Moses: The Great Tribulation and End Time Call
of God P-2
We
now return to Moses in the wilderness with the children of Israel.
Exodus 19:10-11 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto
the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount
Sinai.
So we need to understand that this covenant of being kings and
priests unto God the first and primary responsibility of those
who would enter therein is to cleanse themselves to obtain sanctification.
I need
to say when I have spoken of these things to preacher and believer
alike regardless of church or denomination I have received a
Calvinistic rant of: It’s not by works, it’s not by works, it’s
not by works. Which all mindlessly speak, not having the slightest
idea what that are speaking of. The reason for them saying these
things is that it has been so drummed in them that regardless
of church and denomination that they can not help themselves
from speaking what is in their heart, that has rendered them
inoperative to repent, to pray, or to obey what God has spoken
to them.
Hebrews
6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Note
in this that repentance is not a dead work but repentance leads
to faith in God.
Hebrews
9:14 How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God?
Note in this second passage the phrase “purge your conscience”
that is the act of repenting and cleansing your conscience and
once again this is not listed as a work.
Galatians
5:19-20 Now
the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery(The opposite of this would be faithfulness), fornication (The opposite of this would be chastity), uncleanness (The opposite of this is sanctification or to be made clean), lasciviousness (The opposite of this would be modesty), Idolatry
(The opposite of this
would be to worship and follow God alone), witchcraft (The opposite of this would be the gifts and operations of
the Spirit), hatred (The opposite of this
would be agape love which would not be a work either), variance, emulations,
wrath (The opposite of this
is meekness which is not a work either), strife, seditions (The opposite of this would be unity), heresies (the opposite of this would be truth as taught by the Spirit),
In examining the opposites
of the works of the flesh we see that these are more “spiritual
qualities” and “fruits of the Spirit” than good works. And several
of these qualities Christ mentions separately from works when
he speaks to the seven churches and says I know they works.
Good Works defined in the Law of Moses, they are concrete things
for example giving to the poor, the fatherless and widows. Preaching salvation, healing the sick and casting
out devils are all called works in the Gospels Going and physically
helping your neighbor is also considered good work. As we have
addressed the issues of tithing and giving and have emphatically
stated God can not and will not be bribed so to the word of
God says that doing good works will not turn gods head and through
this you will not curry favor with God. But this is not so with
obedience, prayer, repentance, fasting, and seeking sanctification.
Romans 4:6 Even as David also
describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom
God imputeth righteousness without works,
But
the testimony of Abram is filled with prayer repentance and
ultimately Abrams obedience even though it took him 30 years
was what brought him to this encounter with God that yet affects
us today.
Titus
3:4-6 But
after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man
appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Revelation
2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience,
-- Remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen, and repent,
and do the first works; or else
Revelation 2:13 I know thy
works, and where thou dwellest -- Repent; or else
David
speaks often of repentance of prayer and fasting as ways to
cleanse ones soul and spirit. Sacrifices and offerings thou wouldest not but a broken and contrite
spirit
and elsewhere he says – obedience is better than
sacrifice.
Exodus 19:10-11 And the
Lord Said unto Moses Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and
tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, And
be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount
Sinai.
So
God tells Moses to sanctify them not once but for two days.
This sanctification was not a simple prayer, this sanctification
was not a simple confession or profession, it was a process
where layer after layer like an onion of sin unrighteousness
and uncleaness were stripped away.
But
this process of sanctification is not an end unto itself, as
is taught in the Roman Catholic Monastic teachings of an early 17th century
Roman Catholic nun named Madam Guyon, and by her modern disciples like Martha Wing Robinson, Jesse Penn Lewis, Watchman Nee, Witness Lee
and
a host of others. And I am sad to say that I personally know
hundreds (this included dozens of Pinecrest students and several
faculty members) that were and still are caught in this tangled
web of this medieval monasticism filled with penitence, self-flagellation,
containing fragments of various monastic vows, and praying and
worshipping the Christ within. This is the world of what Madam
Guyon describes as her second state which she called "mystical
death," During which she felt detached from God and
was plagued with deep mental depression and thoughts of hell
and judgment. She frequently had dark, weird dreams, which she
considered a form of revelation. In the world today this life
style would be described as Goth. And in the scripture this
morbid stripe of believers are described as having made a covenant
with death. So when
we speak of sanctification and repentance on this site any resemblance
to any of the words of these people is strictly coincidental.
And in no way do we advocate or validate any of their writings.
The
end or the goal of the process of sanctification not to suffer
to make ourselves worthy, it is not to make us bloody and bruised
living reenactments of the cross, it is not a gospel of those
who suffer from manic depression where we with shaden-freud
can secretly and inwardly delight in how all the people who
have made us suffer will be paid back. Sanctification has one
purpose and one purpose only – Be ye Holy for I am Holy. Sanctification is to lead us to the feet if Christ and Him alone.
And if this process or as Madam Guyon called this first
the first state she found herself in “Union with Powers” and
in this state she said she was led into a self-abusing lifestyle
to seek Christ within to pray to Christ within
or to worship Christ within this is not sanctifying oneself
unto God. This is Catholic and eastern mysticism where one contemplates
their inner self and tries to raise their consciousness and
that is why these teachings are fraught with phases like raising
our consciousness, and Christ consciousness, and seeking the
Christ within. They have a belief that in meditation they move
their earthly being into God’s body and the two become one.
This spiritual merging of flesh and God is spoken of in reverential
tones as “union.” The
new age movement and elements in Charismatic, Pentecostal, fundamentalists
and even those in evangelical circles all are drawn to this
like moths to an open flame. Moody Bible Institute even published
a version of her Biography.
Ezekiel
13:3 Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow
their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
This so describes this doctrine – and it so speaks of
its end result. Communing
with one’s spirit and having it guide you to spirituality God
or whatever – is a cause of woe. It is the path of fools – spiritually
deluded fools and God concludes that such acts will not bring
you to truth – whereas they that are led by the Holy Spirit
. . . Following one’s
spirit will only lead to darkness and nothing for in ad of itself
man’s own spirit is corrupt and filled with darkness.
Not
to mention these followers of Madam Guyon erroneously divide
the word of God between some imagined thing they speak often
of as being “Old Covenant,” and being part of the “Old Covenant
Mentality,” or having an
“Old Covenant Mindset” that we need not the law and the prophets,
we as believers need only the Gospels and the Epistles
I admit this bent is not a creation of their own but they have
taken it far beyond what any corrupt Reformer or corrupt Roman
Catholic “Saint” or “Doctor” wrote in that regard. Madam Guyon’s
modern disciples make out the Old Covenant to be their enemy,
and an enemy to all those who read it and want to follow
in their perverted ways, But their fear of
Scripture is far greater than even the one who reads
it, for they speak of the “Old Covenant as if it were a spirit
or a non-corporeal demon that affects even to those who read
not the Old Testament has such power that it pollutes and permeates
their very consciousness and is able to cloud their thinking
and obscure their inward spiritual perceptions, interfering
with all that they would do and teach. What they are really fighting against is God
and the Holy Spirit. What they are resisting is God’s Spirit striving against them and their sin and unrighteousness and the
perverted path they would follow. And so as God chides, reproves,
and rebukes, they shake it off and blame the conviction correction
and call to repentance and sanctification – on their version
of the devil that they call “Old Covenant Mentality.” And that
immediately by them renaming it as such “renders it null and
void” just as the Scribes and Pharisee’s went about nullifying
Scripture to their own damnation.
Psalm
77 is probably the linchpin in Scripture to all the goings on
of these modern disciples of Madam Guyon. That is what they
believe, what they are supposedly spiritually doing, and what
they are supposedly spiritually achieving.
Psalm
77:1-6 1 I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice;
and he gave ear unto me. 2
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my
sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be
comforted. 3 I
remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit
was overwhelmed. Selah. 4 Thou holdest
mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 6 I call to remembrance my song
in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made
diligent search.
Like
David the people that seek this experience are generally a people
in great anguish, they are filled with loneliness, despair,
the world around them is in a shambles – but unlike David these
people do not really know the Lord, they have never been hardwired
into him and have never had a “Life Changing” salvation experience
to begin with. David however knew the Lord intimately and was
also a Prophet of God. so
in verse six when David speak of calling into remembrance my
song in the night, and saying in this lull or void he will commune
with his own heart and with his spirit he will make a diligent
search – David is not speaking of an astral projection of his
soul or spirit searching and reaching out to touch God. And
Neither is David seeking or reaching deep within to commune
with a God that is within. And this will be borne out in David’s
own words in this Psalm.
Psalm 77:7-9
7 Will
the Lord cast off forever? and will he be favourable no more?
8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth
his promise fail for evermore? 9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up
his tender mercies? Selah.
Here we have David feeling cut off and this deep separation between
him and God
10 And I said, This is my infirmity:
but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most
High. (The first difference between
what David is speaking of and what the disciples of Madam Guyon
are doing is David is NOT empting his mind, soul, or spirit to enter into
a trance-like emptiness – David in counter distinction to this
says that he WILL (of his own volition) REMEMBER (call up mental
remembrances) the years where he saw the right hand of the Lord
raised in his behalf – This remembering and recalling of what
God had wrought in his behalf is part of what David defines
as “I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search”) 11 I will remember
the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of
old. (The second difference David
cites is a REMEMBRANCE of what he was told of the power and
workings of God) 12 I will meditate also of all
thy work, and talk of thy doings.(The third major difference of David’s communing with mine own heart: and my spirit making a diligent search
is
that he defines that searching of his spirit for God as including meditating upon all the works of God and that is David
speaking o
f meditating upon the Law of the Lord as he repeats elsewhere
dozens of times – and why is he meditating upon the word of
Old Covenant? David is seeking God to reveal to him his sin
the cause of this separation -- David is seeking cleansing and sanctification
and note also that part of this communing with mine own heart
and my spirit making a diligent search is also David speaking
these things to the brethren – All of what David is speaking
of here is shunned by the disciples of Madam Guyon as being
part of the much hated and maligned Old Testament Mentality).
13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:
(David
then speaks of the outward tabernacle of God he had erected
with its outward altar of repentance that contained also contained
an outward the Holy of holies.) Who
is so great a God as our God?
14 Thou art the God that doest (outward) wonders: thou hast (outwardly and openly)
declared thy strength among the people. 15 Thou hast with thine arm (outwardly and physically)
redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. 16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw
thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. 17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent
out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. 18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven
(And
David most importantly to this discussion of his communing with
mine own heart: and my spirit making a diligent search – that the God whom he “Inwardly”
is not in him, but is outward. And here David now refers now
to the place of God’s dwelling as “in heaven” not within the
breast of David the man of God and the Prophet of God.) the lightnings lightened the world: the
earth trembled and shook. 19
Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great
waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
20 Thou leddest thy
people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (The final verse of this psalm
is so old covenant and show so conclusively that David was reading
and meditating upon the book of Exodus. And David’s testimony
is that God revealed himself to David in many times and in many
ways as David sought the Lord with his heart and diligently
sought after the Lord in this way.)
I will select David’s walk and David’s revelations over Madam Guyon’s
hands down. Her testimony includes no conversion, and according
to her own words part of this process she went through for almost
a decade was her having dreams, visions, and the like with demons
speaking to her, and containing
very dark and perverted things that tormented her body
soul and spirit. This woman was a soothsayer who communed with spirits, and not unlike
Simon Magnus was reputed to have done and was rejected and cast
out of the Church by the Apostles themselves. They difference
between her and Simon Magnus was that she appeared in an age
of utter corruption (where there were no longer Apostles and
Prophets) and she appeared within the Roman Catholic Church
not in India or China or on her own in a farm field and the
fact that she had been a Catholic Nun and advised by priests
has been used by men to vindicate all that she testified of.
And now in this modern era men have now sought to shroud
her corrupt and perverted words with scriptures, and have thusly
presented her to the brethren making her to appear as an angel
of light -- illuminating
the way to salvation. But
this way of hers is no way at all. It is but just another path
for people to waste their lives blindly plodding down, the end
of which leads nowhere, which as all of the other hundreds if
not thousands of false Gospel’s true design and purpose.
Exodus
19: 12-13 And thou shalt set bounds (Strongs 1379) unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that
ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever
toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: There shall
not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot
through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long,
they shall come up to the mount.
So
as Moses is working with the Children of Israel
to sanctify them the Lord speaks a most curious thing.
That Moses and Aaron are to set up these boundary markers around
this mountain And the Children of Israel are given an ominous
warning not to go up this mountain, not to touch even the edge
of it and if any do so they are to be put to death (notice that
the killing is not being done by God) Notice that men are to
kill anyone that attempts to touch or even go near to this mount.
But God says here that when this trumpet shall sound THEN shall
the come up to the mount.
The
Septuagint reads a little different here:
Exodus 19:12-13
And thou shalt separate (This word in Hebrew (LBG --
Lamech Beth Gimel) is used eight times in numbers to lay a bond
to one’s self ie to take a vow.
Apo-Riloo is used 10 times in the NT as God severing
or separate unto himself for service) the
people round about saying take heed to your selves that ye go
not up the mountain nor touch any part of it, everyone that
touches the mountain shall surely die. A hand shall not touch
it, every one that touches shall be stoned with stones or shot
through with a dart. Whether beast or whether man it shall not
live. When the voice of the trumpets
and the cloud depart from off the mountain, they shall come
up on the mountain.
So in verse
10 God tells Moses Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and
tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes,
In verse 12 God does not tell Moses to set pylons along the edge
of the mountain, but in both the Greek and Hebrew we see God
telling the people to separate themselves unto the Lord for
this sanctification (The bride making herself ready) – During
this interim period they are unclean and therefore no one of them
is to come unclean
unto
the mount or even touch it (Christ speaks of this regarding prayer, judging others and touching
other matters including partaking of communion – the reason
is not what is commonly taught from our corrupted viewpoint
that the Father is an angry judgmental God who we need to be
protected from,– it is because there is one who condemns the
brethren night and day and when the unclean do or partake of
certain things the one who condemns the brethren seeing this
snaps into action and cried out for “Justice” which in this
case is “Condemnation” against the doer or partaker.) Notice as was said above that it is not God striking these people
dead but men that are enforcing this staying away from the mount.
Exodus 19:14-15 And Moses
went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the
people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the
people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
Look
now and see Moses does not set come down the mount and set up
markers, pylons, or boundaries along the line of death What
does he do? He helps the people sanctify themselves, he has
them wash their clothes and he gives them certain advice on
what this cleansing encompasses and does not encompass. And
we can read in there that the people with one heart and one
spirit obeyed the word of the Lord and with their whole heart
they cleansed and sanctified themselves. And was this an end
unto itself? No. Was this a call into a monastic existence?
No. What was the call? That on the Third day God would appear
to who? The clergy? The elders and High Priests and Levites?
Not at all the promise of being a peculiar people was to the
laity – the High Priest and Levites were not yet established
nor known even by Moses himself. And of this laity without priestly
interference or Levites to explain and interpret for them what
they saw or heard.
No, in this event God
wants to demonstrate his power to the Laity, He wants to come
down in the sight of the Laity, and He wants to audibly speak
to Moses in the hearing of the Laity for the express purpose
that the laity might all become kings and priests unto God.
Now
for a moment we need to see that this did not happen. And it
did not happen in forty years in the wilderness, it did not
happen in eighty years in the wilderness with Joshua lading
them into the Promised Land. It did not occur with the coming
of David it did not even occur with the coming of Christ and
his walking among men and performing signs and wonders for 3.5
years and all told this Covenant Jewish age was in force for
almost 1500 years without producing the fruit of a Laity that
were priests unto God. The Covenant of Abraham with the same
calling and privileges was in force for another 500 years making
it 2000 years old when Christ came and it had key not produced
the seed of faith. Now we flip over the fallen and backslidden
church and can see with some degree of certainty that like the
children of Israel in these 2000 years we have neither produced
the seed of faith unto Abraham nor a laity of priests unto God
to be God’s peculiar treasure. And hence we are to the cutting
off of this tree as the Children of Israel themselves were cut
off.
Exodus19:16-18 And it came to pass on the third
day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings,
and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding
loud; (These trumpets and the thunderings and lightnings
all bare significance to what is recorded in the book of Revelation,
These trumpets sounding are not being made by the Israelites
they are all from heaven as God advances towards his people.) so that all the people that was in the camp
trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp
to meet with God; and they
stood at the nether part of the mount. (There were no markers but the people stood off in the reverence and
fear of the Lord) And mount Sinai was altogether
on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and
the whole mount quaked greatly.
This
was actually a sign of the Lord on the earth and in the heavens
of God appearing unto Abram and making his covenant with him
in the likeness of a smoking furnace and lamps of fire. Except
that this was a hundred-fold manifestation of that. And as a
great horror of fear fell upon Abram so a great horror of fear
feel upon the children of Israel.
Exodus19:19-20 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder,
Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount:
and the LORD called Moses up to
the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
So
if we are keeping a list God has now spokenx audibly not once
but twice in front of all the laity – so that all have now heard
the audible voice of God or the word that proceedeth.
Exodus19:21-22 And the LORD
said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break
through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. And let
the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the
LORD break forth upon them.
So
now we have Moses on top of the mount and the people the laity
all assembled down at the bottom of the mount and God with some
concern tell Moses we can’t talk now because I see the Israelites
curiosity is getting the better of them – and I see that some
of them are going to try shortly to break through, climb the
mountain to try to gaze upon the Lord – but if they do many
of them shall perish. Note here that God did not say all would
perish many is most but not all. And when you God down let the
priests also, sanctify themselves lest the Lord break upon them (in judgement)
This word Priests is
very important here because as we have already said no high
priests and no Levites existed yet the word in the Greek is
(Iereus) – and it means to be
hallowed or Holy and is spoken to one that makes offerings
The First use of the
word is in
Genesis
14:18
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine:
and he was the priest (Iereus)
of
the most high God.
Melchizedak is the first
named priest (Iereus) and
he was a priest of the most High God as Moses Father in Law
Reuel was.
Exodus 2:16 Now the priest (Iereus) (Unto
God) of Midian
had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled
the troughs to water their father's flock.
Exodus
3:1Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father
in law, the priest (Iereus) of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert,
and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
Exodus
18:1 When Jethro, the priest (Iereus) of Midian, Moses' father in law, heard of all that God had
done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the LORD
had brought Israel out of Egypt;
Exodus 19:22 And let the priests (Iereus) also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves,
lest the LORD break forth upon them.
Exodus 19:24 And the LORD said
unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou,
and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests
(Iereus) and the people break through to come up
unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.
When
God said:
Exodus 19:6 And
ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, (Iera-teia Priesthood)
and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto
the children of Israel.
Exodus
23:20-32Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee
in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he
will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.
But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak;
then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary
unto thine adversaries. (verse 22 reads completely different in the Septuagint) For mine Angel shall go before thee,
and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the
Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites:
and I will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods,
nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly
overthrow them, and quite break down their images. And ye shall
serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy
water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy
land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. I will send my fear
before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt
come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto
thee. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive
out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before
thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year;
lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply
against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from
before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea
of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for
I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and
thou shalt drive them out before thee. Thou shalt make no covenant
with them, nor with their gods.
Exodus 23:22 (Septuagint) If ye will indeed hear my voice and if
you will do all the things that I shall charge thee with and
keep my covenant ye
shall be to me a peculiar people above all nations for the whole
earth is mine and ye shall be unto me a royal priesthood (Iera-teia Priesthood)
and
a holy nation. These
words shall ye speak unto the children of Israel
if indeed ye shall hear my voice and do the things that
I shall tell thee I will be an enemy for thy enemies and an
adversary for thy adversaries
We see very pointedly how important it to hear the voice of God -
for those that would be in his priesthood
And
we might as well mention the Leadership and the Guidance, of
the Holy Spirit.
Exodus 23:20,23 20And behold I send
my angel before thy face, that
he will keep thee in the way.
That He may (this is not automatic) bring thee into the land which I have prepared
for thee. Take heed to thyself and hearken unto him and
disobey him not. For He will not give way to thee
for my name is (written)
on him. 23 For my angel shall go as
thy leader and (He shall) shall bring
thee to (This is a promise) the Amorite the chettite
and Pherezite and Canaanite
and gergasite and evite and and jebusite and I will destroy
them thou shalt not worship their Gods nor serve them. (I see by the Spirit that this worship is an issue of fear but not
the fear of the Lord, and this serving them is an issue of fear,
but not the fear of the Lord.)
Isaiah
30:21 And
thine ears shall hear a word (voice from) behind
thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when
ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
John
15:26 But
when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the
Father, he shall testify
(teach) of
me:
John
16:13 Howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,
He will guide you into all truth: for He
shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever
He shall hear, that shall He speak (teach): and He will shew you things to come.
So
who then are the priests of Exodus 19:22, 24? The
bible is largely silent in Exodus as to who was making offerings
unto the Lord and under what circumstances prior to the giving
of the Law. But from Exodus 10 we see Moses telling Pharaoh they need their flocks because
they have a lot of offerings that need to be made.
Exodus 10:25 And Moses said,
Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that
we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God.
I
think we find the answer who their priests where in Exodus
20
Exodus 20:24-25 An altar
of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings,
thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name
I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And
if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build
it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou
hast polluted it.
The Lord issues new commandment which we explore
shortly that God actually has a preference for an altar – and
it is an altar of dirt.
Exodus
24:4-5 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the
hill, (of dirt) and twelve pillars (altars of dirt) , according to the twelve tribes of Israel.And he sent (for
the) young men of the children of Israel, which
(had) offered burnt
offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.
And here we see Moses in obedience rising early and erecting 12 altars
of dirt one for each of the tribes – so their would be no mistake
made, because this was not their custom and he calls in these
young men from each tribe that had previously been assigned
as their tribes acting priests to make these offerings – these
are the priests of Exodus 19:22,24 and these altars of
dirt, and this priestly order consisting of members of every
tribe and probably its key households is worth some consideration
in light of the events that shortly come to pass in Exodus.
Exodus19:21-22 And the LORD
said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break
through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. And let
the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the
LORD break forth upon them.
So
we are now back with Moses on top of the mount and the people
the laity are all still assembled down at the bottom of the
mount, and God has some concern about the Israelites curiosity
is getting the better of them , and some of them are going to
break through, and climb the mountain to try to gaze upon the
Lord. And if they do so many of them shall perish.
Now I need to remind you that all of these people had already
had two days of sanctification, they washed their clothes, they
vowed to stay away from the mount in their uncleaness and they
were given a list of other do’s and don’ts regarding their sanctification
–
Exodus 19:21-22 (Septuagint) And the Lord can down
upon mount Sinai on the top of the mountain and Moses went up. And God spoke unto Moses and saying go down
and solemnly charge the people lest at any time they draw neigh
to God to gaze and a multitude of them shall fall. And let the
priests that draw neigh unto God sanctify themselves lest he
destroy some of them.
What these verses indicate is not that God wanted to strike dead
any that would look upon Him – that has been corruptly preached
in all quarters. But these verses indicate that a loving Father
is seeking to protect a not fully sanctified people that still
have lingering sin and iniquity in them. So note here that of
the people and their multitudes “many would be slain” and God finds that unacceptable.
But of these young more holy tribal priests that there were
still a “few among them” that would be struck dead and even
that the loving Father finds unacceptable.
Matthew 18:13-14 And if so be that he find it, verily I say
unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety
and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will (Greek
-- Desire) of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
And so the command goes forth from God to Moses to protect these
people. Fir as unimaginable as it may seen even though they
heard the audible voice of God, and saw the manifestation of
the furnace and the flames of fire, and God speaking audibly
out of these tongues of flame, and they saw all great lightenings
and thunderings. – God had not accomplished his whole desire,
in that God has not yet revealed himself to these people however
their present level of sanctification would not bare that level
of light and holiness.
So the priests have to sanctify themselves even more and they with
Moses will help to try to bring these people to a higher level
of cleansing, the deeper sanctification that is needed if these
people at all are to become priests unto him.
In
the next passage we find that once again Moses can not comprehend
what God is getting on about and proceeds to argue with the
Lord.
Exodus 19:23-24 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot (will not) come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds
(make
a vow of seperation from) about the mount, and (they have) sanctify it (been wholly obedient). 24And the LORD said unto him, (I like the King James where
God appears ticked of with Moses and says) Away!
get thee down! and (when) thou shalt (come back) come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and
the people break through (follow you and Aaron) to come
up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.
And
after Moses comes down and warns the people to stay back and
they comply God then audible speaks to all of them the following.
And I can not interpret this passage any other way than God
speaking this audibly. The power of these words are so much
more Powerful when you see the Lord God audibly introducing
himself to His people in verse 2 and then giving
His demands of holiness and sanctification to this people.
Exodus
20:1-18 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought
thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me,
and keep my commandments. 7
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God
in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name in vain. 8 Remember the Sabbath
day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt
thou labor, and do all thy work:
10But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in
it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy
stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day,
and hallowed it. 12 Honor thy father
and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which
the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt
not commit adultery. 15 Thou shalt not
steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.
18 And all the people saw the thunderings,
and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain
smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood
afar off.
By the time that God was
done speaking these people were speechless. No doubt completely
laid bare in their sin and shame. And they now absolutely saw
how deaf, blind, and naked they were before God.
Knowing of a truth that there was nothing righteous or
worthy of God’s love or salvation in any person that stood their
that day and heard his voice. This is the striving of God’s
Spirit with men. This
is the reproof, rebuke, and correction, that is sharper than
any two edged sword that cuts between flesh and bone, soul and
spirit and is a discerner and thus exposes the deceitfulness
of the heart of men. So devastated were these people that they
demanded of Moses that God Speak no more directly to them. -- For they feared that cutting power of the
light and truth conveyed in His audible words would cause them
to perish.
Two years ago I saw for the first time how God so loved Adam in the
garden and the fall that he sought to protect and ultimately
redeem him and his seed. And likewise two years ago I saw the
love of the Father in this narrative in Exodus and in the Law
where I had been taught since I was a child that there was no
love only judgment and wrath. I am glad now that I did not write
this two years ago for the Lord has given me such a greater
understanding a clearer vision of these things even as I write
them now
Exodus 20:19-21 And they said unto Moses, Speak
thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us,
lest we die. (The
truth of the matter is that it was not the hearing of God’s
audible voice that had set them off – God speaking to Moses
audible was not as threatening or terrifying s God directly
addressing them) And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove
you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin
not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick
darkness where God was.
Understand
that even after two days of cleansing and sanctification in
the best possible circumstances having the audible voice of
God directed at them was more than these people could bare and
they began to falter – they tried to withdraw to a safe distance
where they felt more comfortable in their sin and their corruption.
This
is why many walk the way they do. It is not because they do
not love or want God. It is that which is within, the baggage
they carry about in their soul and spirit, it so stings and
so cries out with agony in the light of His glory and truth
they dare not do go closer. Instead of throwing overboard that
which causes offence (this
may cause you to read the verses containing the word offense
in a new light.) They choose instead to walk
in the more comfortable shades of gray and darkness
And so God in His grace turns instead to Moses and speaks and however
alarming and convicting that may have been it was more comfortable
to listen to God speak to Moses than to have him speak to them
in first person in their semi-sanctified state.
Exodus 20:24-26 An altar of earth thou shalt make
unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and
thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places
where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless
thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt
not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon
it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps
unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
As
I was writing this and researching several articles that I have written over the last
two years to maintain “some consistency” in what I write I discovered
to my chagrin that I made half a dozen references to an “Altar
of Dirt” that must have been fairly cryptic to those that God
has led to this site. All the time I thought I had posted what
God had spoken to me on this matter when I was fasting for those
15 days two years ago. I know I had originally wrote out all
that I had seen and heard on this matter, and I on several occasions
taught small and select audiences on this from what I had written
out – and the lesson took
me 3 hours to go through, beginning in Exodus 19 and ending
with the Golden Calf in Exodus 32. Some how that article never
ended up on this site. and some how my original notes that were
typed on this computer also disappeared as well. So I guess
God at this time has me rectifying this. I can only wonder what
other cryptic references I have been making
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living soul.
So God took dirt and breathed his very breath
into it, and it became a living soul. Note here the power of
breath of God – that in itself it creates life, consciousness,
the ability to reason, it converted mere dirt into flesh and
blood and so much more than we could
not begin to express the glory of what that single breath of
a holy and righteous God did for a nameless altar or pillar
of dirt.
In
the garden, the man Adam that had created from the red earth
needed greater life or greater witness in him than what he
could receive in partaking of the measure of the breath of God
in the plants, fruits, and animals of God’s creation around
him. For partaking of these was only able to slow the fading
glory of the original breath that the man Adam had received.
As in similitude that Moses face shone and the glory faded.
This
seems to conclusively prove that Adam the man whose leaf that
did not fade or wither while in the Garden of God’s delight
had another source of life that was being inputted into his
being other than the bread of God’s fading glory alone which
could be freely partaken of from all that grew or roamed in
the garden around him.
For with a careful reading we can see that
the man Adam was actually in the Garden with God for quite a
prolonged period of time.
To continue in these days (Yoms) of the Lord
lasting 1000 of your years, this child of the fading glory of
his Father would have had to have receive multiple (daily) infusions
of his Father’s greater life, and greater witness that came from the words that proceedeth from the mouth of
the Father.
Therefore
Adam owed the longevity of his existence to the word that proceeded
from the mouth of the Father rather than the partaking of the
fading glory of bread alone. When God breathed into Adam, we might say that God spoke life into
Adam -- for with our breath we utter sound.
So with His breath God uttered life. And in the case
of man God’s utterance it was imparted to an altar of the dirt
of that was fashioned from the field.
And of that dirt we see that God chose for
himself common dirt, dirt of no reputation, not some exotic
mix of rare soils and essential nutrients, not soil impregnated
with gold, or precious stones, but the lowest most common dirt
to impart his life and glory in.
Romans
12:3 For
I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is
among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think;
but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man
the measure of faith.
This altar or pillar of dirt became exalted
and began to think of itself more highly that it ought and thus
the sin of Adam or the sin of man was born.
And sin once it hath conceived
- - -
James 1:14-16 But every man is tempted,
when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled
thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna,
which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that
he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD
doth man live.
And Adam
the man of dirt that thought more highly of itself than it ought
was humbled, and thrown out of the Garden and more importantly
from scripture tells us the presence of God. And here and Learned
that he indeed could not live by bread alone and so the child
of the fading glory of the Father leaf did wither and his flower
did fade and he died and returned to being common dirt. Note
that there was no place of repentance for Adam once he had despised
his birthright. Like with Esau God could not simply give back
his lost birthright though it was sought with great tears and
much repentance for the Man Adam, and later the man Esau had
given their birthright of dominion in all its intricacies over
this world to another.
Luke 4:5-6 And the devil, taking Christ up into an high mountain, shewed unto
him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the
devil said unto Christ, All this power will I give thee, and
the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever
I will I give it.
This was the birthright of Adam that traded in order to temporarily
receive temporary sustenance for his flesh
-- that is to say Eve. And like unto Esau the man Adam
though he cried with great tears of repentance, and howled with
great anguish such had never been heard in the earth before
or since – there was no place of repentance found for him. For
that day Adam saw he had not been supplanted not once but twice.
The man Adam not only had lost his birthright, but the man that
had created from the red earth no longer could receive of that
greater life or greater witness of the father. And thus was
banished from the Garden.
Genesis
3:19 (God is speaking here to Adam) In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken:
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
God has no use for arrogant prideful dirt that will rail
against the potter that formed it, and will boast to all of
creation of how mighty, powerful and gifted it as dirt is. We
are but dust, and our life and breath and all that we have are
directly from God not ourselves or other men.
In light of this one might be able to see where
all this confession teaching might be counter productive. One
might be able to further see that all of the classes, and lessons
on our spiritual standing in Christ that are designed to build
up a believers self-esteem, are actually puffing up these believers
and their churches. And that these teachings of all our spiritual
authority, and that every promise in the Bible is owed by God
to every believer only serves to lift up and exalt what is supposed
to be humble dirt, so that this dirt is all the more inclined
to rail against the its Potter and Maker like the Israelites
in the wilderness, and as a by product of the arrogant and boastful
teachings there are all the more inclined to thrust with the
horn of Ezekiel 34 and push with their side the sheep that are
weak and are not esteemed by their church’s or denomination’s
standards. And incidentally this attitude and this behavior
are listed in scripture as sins unto death.
Exodus 20:24-26 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon
thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and
thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come
unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build
it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou
hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine
altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
This
scripture is of great significance and has passed under the
radar of the church. I am going to say the following not to
build up or exalt myself because the words and things I speak
here are not in and of myself but they were revealed and taught
by the Holy Ghost as promised in Scripture. As God spoke these
things concerning Adam, Moses and Christ’s relationship to the
First Adam, Communion, and the three horsemen of the Reformation
I was so excited in each case and talked with the only person
I had contact with at the time other than my mother – Wade Taylor
and we spent dozens of hour speaking of these matters I would
call him and he would call me and repeatedly he would say he
had never heard these things before. A small example of which
is this passage in Moses of the Altar of Dirt. These truths
are precious – they have been hid as we are told in scripture
– but God is no respecter of persons, there is no Calvinistic
calling of God that I have received above any other that reads
these words. I attest here that if God will speak to a know-nothing
dud like myself and reveal such profound things that I have
a 35 year track record
of not having been able to seek out, and find out any of this
own on my own, then you too who are either like myself (being
part of the dud word) or those who have been blessed and gifted
beyond me in wisdom and understanding can more easily see and
hear these things and more in the Spirit as well. This is what our calling and this website are
all about. Not the raising up and exalting of some imagined
ministry or calling or one’s name, but getting you to see the
hope of your calling and to get you to step up to the plate
as you yourself are called to be a priest unto God for you and
your household and to hear His voice and to learn of Him and
as the Apostles so did you are then to speak of those things
that you have seen and heard and handled concerning the word
of life – not what someone else has seen and heard, each of
us is to be unique in Christ. This is the true end time call
of the Spirit unto the churches – the call is to prepare a people,
a people to all be functioning priests unto Him, a people as
Moses said that are all prophets – a prophetic people.
Where as scripture says no one shall any more teach
his neighbor saying know the Lord for they shall all know me. And this knowing is not an intellectual understanding, or a passing
familiarity like we might say I know the president, or some
head of business, or some actor, but this is an intimate knowing
of Him. This is a knowing that moves hopefully from servanthood
or even sonship to friendship. That is not done at all by arrogant
declarative confessions and professions before God and men of
our positions and callings, but when we are seated at the foot
of Christ’s table as He is the Master of the house, if it so
pleases Him, He will ask some to move up the table, and in so
doing will cause many that seated themselves more highly than
they ought make room for the few and move towards the foot of
the table.
So
I say with some authority repent and sanctify yourselves and
ye shall most assuredly hear the voice of the Spirit. And if
and when you do hear His voice, then obey His words, and obey
His guidance and faint not when you are reproved, rebuked, or
corrected. For whom he loveth he chasteneth and
scourgeth every son -- so that we can move deeper into
Him. For hearing His voice is not our goal, but to be like Him
so that we can see him as He is yet while we live is our goal.
– And if it is not, this should be your goal.
So
God commanded Moses when he was going to make an offering unto
the Lord that the preference of God was that it would be upon
an Altar or pillar of dirt. Consider that the significance of
this may have been hid even from Moses at the time because God
had not yet dictated to him the book of Genesis. The word for “earth” in Altar of earth Exodus 20:24 is not is not
Strongs 766 ERES translated as “The inhabitable parts
of the earth” but Strongs 127 DAMA. -- The root word
of which is Adam. And the word DAMA can be translated as: The
surface of the earth, dust, dirt, ground, soil, -- or a “A man of the earth” aka “A farmer”. But we know the man of the earth to be Adam.
So
we see here that God is instructing Moses to depart from the
tradition of heaping stones to make an altar, and that God in
his heart wants an altar of earth.
What
He is seeking here is not just an altar but a memorial. For
all of these altars made by Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, all became memorials. And in the Law of Moses God expressly
forbids the tearing down or removal of any of these “heaps”,
“memorials”, or as they are also called “witnesses.” For the Lord counts these altars as precious, and He wants them
to ever stand as a remembrance these men and their walks with
God to help remind future generations.. So here God is calling
for Moses to erect a altar of remembrance. Not just to commemorate
anything, but an altar recalling Adam, his creation, and His
walk with God before the fall. This Altar is also memorial to
God’s promise of the coming one to Adam, and to Abraham which
when he saw this in Him it was accounted unto Abraham as righteousness -- so that this altar was a memorial of not
only Adam but that this was a major step in His plan of redemption. – I do not ask or expect that you see these
things. I mention them only, as that they are there, and as
the Lord has revealed these things unto me so I speak these
things unto you.
We
will now move on to a brief discussion as to the nature of dirt. The nature of dirt is that it has not shape form or comeliness of
its own and that it can be shaped formed or made into anything
the potter desires. It
the dirt become hard and rock-like it has lost it dirt like
qualities and therefore it is set aside.
Dirt
is unstable in all its ways and it tends to be blown around
by the wind, and rain washes it away and turns it into soupy
goopy mud that tends to burden all who have to walk drive through
or work with it. .
So
here we build our altar of dirt and we rise up the next morning
and it has crumbled into a heap and the wind has carried away
a portion of it. So it we are to make use of this our ever decreasing
or fading altar what must we do? We must rebuild it daily. Unlike
altars of stones one of dirt is an altar of high maintenance
that must continually take heed to or else your sacrifice on
it will fall off this shifty heap and end up un-burnt and tossed
all over the ground and therefore unacceptable to the Lord.
And so there is not only the daily rebuilding and that would
include the daily maintenance of our taking heed unto it
Another
part of the nature of an altar of dirt is that it becomes over
time inseparable with the offerings offered thereon.
And this is part of its sanctification. Man would probably
throw away the altar and make a clean one with new dirt daily
but we see not call for this is this passage and no actions
that indicate this was done in any way in this and the related
passages demonstrating its use. So that as the brazen alter
in the tabernacle became holy and sanctified trough use and
the altars that the patriarchs used them became holy unto the
Lord so this simple altar of earth became hollowed unto the
Lord as well. But more so than stones or brass in that the dirt
became one with the offering as the ashes and bone chips and
blood and far of the offering mixed with the dirt.
The
last part that I have eluded to is that this altar of unstable
dirt by virtue of much use does in fact become stable over time
and it is buy the continual application of the blood of the
offerings to it that the blood soaks in layer by layer here
a little there a little until the whole mound has been saturated
without and within and it has been sealed by the fire of the
offering in it.
There
was a time that people cities and municipalities used to oil
their dirt roads during the summer and up here in Alaska in
some parts they still do this but now with vegetable oil and
as a child I used to walk some of these roads and to the eye
they appeared dark a tarred but they were soft underfoot with
almost a leathery feel and with a stick you could poke through
the surface leather like layers and into the softer oil impregnated
dirt below. And once coated for a period of time these road
would no longer produce dust, they would not wear away easily
they would not blow away or wash away or turn to mud.
Exodus 20:24-26 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon
thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and
thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come
unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build
it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou
hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine
altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
So
when we look upon this passage we now can see that there is
a lot more going on here than God having a hankering for a few
piles of dirt or seeking to make Moses job more difficult. And
we see on these altar God plans to do a whole lot of offerings
– or a whole lot of cleansing and sanctification to not only
the altars but these children of Israel that had already had
two full days of cleansing and to the priests that had already
had the two full days and more, and still were not to the place
that God desired.
From here we see that the Lord appears to have
a different law regarding this priesthood of all believers and
their offerings that he wishes to implement. Under the covenant
that God made with Adam after they left the Garden of Eden of
which they received their coat of skins of which Able followed
in obedience and Cain and all offerings to God were offering
in this fashion by Noah Shem Abraham Isaac and Jacob and probably
during all the years of the Israelites captivity in Egypt The
lord now calls for some changes
Most
notably he prefers it on altars of dirt – but notice that the
word that proceedeth becomes now a central issue. Go no longer
wants these altars being built just anywhere but “in all places where I record my name” God wants now the priests unto
him to only build their altars of dirt where He tells them to.
And that in these appointed places God says: I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. So the Lord promises not only his audible voice
but his physical visits and manifestations akin to Adam and
Abraham. And this is something that Noah, Shem and Isaac and
Jacob did not have. And this covenant relates greatly to what
Christ promised not to the klesia but to the Ekklesia and the
Eklectos of God.
And
then the Lord says if you can not control yourselves and do
build altars of stone if you touch a tool to it, -- it is utterly
polluted. And the Churches of this day are all altars of stone
and mortar that have had tools put to them. And then God says
built not steps to this altar lest your nakedness be shown and
every church has an altar in it today that has a platform or
raised steps to it . – food for thought.
And
so from the end of Chapter 20 to the beginning of chapter 24
the Lord then speaks to Moses all night while the rest of the
Israelites have left the meeting and returned unto their tents.
And Moses stayed up all night and meticulously recorded all
of the words that God spoke as being part of this “new covenant.”
And
the first thing that is covered in this new covenant in Chapter
21 is the Law regarding servants on the seventh year getting
them bore through. – See how this is all coming together in
such a profound way. Note that all that is contained in Exodus
19-23 are all included in the New Testament as part of the New
Covenant. When you read the Gospels and the epistles you will
find the things spoken of in Exodus 19-24 spoken of over and
over again as the doctrines and teachings of the New Covenant.
We
move on now to chapter 24
Exodus 24:1-11 And God said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD,
thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders
of Israel; and worship ye afar off. And
Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come
nigh; neither shall the people go up with him. And Moses came
and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments:
and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the
words which the LORD hath said will we do.
So
now the list has grown that are going to come up and see the
Lord. From one and only one, to 75 Joshua is # 75 and is included
in this list elsewhere And look here and note that the common people
are not to come yet it is the laity that the Lord seeks to be
his priests and He yet seeks their answer in one voice, not
the elders speaking for them or even Moses.
And Moses wrote all the words (of this covenant) of the LORD (in a book – so that for all generation the children of Israel would
have the worlds of this covenant), and rose
up early in the morning, and builded an altar (of dirt) under the
hill (of
Dirt), and twelve pillars (and twelve more altars of dirt),
according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young
men (the priests -- those who already
had been making offerings for the individual tribes) of the children of Israel, which (without instruction then proceeded
and) offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed
peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. And Moses took half of
the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled
on the altar(s). And he took the book of the covenant, (That he has written the night
prior) and read in the audience of the people:
and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be
obedient.
So
now burnt offerings and peace offerings are being made to cleans
and sanctify these people, and the words of the covenant chapters
19-24 are read again and the People confess again their intent
to be God’s people.
And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said,
Behold the blood of the covenant, which the
LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
Compare this now with the words of Christ
Luke 22:20 Likewise also the
cup after supper, saying, This cup
is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for
you.
Know of a surety that the words
of the Gospels and the Epistles is not the New Testament or
the New Covenant as has been preached for centuries
1
Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is
it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion
of the body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 11:25 After the
same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying:
This cup is the new testament in
My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance
of Me.
And Paul affirms this. And Then
says that many drink damnation weakness sickness and death unto
themselves when they partake – the reason is their uncleaness.
So
Moses then sprinkles the blood of the covenant directly upon
the people the Laity, the 70 elders, the Joshua, Aaron, Nadab,
and Abihu. This was no simple event for the offerings were offered
per tribe and per household and the blood and sprinkling continued
probably most of the day as we have mentioned estimates say
1,000,000 Israelites left Egypt so there would have hardly been
enough blood to sprinkle on 1000 people from 12 oxen and 12
rams much less 1,000,000. Remember scripture said they were
only using 50% of it on the people and 50% on the altars to
sanctify them.
Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the
elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire
stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. So these 75 people depart from the rest and go up the mount and they
SEE
with their eyes GOD. By there further cleansing and washing
in the blood they see God and the description here is like in
Revelation. But this is not all for we have said that God was
seeking this covenant with mot with Moses or the 70 or Aaron
and his sons but with the Laity and to the Laity God promised
they would see him and in the last verse of this passage Exodus
24:11 we see this fulfilled.
Exodus 24:11 And upon the
nobles (Those
that were not with the 75 on the mountain with Moses) of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: (He
did not slay then and) also they saw God, and (they did also partake of the
offerings and) did eat and drink.
This
was not a five-minute deal these people saw and communed with
God as Adam and Eve had, as Able had when God personally accepted
his offering and as Abraham had. They communed and at and drank
while fully viewing the God of Israel seat upon this throne.
Here
we see the tabernacle of God with men. Here we see and they
shall no more teach every man his neighbor for they shall all
know me from the least of them unto the greatest.
Here
we see that, when He shall appear, we shall be like him; for
we shall see him as He is.
Hebrews
11:27 By
faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for
he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
And so the church in the last days has been called to
do with the Antichrist and his armies.
Exodus 24:12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into
the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone,
and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest
teach them.
Exodus
24 13-18 And
Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into
the mount of God. 14
And Moses said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until
we come again unto you: (I
see Jesus in the Garden Asking the disciples here to pray and
tarry with him – and I see of course Christ when he was ready
to ascend telling the apostles to fast pray and tarry in Jerusalem
until the Holy Spirit came) and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man
have any matters to do, let him come unto them. 15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud
covered the mount. 16
And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai,
and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called
unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. (For seven days Moses had to yet pray fast and sanctify himself
before God called him up on the mount) 17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was
like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the
children of Israel. 18
And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and
gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty
days and forty nights.
When
Moses said to the 70 elders tarry ye here and wait until we
come again unto you this was of great importance.
It was no less a moment than when Christ told Peter and
the disciples that satan had desired that they would be sifted
as wheat but that Christ had prayed that their faith fail not.
And then He asked them to come and watch and pray with Him in
the garden. For the children of Israel this was that same moment.
And as the disciples were weak through the flesh and could not
pray with Christ for one hour so the 70 elders did not remain
steadfast to their tarrying at the bottom of the mountain and
waiting until Moses returned once again unto them.