is the most exciting thing: understanding about what we are going to do in the Millennium. We ended up yesterday seeing that we will be kings and priests and we are going to reign with Christ. The question is, what will we do for a whole thousand years?
This is going to be a time of great salvation. This will be the time of the great harvest. This will be the time when there will be the 'restitution of all things.' As God said to Israel, He will 'take away the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.' Human nature will not have the degree of evil and carnality and violence that we have today.
It has to start with God! It has to start with Christ! This is why Jesus did what He did. Let's see the prophecy about Jesus, and in Isa. 9. It encapsulates His whole life, His whole purpose, and the things on into eternity.
We know that God has given the Bible to understand: 'line upon line; here a little, there a little; precept upon precept.' We're also told we have to 'rightly divide the Word of Truth and put it together. When we do that, we learn from God and learn from His Word what it is that God wants us to do.
This is the fantastic, phenomenal thing that God has done, because Jesus—Who was the Word and with God and was God—became flesh by divesting Himself of His glory and power to become a pinpoint of life, and then be born of the virgin Mary, and to live a life in the flesh perfectly without ever sinning. Then furthermore, to lay down His life willingly to die for the sins of all mankind!
It had to take God manifested in the flesh to be that kind of sacrifice. Here's a prophecy of it, Isaiah 9:6: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders…" The Government of God comes from God with His Spirit directly to us. Today in the Church, the elders and ministers are to be the teachers. Then we are all to learn and grow, then other teachers will develop up out of those who have been in the Church a long time. "…the government shall be upon His shoulders…"
As I said yesterday, show me one single government—just one—that is good, that is righteous, that is fair. There's not one on earth! But there is one that is coming when Jesus returns.
"…and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God… [this is talking about God manifested in the flesh] …The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end…" (vs 6-7). It goes on into the 'ages of eternity'! Stop and think for just a minute:
- God is a God of Purpose
- God is a God of Love
- God is a God of Truth
- God is a God of Creator
Look at the great heavens that He has created. We are going to be able to understand how this relates to us and relates to the never ending Government of God that is going to reach into the 'ages of eternity.' God has an awesome plan.
Just like it says in 1-Cor. 2, the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, it has not entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him! It's quite a thing what God is doing.
I. We are to have judgment with love, with mercy, with faith:
When Christ returns, here's what He's going to do, "…and over His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with righteousness from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this" (v 7). God is going to accomplish it. We have read several times already, Rev. 20, that we shall be 'priests and kings and rule with Christ a thousand years.'
Now let's see what happens to governments and religions, and what men have done, because none are righteous. It says, 'no, not one!' We're going to learn a lesson: first of all what the problem has been and then we're going to learn what not to do.
This is where Christ is castigating and warning the scribes and Pharisees, and they were the ones in charge of the kingdom of Judah during the days when Jesus had His ministry. Jesus says:
Matthew 23:23: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!…." Isn't that true of every government on the earth! Hypocrites! Liars! Cheaters! Those who take advantage rather than serving, teaching, loving and helping.
"…For you pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin…" (v 23). Yes, always interested in doing the exactness of the little physical thing. However, notice why Jesus was correcting them and speaking these words of condemnation against them:
"…but you have abandoned… [completely forsaken and left alone] …the more important matters of the law—… [Notice what the important matters of the Law are]: "…judgment, and mercy…" (v 23). I want you to understand a very important thing concerning judgment: First of all, there must be a judgment made before mercy is given!You never give mercy before judgment. Unless there is judgment there can be no mercy given. That's why God says, 'the wages of sin is death, but he who confesses his sins will have them forgiven.' Mercy comes after judgment.
"…and faith. These you were obligated to do, and not to leave the others undone." (v 23).
Let's see another very important facet that has been left out. This has also been done in the Churches of God. How do you think Churches of God are run without judgment, mercy and faith and love?
Here again, this is the parallel account of Matt. 23, Luke 11:42: "But woe to you, Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint and rue and every herb, but you pass over the judgment and the love of God…." In the Church of God, there is to be the love of God:
- toward God
- God's love to us
- our love for each other
When you find a church that is focusing in and preaching and teaching the love of God, then you will also see that the commandments of God are kept. Part of the love of God is keeping His commandments. Not all of it, but keeping His commandments are a reflection of our love for God. We don't do it because there's and axe of fear hanging over the back of our necks.
- we do it willingly, because God loves us
- we do it willingly, because we love God
They lack these things, so what kind of 'religion' did they have? They had all kinds of dos and don'ts, washing hands and pots and pans and tables. All kinds of things as noted today in the Code of Jewish Law of what Judaism was.
Judaism is not of God! Never was! That's a religion of men. If you don't have the book: Judaism: A Revelation of Moses or a Religion of Men? be sure and get it. I'll just tell you this, if you don't understand what's in that book, you can't understand the Epistles of Paul. That's a vital book! You get it! And there is a sermon series (22 messages): Scripturalism vs Judaism. Christianity was not an extension of Judaism; Christianity came outof Judaism, left it behind forsook it and came after the Scriptures of God and the Truth as expounded by Christ. Yes, that's what they did.
"…but you pass over the judgment and the love of God. It is obligatory for you to do these things, and not to set aside those lesser things." (v 42). That's kind of the way it was with them.
Now let's see how it's going to be different in the Kingdom of God. Let's see a prophecy of how this is going to be carried out. Psalm 145 is quite a Psalm and it tells us an awful lot about how God's judgment, mercy and love and everything work together.
As a matter of fact, our whole lives are just a series of judgments. Everyday you make small judgments. Everyday to have to decide what you're going to do, how you're going to do it, and so forth. Here this will be judgment of people who are now being called to enter the Kingdom of God. This is going to be a great responsibility, brethren.
Psalm 145:1: "I will extol You, my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You; and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable" (vs 1-3).
II. We're going to be learning; we're going to be growing:
Brethren, what's going to happen all during the ages of eternity, we're going to be learning, we're going to be growing. Stop and think about this for just a minute!
- What was your life when you were conceived? Nothing but a speck!
- What was your life when you were born? Well, you were a little infant!
- Does that compare to what you are now? Of course not!
- Can the infant understand what it's going to be like to be an adult? No!
Likewise with us! The greatness of God's way is going to go into the ages of eternity, and we're going to be learning and growing and developing.
Verse 4: "One generation shall praise Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts…. [that's what we will do for the people] …I will speak of the glorious splendor of Your majesty and of Your wondrous works" (vs 4-5). This is what we are going to bring to the people all during the Millennium. Think of it: No wars! No killings! No shootings like we saw this last summer! People killed by some madman! No more slaughtering like we have in the Middle East!
Verse 6: "And men shall speak of the might of Your awesome works; and I will declare Your greatness…. [This is what we're going to be bringing and teaching!] …They shall pour forth the memory of Your great goodness and shall sing of Your righteousness. The LORD is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (vs 6-8). This is how we are going to serve the people.
Verse 9: "The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall praise You, O LORD; and Your saints shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power… [this is what we're going to be doing]: …to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom" (vs 9-12).
This ties directly in with Isa. 9; v 13: "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations [ages]." Yes, every age! This is going to be great! This is telling us what we are going to do.
Verse 17: "The LORD is righteous in all His ways and loving in all His works." Everything that God does, and everything that we will do will be based on love, teaching, righteousness, judgment and authority that He gives to us. We're going to see that when people pray, their answers are going to come right away. We're going to be there as part of it to answer those prayers.
Verse 18: "The LORD is near unto all who call upon Him, unto all who call upon Him in Truth." That's true today. That's how we need to call upon God. Not only as we read these and we see what we're going to be doing in the Millennium, but this also tells us what we need to be doing now today, so that we can arrive at that point.
Verse 19: "He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry, and will save them." That's what we're going to do, be bringing salvation to the whole world! This is fantastic, brethren! This is terrific!
This is how it's going to be done; this is going to be a glorious time! Think of all the evil and all the things that are going on in the world right now, even while we're here at the Feast of Tabernacles, and how the future looks for the world and mankind today. Compare that with this; this is talking about us:
Psalm 149:1: "O praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints." That's us! We're the congregation of the saints.
Verse 2: "Let Israel rejoice in his Maker; let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name in the dance; let them sing praises to Him with the drum and lyre, for the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He crowns the meek with salvation" (vs 2-4). Isn't that something? A great and wonderful work that we are going to do!
Verse 5: "Let the saints be joyful in glory…" What's it's going to be like to have glory, have a body like Jesus Christ, to have a spiritual mind, to be able to have glory. We're going to be joyful in glory.
"…let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth…" (vs 5-6). These descriptions of what we are going to do and how we're going to do it we find all the way through the Scriptures.
III. We're going to be kings:
Let's see what Jesus said, because the disciples wanted to know what it's going to be for them. The disciples at this time, even at the Passover service, were talking back and forth with one another, 'I wonder who is going to be greatest?' Why do you suppose that they would bring that up? Because they had an inkling—of course, they didn't have an understanding—that this is going to be something great and big and tremendous forever! They didn't have all the details, so they were arguing.
Luke 22:23: "Then they began to question this among themselves, which of them it might be who was about to do this…. [that is betray Jesus] …And there was also an argument among them, even this: which of them should be considered the greatest."
So, Jesus intervened and He gave them some instruction, v 24: "…'The kings of the nations lord over them… [and they sure do! That's why there's not a single government in this world that is righteous and good.] …and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors. But it shall not be this way among you; rather, let the one who is greatest among you be as the younger, and the one who is leading as the one who is serving. For who is greater, the one who is sitting at the table, or the one who is serving? Is not the one who sits at the table? But I am among you as one who is serving'" (vs 24-27). And that's what Christ is going to continue to do all through eternity. Likewise, we will serve! Not self-serve, but serve according to the will of God!
Notice what He told them because of this. And with this He told them, 'you don't have to worry about what's going to be in the Kingdom and who is going to be the greatest.
Verse 28: "Now you are the ones who have continued with Me in My temptations. And I appoint to you, as My Father has appointed to Me, a kingdom… [we read about that at the beginning] …so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and may sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (vs 28-30). Isn't that something? Yes, indeed! They're going to judge the 12 tribes of Israel as kings.
Remember: we will be kings, we will sit on thrones and we will be judging. Let's see a Psalm that depicts this, which is actually a prophecy of the fulfillment of the words of Jesus that He spoke to the disciples. This is quite a Psalm indeed!
Psalm 122:1: "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go into the house of the LORD.'" Of course, we're going to have access to the house of the Lord all the time. In the finality, as we saw yesterday, we're going to see God face-to-face. We're going to see Christ face-to-face. What God has in store is just like Paul said. God is able to do above all that we ask or think.
Verse 2: "Our feet shall stand within your gates, O Jerusalem…. [New Jerusalem. Jerusalem on earth first, then New Jerusalem next.] …Jerusalem is built like a city that is all joined together as one where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD, for there were set the thronesof judgment… [plural] …the thrones of the house of David" (vs 2-5).
What was the prophecy that we read in Isa. 9, that Jesus the Messiah Who was to be born of the flesh will be called 'The Everlasting God' and He is going to be over the house of David forever and ever. That's quite a thing! We don't have to worry about what are we going to do; who is going to have what job?
- Don't you think God knows what He's going to do?
- Don't you think that God is going to give to each one of us something that is grand, great and glorious, according to His determination?
- Cannot God judge and grant and give these things better than we can?
- Of course!
Just like He told the disciples, 'Why are you arguing about this? Don't get all concerned about it. You're going to sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel.' This is quite a thing!
Notice that this carries on over. We covered this yesterday in Rev. 2, that we are going to be given a rod of iron to shepherd the nations. Those who do not obey, those who do not repent and submit shall be broken like the potters breaking into slivers the pottery. That's something! We will have power over the nations!
Now let's see something else about the Kingdom of God. It talks about the Kingdom and what God is going to do with it. He's going to give it to us. This is really something to understand. We saw earlier that God is going to set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed (Dan. 1). It's going to endure forever!
Daniel 7:26: "But the judgment shall sit… [we're going to be the judges] …and his dominion… [the beast] …shall be taken away to be consumed and to be destroyed unto the end." The end of the whole Babylonian system as described in Rev. 17 & 18.
Verse 27: "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High…" That means world government with Christ as King and we're serving all the nations and people of the world, to help God bring salvation to all mankind for a thousand years! Brethren, we need to let those things sink into our heart and mind. Let that become part of the reality of our thinking, about where we're going and what we're doing.
I want you to compare what we're covering here in study from this point of view: God has not called us to play church, to play politics. He has called us to learn, to love, to overcome and to look forward to the greatest fulfillment of His prophecies to each one of us.
"…Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him" (v 27). God isn't going to leave it! No way! It's going to be quite a kingdom!
IV) What we are going to be doing:
We have quite a number of parts to #4, because this is what we're going to be doing. Here is a great principle of God all the way through the Scriptures. God wants us to be teachers. Yes, we're going to have whatever power God gives to us. Christ has all power. He will delegate certain things to us, just like when Christ came on the earth, the Father delegated certain things to Him. Let's see what was it, if we're going to be kings and priests under Christ, then we have a type of this with the high priest and the Levites in relationship to the children of Israel.
A) Teaching
As it were, under Christ we're going to be like spiritual Levites, like spiritual judges and kings. Lev. 10 is showing about what the priests and the Levites were to do. They were to be there at the temple. Their authority from God was to teach the people, help the people.
Leviticus 10:8: "And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying, 'Do not drink wine nor strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. You are to distinguish between the Holy and unholy, and between the unclean and clean.'" (vs 8-10).
Here is a principle of teaching. You are to know the right/you're to know the wrong. Actually, when you take vs 10-11 and put them together: this is the whole basis for the book of Proverbs; the whole basis for the laws and commandments of God; the whole foundation of the teachings of Christ. You see how fantastic this is?
Verse 11: "'And so that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.'" That was the command. That was the commission. This is what was to happen.
Now let's see how Moses further described this, and how God set the standard for teaching. Let's think about this for a minute. Not only were Aaron and his sons the priests and the Levites to teach, but also Moses taught them, and they taught the people. God wants His people
- to be educated
- to be knowledgeable
- to be able to make right judgments
We'll see that as we go along. Deuteronomy means the second giving of the Law. 'Deutero' is two; 'nomos'—from which we get 'nomy'—means law. So, this is the second giving of the Law of God.
Deuteronomy 4:1: "And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you…" We're made in such a way that we need to be taught, we need to learn, and let it become a very part of our being so that we can live that way.
- Isn't that the whole purpose of conversion?
- Isn't that the whole purpose of the Holy Spirit of God?
- Yes, indeed!
"…which I teach you… [which you will learn] …in order to do them… [The teachings of God are meant to be put into action] …so that you may live and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers gives to you" (v 1). Isn't that something?
What are the words of Jesus Christ, but the words of eternal life so that we can live and enter into the Kingdom of God—correct? With everything in the Old Testament and New Testament, when you put it together, it is one book, but all of it fits together in the unity of Scripture. What is given in the Old Testament in the letter of the Law is also carried through in the spirit of the Law, by the Spirit of God in the New Testament.
Verse 2 is a key and this touches on one of the greatest weaknesses of human beings, that they somehow think that they know more than God. They want to add a little bit here and add a little bit there and change the Word of God. But God says that you're not to do that, because
- the Law of God is perfect
- the Word of God is true
- the commandments of God are true
- all the precepts of God are right and altogether Holy
Verse 2: "You shall not add to the word which I command you…" Isn't that what Jesus told us. You read the last part of the book of Revelation. You're not to add to or take away.
1) Keep the commandments
"…neither shall you take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you" (v 2). This is what we're going to teach the people. We're going to be there and they're going to be able to see us. We're going to teach them: don't go to the right hand/don't go to the left hand.
Think about what it's going to be like every single Sabbath with all the people gathering together to be taught the Word of God—all during the Millennium: families, children, young, old; think about what kind of communities will be developed. We won't have house upon house and building upon building. No! It's going to be fantastic, brethren. We're going to administer that government. The people are going to be happy and cheerful and good and righteous. They're going to know about the salvation of God from the very beginning of their consciousness as children. They will be taught step-by-step-by-step all through their lives.
Then Moses gives an example here, v 3: "Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal Peor…." Remember, Baal Peor is the sun-god; those sent by Balak said to come over here, 'worship our gods; come and eat some meat with us and come and have some bread. We know you are sick and tired of the manna. Wouldn't it be nice to have a little bread? Wouldn't it be nice to come over here and have a little fun? We've got music and women and we're going to have a ball!'
Remember how many were killed? It's not a matter of seeking pleasure as they did. It's a matter, do you keep the Word of God. Moses is reminding them to remember that.
"…For the LORD your God has destroyed from among you all the men that followed Baal Peor" (v 3). That was quite a slaughter. Think about that in relationship to the return of Christ, how He is going to kill and destroy and slaughter and bring to nothing everything in the world by shaking the heavens and shaking the earth. Then we're going to have to come in and clean it up afterward, brethren. God will be with us to do it.
Verse 4: "And you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive, every one of you, this day." Take that in the letter and bring it over in the spirit. We will be alive as spirit beings in the Kingdom of God because we were faithful over here. See the parallels? That's why when you study the Bible, put it together:
- Think about the physical
- Think about the spiritual
- Think about the Old Testament application
- Think about the New Testament application
Verse 5: "Behold, I have taught youstatutes and judgments… [That's what we're going to do to all the people during the Millennium.] …even as the LORD my God commanded me…" The Law of Moses was really no more than the Law of God. He was only the intermediary to bring it.
"…so that you should do so in the land where you go to possess it" (v 5). All the teachings of God must be integrated into our thoughts and our minds so that we doit! That's what we're going to teach them.
Verse 6: "And you shall keep and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'" I want you to think about this spiritually.
Let's look at 1-Peter, the second chapter. It talks about the nation of Israel, but here it talks about a nation that is a priesthood.
1-Peter 2:9: "But you are a chosen stock… [Did not God call you? Everyone of us individually? Yes, indeed!] …aroyal priesthood… [Will we not be a royal, kingly priesthood to teach everyone in the Millennium? Yes, indeed!] …a Holy nation, a people for a possession of God, that you might proclaim His excellent virtues, Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" Think what God is going to do with us to teach the world, to save the world. All the people of the world are going to look upon us as a royal nation, a royal priesthood. We will be spirit beings in the Kingdom of God.
Here is what they will say of us, Deuteronomy 4:7: "For what nation is so great whose God is so near to them, as the LORD our God is, whenever we call upon Him? And what great nation has statutes and judgments that are so righteous as all this law which I set before you today?" (vs 7-8). Isn't that what we're going to do during the Millennium?
Think about that, brethren! Understand the great calling of God! God has great and marvelous things for us. This is why we need to drink out of the Word of God. Remember, these things teach us spiritual lessons!
Track 2: or Download
Teaching becomes the very most important thing that we are going to be doing. We're going to see that this is the key in helping bring many, many into the Kingdom of God during the Millennium. Again, we're going to learn from the Old Testament. We're going to see there are things that parallel what we are going to do.
Let's come to 2-Chronicles 14, and let's read about the account of King Asa and what he did, why he was commended for what he did. This is also a good lesson for us to understand and realize: Never be discouraged and think that God doesn't know what you're doing! He does!
God has called you because He loves you! He wants you to be in His kingdom so you can be a part of the Kingdom of God; be of the priests and the kings in teaching. When we read this, we are going to see this will describe some of the activities in the beginning of the Millennium that we are going to do to help restore the people to the way and Truth of God.
2-Chronicles 14:2: "And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God." God recognizes when we do good and right. Notice what he did and this is what we'll have to do. Think of all the altars, the idols, the temples; think of all the things that God is going to destroy and we're going to have them smashed into smithereens.
Verse 3: "For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and broke down the images, and cut down the groves. And he commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment" (vs 3-4). Isn't that what we're going to do? Yes, indeed! So, here's King Asa—in a type—doing to Judah what we're going to do in the Millennium.
Verse 5: "He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images. And the kingdom was quiet before him." Then they built up Judah, they built up Jerusalem. He had a battle and war that he had to fight. God was with him and struck down the enemy, drove away the Cushites. It was a great victory. They sent many people out to bring in the spoils.
The truth of the matter is this: When you do what is right before God:
- He will be with you!
- He will bless you!
- He will stand for you!
- He will fight for you!
All of those things are true! Just magnify that in our lives today as the spirit sons and daughters of God. We can do the things that please God. We can do the things that God will see and recognize as good. He's going to take note of that. That's going to add to part of our reward and our standing in the Millennium.
Let's see something important because we're going to be doing activities very similar to this, 2-Chronicles 15:1: "And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, 'Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with Him….'" Very important principle.
2) Teaching about God
Today people want to have the blessings of God by rejecting Him. But that's not going to happen! Look at the hand of God's judgment upon us right now, and upon the world right now, because they are rejecting God! Likewise, we're going to have to teach the people that 'yes, this really is God. Yes, we are the spirit sons and daughters of God. Yes, we are to be teaching you. Here's what you are to do.' We will have them go out and do these things.
"'…And if you seek Him, He will be found by you…. [that's what we're going to show them how to do] …But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you'" (v 2). That will be true during the Millennium, as well. Everyone is going to learn about God, and they're going to have to choose. There's one thing that God is never going to change with human beings. He's never going to take away choice! He wants us to choose; likewise today with us. What are we choosing? What are we doing?
Verse 3: "'And for a long time Israel had been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.'" Doesn't that describe not only Israel, but the whole world? When we take over the Kingdom—it's not going to be left to other people, it's going to be given to the 'saints of the Most High' and that's us—we're going to go out and teach people these very same things here.
- you've gone through trouble
- you've gone through the Tribulation
- you've had difficulties
- your life has been ruined
Verse 4: "'And when they turned in their trouble to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them. And in those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in, but great tumult was upon all the inhabitants of the lands'" (vs 4-5). That's coming upon the whole world.
Verse 6: "'And nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity.'" Now Asa is told by Azariah, 'here's what you are to do.' This is how we're to undertake the work that God is going to give us when we begin to take over the kingdom as the Millennium begins.
Verse 7: "'But you be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.' And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities, which he had taken from mount Ephraim. And he renewed the altar of the LORD before the porch of the LORD. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell to him out of Israel in great numbers, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him" (vs 7-9).
God blessed them! God relieved them out of their troubles! This is what we're going to do with them.
Psalm 25 will show us a great deal. The main thing we're going to be doing is teaching. There are other things we're going to do—we'll cover those as well—but here is a great Psalm to show why we need to be taught of God. Remember, Jesus said 'the Father draws us' and as the prophets have said, 'we will all be taught of God.'
Think of this for a minute: When we teach people during the Millennium, we teach them God's laws, God's commandments, God's ways. They will be able to have God's Spirit. Who is actually doing the teaching? God! We're just the instrumentality to carry it out.
Look at this attitude, and this is going to help us in growing and overcoming in our physical lives now as to how we prepare for the resurrection, and how we are taught to be able to be kings and priests during the Millennium. In order for us to teach, we likewise must be taught, and taught God's way.
Psalm 25:1: "To You, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; do not let me be ashamed, let not my enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none who wait on You be ashamed…" (vs 1-3). Brethren, let me just state this: You don't have to be ashamed of anything of God's way!
- of His commandments
- of His laws
- of His Holy Days
- of the things that He is doing
The very fact that we are yielding ourselves to God, God is going to bless us for it even in spite of the trials that we go through.
"…let them be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause" (v 3). Boy! If that doesn't describe this world and the governments of the world.
Notice how David wanted to learn of God's way, v 4: "Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths." Today we can do that as never before, because we have the whole Bible—Old Testament and New Testament. We realize that this is the whole Word of God to us, inspired by the eternal mind of God, and that it is filled with:
- knowledge upon knowledge
- precept upon precept
- teaching upon teaching
- testimony upon testimony
all magnified by the power and Spirit of God! We have the greatest opportunity to learn so much of God's way, perhaps more than any generation in the history of the world.
Isn't it a shame that the dominant church era at this time is lukewarm Laodiceans? Christ tells them to repent! He's standing at the door and knocking! He says, 'You let Me in, because I've spewed you out of My mouth, now you come back in. You let Me in!'
This is what has to happen, v 4: "Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your Truth and teach me…" (vs 4-5). Remember what Jesus said in the Beatitudes: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled!Isn't that something that we need to do?
- be filled with the knowledge of God
- be filled with the ? Word of God
- be filled with the righteousness of God
- be led of His Holy Spirit to do the things that are right, good and true
- to overcome and change
Yes, indeed!
Verse 5: "Lead me in Your Truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You do I wait all the day long." Just think of that kind of mind, that kind of attitude, and how in studying the Word of God, God is going to teach us. That's what I want us to learn during this Feast of Tabernacles. Let's drink in as much as we can. Be like a dry sponge in the middle of a flowing stream.
Verse 6: "Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindness, for they have been of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your loving kindness remember me for Your goodness' sake, O LORD" (vs 6-7). Isn't that true? What does God say He's going to do with our sins and our transgressions? He's going to remove them as far as the east is from the west, and not remember them ever again! (Heb. 10:17[transcriber's correction]).
Verse 8: "Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He will teach sinners in the way." God will teach us. We learn, grow and overcome. We are faithful to the end. We die, we're buried and resurrected—new body, new mind—spirit body, spirit mind. God is going to infuse into us everything that we have learned, and that will be part of the beginning of our spiritual life. Isn't that something? "…for your goodness sake…" (v 7).
Verse 8: "Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He will teach sinners in the way…. [we're going to be the ones who do that.] …The meek He will guide in judgment; and the meek He will teachHis way" (vs 8-9). Notice teach, teach, be taught all the of this all the way through.
Verse 10: "All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies." That's what we're going to teach: everything in every way about God is what God has made and created so that we can become like He is. That's the whole purpose of God's plan. It's an amazing thing—isn't it, brethren? Yes, indeed!
Verse 12: "What man is he who fears the LORD? He shall teachhim in the waythat He shall choose." Isn't that profound! How much can you learn of God? The more you stay in the way of God, the more you're going to learn! The more you put into practice the things that you learn, the more you're going to understand other things as they come along!
Verse 13: "His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant" (vs 13-14). That's quite a thing! I'm sure there are other Psalms we could add to it and bring some of these things out.
It's absolutely amazing! There are so many things in the Bible that God has put here to teach us, for us to learn, for us to absorb, for us to go over and over again, and for us to be prepared as kings and priests. Yet, what a shame it is that in the world, the form of Christianity in the world:
- they do away with the laws and commandments of God
- they do away with the Truth and righteousness of God
- they don't even know anything about the plan of God or what it's all about
- they all believe they're all going to go to heaven and everything is going to be fine
No, that's not the way that it works. Listen! That's why God has given us His Word and His Truth. Let's realize this: With this blessing and opportunity for us—we don't know how long we're going to have peace; w don't know how long we're going to have the opportunity to learn, change and grow—but let's take advantage of every day, every minute, every circumstance:
- whether the circumstances are pleasant or whether they are difficult
- whether it is a trial or whether it is a reward
Let's learn from all of those things, because these are life experiences that, with God's Spirit and with His Word, He wants us to learn. He has great things, fantastic things in store for us! When we're resurrected we're going to be able to have a tremendous work to do.
Isaiah 48:15: "I, even I, have spoken…" You think about that with the whole Bible, because all of these are the recorded words of God and of Christ.
"…yea, I have called him…" (v 15). Stop and think! This is a prophecy of Cyrus; but God has called us—right? Have we not answered the call? Many are called and few are chosen! Those who are chosen are called the selected or the elect.
"…I brought him and he makes his way succeed. Come near to Me, hear this…" (vs 15-16). We are told in Eph. 1 that God has made known to us the secret things of His plan, of His work, of what He's doing on the earth.
"'…I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From the time that it was, there am I.' And now the Lord GOD, and His Spirit, has sent me. Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, 'I am the LORD your God Who teaches you to profit…'" (vs 16-17). Not profit in physical treasures, but spiritual treasures; not profit in the way of business, as in commercial things, but in the business of becoming like God.
"'…Who leads you by the way that you should go'" (v 17). God is the One Who does. Doesn't it say there in Rom. 8:14 that 'as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God'? Yes, indeed! That's us! He's going to lead us.
Notice, He was lamenting that Israel had not done this, but look at the result of what would have happened. Let's look at it from this way, the result of what is happening in our lives:
Verse 18: "Oh, that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea." That's what we want, brethren. We have every opportunity. Everything that God wants to give to us. God has granted us:
- His Spirit
- His Truth
- His righteousness
- His Word
In order to accomplish His way!
Let's see what else we're going to do. Let's recall what was it that Jesus told the apostles just before He ascended into heaven? Go into all the world, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you! Lo, I am with until the end of the age.' Let's take that and apply that to what it's going to be in the Millennium.
- Is God going to send us into the world to teach the people all things that God has commanded? Yes, indeed!
- Are we going to preach the Gospel? Yes, indeed!
- Are we going to preach salvation? Yes, indeed!
- Are we going to be doing healings? Yes, indeed!
- Are we going to be helping people overcome the trauma and difficulties of coming out of the Tribulation? Yes!
Then the next generation we're going to be teaching them how to have happy families, how to have good children, the purpose of God, where they're going, what they're doing. Just think of the teachings that are going to be during the Millennium and we are the ones who are going to be doing it.
Matthew 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." That means everything concerning the Kingdom of God, too. The Word of God is constantly being fulfilled. The Word of God is constantly being perfected. When the Kingdom of God is setup on the earth, just think what that's going to be.
- We're going to get rid of all the religions of this world.
- We're going to get rid of all of the teaching institutions of this world.
- We're going to get rid of all the governments of this world.
- We're going to get rid of all the governments of man.
It's going to be Christ as King! And the saints ruling over the whole world under Christ and teaching them the way of salvation.
I want you to think about this: "Do not think that I have come to abolish…but to fulfill." Don't you think He's going to fulfill all the prophecies that are there and everything that is behind the prophecies that expand it? You can take one word of the prophecies and expand it out into a great number of things, and this is what we're going to be doing.
Verse 18: "For truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall pass away… [That's not going to happen until a new heaven and new earth comes—correct? Yes! Look at this and project forward into the Millennium.] …one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled."
Let's see where it's going to be that everything is fulfilled, Revelation 21:6: "And He said to me, 'It is done…'" If it's all done, everything leading up to the changing of the heavens and the earth to the new heaven and earth be fulfilled.
We can take these verses back in Matt. 5 and we can project that forward on into eternity. What is it going to be, all the work that God is going to do with us and with the universe into all eternity. How's that going to be? Those are going to be some things that are just going to blow our minds. Our minds right now cannot fathom it, because we need a spirit mind in order to handle that.
Matthew 5:18: "…until everything has been fulfilled…. [this tells us what we're going to teach]: …Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so…" (vs 18-19). Think about Protestantism. Think about the religions of this world. Do they not teach men to do it? Yes!
"…shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall practice and teach them, this one shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven" (v 19). It's going to be done while we are in the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God in teaching the people on the earth!
It says, "…this one… [whoever shall practice and teach] …shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven." What does that do to the argument that the disciples had on the Passover night as to who is going to be the 'greatest'? That obliterates it!
Let's understand something else here, which the world doesn't understand, because as I said earlier, they do not know anything of Judaism. Let me just tell you one big key to understanding the New Testament. Unless you understand about Judaism, you can't understand the New Testament, nor can you understand the difficult Scriptures of the Apostle Paul.
That's why in the Bible we have Appendix Z: Understanding Paul's Difficult Scriptures Concerning the Law and the Commandments of God. If you haven't studied those, and if you haven't gone through those, you need to do that. What that is going to do is open your mind and your understanding to the Word of God as never before.
Verse 20: "For I say to you, unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees…" They had their traditions; their man-made righteousness. Jesus told them in John 7 that 'none of you are keeping the Law of Moses.' They call their traditions the Law of Moses, which is not true.
You can take this and apply it to any religion: Protestantism, Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism—whatever religion you want to apply it to—New Age religion; doesn't make any difference. They all have their own teachings, they all have their own righteousness, which are nothing but 'filthy rags' before God. Here's the thing, even today, if your righteousness is not based upon the Word of God, the Truth of God, and on Jesus Christ, Jesus says:
"…there is no way that you shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven" (v 20). That's the whole purpose as to why we're here—right? We want to enter into the Kingdom of God—don't we? Yes! We want to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven—don't we? Yes! We want to do the things that please God! We can do those.
Peter says that if we're doing these things, and if we're growing in grace and we're growing in knowledge that we will have an entrance into the eternal Kingdom of God.
- we're going to be teachers
- we're going to be priests
- we're going to be governors
- we're going to rule over cities
It is going to be a fantastic and tremendous thing, brethren, that God has called us to do!
The next thing we will see—which we'll cover tomorrow—is we're also going to be judging. We'll save that for tomorrow. Come back tomorrow and we'll pick it up where we left off today.
Scriptural References:
- Isaiah 9:6-7
- Matthew 23:23
- Luke 11:42
- Psalm 145:1-13, 17-19
- Psalm 149:1-6
- Luke 22:23-30
- Psalm 122:1-5
- Daniel 7:26-27
- Leviticus 10:8-11
- Deuteronomy 4:1-6
- 1 Peter 2:9
- Deuteronomy 4:7-8
- 2 Chronicles 14:2-5
- 2 Chronicles 15:1-9
- Psalm 25:1-8, 7-10, 12-14
- Isaiah 48:15-18
- Matthew 5:17-18
- Revelation 21:6
- Matthew 5:18-20
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- 1-Corinthians 2
- Revelation 20; 2
- Daniel 1
- Revelation 17; 18
- Hebrews 10:17
- Ephesians 1
- Romans 8:14
- John 7
Also referenced:
Books:
- Code of Jewish Law by Ganzfried & Goldin
- Judaism: A Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men? by Philip Neal
Sermon Series: Scripturalism vs Judaism
Appendix Z (The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version): Understanding Paul's Difficult Scriptures Concerning the Law and the Commandments of God
