Come and See – Chapter 10 of the Gospel of John – Verily, Verily – The Joy of the Lord –

Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.(John 16:20)

   Once again, we are struck by the profound Truly, truly (Verily, verily), and the prophetic words of the Lord Jesus concerning the outward deeds of man, and the inward enmity of man. He is projecting His own crucifixion, and the result of that crucifixion is the result that His own disciples will weep and lament, but the world, the children of the devil, the unseen of Satan shall rejoice. Their emotions will rise to the highest point for they have cast God out of this world and killed the Prince of life. And the disciples themselves will be put into a state of sorrow. The hope that they had will be vanquished in the lifeless image upon the cross. Their King, their Savior, their Lord and their God had been crucified by the wicked hands of man (in Adam) with enmity and hatred for God. The biblical enmity that is in man is not only against God, but against man to man. Enmity can be mistaken for jealousy, continual criticism, personal derogatory statements, and slander. Enmity is the root of all of these. The Lord Jesus also prophesied to them concerning not only His death, but also His resurrection. He declared, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. In John 16:20, we see the mind of the all-knowing God WITHIN the Lord Jesus Christ. We see not only His omniscience, but His complete understanding in His own foreknowledge.

   In the statement, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy reflects on the day of His resurrection that He would come forth on the third day as He had promised. The third day, the very manifestation of the Temple of God would come forth out of the tomb in the very image of God. For anyone to not see the all-knowing mind of Christ is sheer unbelief which is common in an unbelieving world full of the Adamic nature.

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The World Rejoices

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Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. (John 16:20)

   As the world rejoiced at the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, it encompassed the religious leaders, the rulers of the Jews, and the people, the Gentile rule of the Romans, and their authority were given to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have heard people say that this could never happen in this day, but yet, there is a comparison in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ when the two last witnesses against the whole world to reveal the wickedness of the world and torment the people of the world because of the world’s sin.

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. (Revelation 11:3)

These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. (Revelation 11:4)

And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. (Revelation 11:5)

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. (Revelation 11:6)

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. (Revelation 11:7)

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:8)

And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. (Revelation 11:9)

And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. (Revelation 11:10)

And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. (Revelation 11:11)

And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. (Revelation 11:12)

And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. (Revelation 11:13)

   These two witnesses are the last of the prophets to the world. They have the power to shut up the heavens that it rains not. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. (Revelation 11:6) They have the power to send forth fire upon their enemies, they have the power over the waters of the earth to turn them to blood, they have the power to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. And they will be under the divine protection of God UNTIL their witness is finished. I want us to also remember the similarities in both the days of Moses and in the days of Elijah, and that it was both Moses and Elijah who both appeared with the Lord Jesus on the holy mount. Remember prophecy is not only in written form, but in diverse manners, in types, and shadows. And we should remember that the past shadows and types within the Scriptures are shades of the future, and these past shades are fulfilled at the time appointed. The world cannot touch these two witnesses UNTIL their testimony is finished, and the time appointed by God. Just as the Lord’s sacrificial death on the cross had an appointed time, so also the time of these two witnesses also has a time. I mentioned these two witnesses in the previous message in John 14:12, and we saw the rejoicing of the whole world in the death of these witnesses. It is because the world had delivered themselves from the torment of these two witnesses, the witnesses of the righteousness of God. They will be the true and faithful witnesses of Christ, and they will fulfill the witness of Christ through His Spirit within them. So, we see that in our day, in the future, the world has not changed. The world has not repented, and the world has not turned from their evil master the prince of the power of the air, Satan. The world rejoiced under the power of Satan in the Lord’s crucifixion, and the Lord gives His disciples a glimpse of what is to come in John 16:20. That the world would rejoice at His crucifixion they will be glad that they have cast God out of His own world. <<A Psalm of David.>> The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1) For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. (Psalm 24:2)

   Psalm 24 is a marvelous Psalm. It begins with the creation and ownership of the Almighty God that the earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof. For He shed forth His blessing and goodness in the seven days of His creation. Upon the earth He spread His goodness, for when He looked upon all the things that He had done, He said within His heart, It is good. We also see from Genesis, Chapter 1, that in the beginning there was God. In the beginning God, and in John Chapter 1, that in the beginning was the Word. This brings forth the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ and returns us to Psalm 24 to verses 3, 4 and 5.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? (Psalm 24:3)

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. (Psalm 24:4)

He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Psalm 24:5)

   These three verses are the foreshadow of This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. For He shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? And we see the coming of the great King, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.(Psalm 2:6) I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. (Psalm 2:7)

   Or who shall stand in his holy place? . . . He that hath clean hands. It is recorded of the Lord Jesus Christ that IN Him was NO sin, and that He did NO sin, and He knew NO sin, and He was apart from sin.

For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2^nd Corinthians 5:21)

Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: (1^st Peter 2:22)

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (1^st John 3:5)

    It is recorded of the Lord Jesus that He was HOLY, HARMLESS, UNDEFILED, and SEPARATE FROM SINNERS meaning that He did not have the nature of Adam; there was NO Adamic nature within Him. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. (Hebrews 7:26) Compare this with Psalm 24:4, He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. The Lord Jesus had clean hands; they were not defiled by sin in any way. He had a pure heart which was the heart of God. His heart was the Tabernacle and Temple of all righteousness. And He would fulfill that righteousness in His earthly life. And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. (Matthew 3:15) There was no vanity within His heart, soul and Spirit for He had come to do the Father’s will and was totally obedient to the Father’s will. He did not swear deceitfully, for He had not the heart, soul, and Spirit of a deceiver. It would be His adversary, the devil, who was and is the great deceiver. He was the Son of the Father’s love, He was the image of the invisible God, He was the image and brightness of God’s glory, all these things were IN and WAS and IS the Son of God. And this is the One that they cast out of the world. But for His obedience unto death, in His resurrection and His ascension to God’s own right hand He has received the blessings of God and He has fulfilled the righteousness of the God of His salvation.  

   The sorrow that the disciples would feel would be turned to joy. Not only do we have the joy of the disciples, but we have the joy of the Lord Himself. For Psalm 24 closes with everlasting joy for both the everlasting gates and the everlasting doors are opened to receive the King of glory who is the Lord of hosts, who is the Lord of lords, and King of kings, who is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:16)

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The Generation of the Cross

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   Verse 6 of Psalm 24, This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. This is the eternal generation of faith. This is the generation that seeks the God of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. This generation which is eternal began with righteous Abel. Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 4, gives us the continual testimony of Abel as a witness of God’s faith WITHIN the heart of one of His children, the very first adopted son that would be fulfilled in the fullness of time. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4) This is the generation of the cross from the first child of faith, Abel, to the last child of faith in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and all the children of faith in between they all make up the generation of Jesus Christ. Matthew 1:1, The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. This whole generation of time is born of grace and truth through faith, and we, as the children of God, are in this world born of His Spirit to declare His generation. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. (Isaiah 53:8) We are born of His Seed through the Spirit of God. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16) And we are born of the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior who has created us to be the sons of God. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. (Psalm 22:30) They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this. (Psalm 22:31)

   In Psalm 24 both Jew and Gentile are brought into the salvation of God who owns the title deeds to His creation, and the earth; and who owns the title deeds of the generation that seeks His face through the Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of the Godhead bodily, has revealed Himself in the manifest image of Jesus Christ. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. (Psalm 24:6) In Psalm 24, the words that seek thy face O Jacob, must be seen in light of Jacob’s vision. Jacob was the first to see the door open in heaven and the Son of man standing before that open door.

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.  (Genesis 28:12) And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; (Genesis 28:13)

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. (Genesis 28:16) And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. (Genesis 28:17)

    Jacob was the first to see the divine communication of the unseen to the seen in the angels ascending and descending from the earth  to heaven.  It was Jacob who saw the great door Opener as we see later in Psalm 24, with both the gates and this is the gate of heaven. and the everlasting doors being opened to receive the King of glory who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. (Psalm 24:7) The Lord Jesus said of Himself that He was the actual Door that gave entrance to God’s salvation. He declared in John 10:9, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

   Jacob’s vision was confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ in John Chapter 1, but it was not confirmed until Nathanael spoke these words, Thou art the son of God thou art the King of Israel. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. (John 1:49) When Nathanael referred to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, it was with full deity and understanding that the One who stood before him was GOD HIMSELF. The Lord Jesus reaffirmed His Deity and His Omniscience in verse 50 of John Chapter 1, Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And then we have not only a prophecy, but the very fulfillment of Jacob’s vision that the Son of God will open a door in heaven and the angels will ascend and descend upon the Son of man the express image of God in ALL of His glory when the everlasting gates and the everlasting doors are opened for the King of glory and the King of glory shall come in. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. (John 1:51)

   We have innumerable truths found in John Chapter 1. From the creation and the Creator to those created by His Spirit, and a Door opened to the whole world in His atoning death as the Lamb of God, both Israel and the Gentiles are brought into the grace of God in John Chapter 1. For as many as have believed Him, to THEM gave He the power to be the sons of God. As far back as Abel, through faith, to the present day, and in the future, through faith, in the Son of God. In Psalm 24, we see The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. This encompasses all of the generations of Adam, and this also encompasses ALL the redeemed of the Lord and is covered in the very words of John the Baptist in the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world in John Chapter 1. There are two ways to read and understand the word of God: there is a mere head knowledge, or you could say tangible knowledge, and then there is the spiritual, the spiritual is for those who seek His face, the face of God, and the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. (Ephesians 1:18)

   In Psalm 24, it is not one gate, but many gates. Those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ are attached to the Jerusalem, which is above, the mother of us all. And we are attached to the heavenly city that has twelve gates, and each gate represents one of the sons of Israel. And let us take a leap of faith: consider Revelation Chapter 3: 7 and 8.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; (Revelation 3:7)

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. (Revelation 3:8)

   Here again we see the Doorkeeper of the everlasting doors of grace and truth. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.(Revelation 3:12) In verse 12 of Revelation Chapter 3, we see the overcomer, and how the overcomer enters in by the True Door, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. The Father puts into the heart of the overcomer the Spirit of His Son. The overcomer will have a name given by the Son, and the overcomer will be a pillar in the Temple of his God, the Temple of many doors, and will carry the name of His God upon him; thus, the overcomer will enter into Revelation 1:6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. And the overcomer will have the name of the city of God upon him which is the heavenly Jerusalem made up of the spirit of just men made perfect in Jesus Christ.　

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (Hebrews 12:22)

To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:23)

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:24)

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: (Hebrews 12:25)

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First Must Come Sorrow

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    Now let’s return to John 16:20, Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

   The disciples that did not turn away from Christ would weep and lament because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to the voices of two as they lamented while on the Emmaus Road. They cried out from their hearts, But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.(Luke 24:21) The Spirit of God allows us to hear the hopelessness in their voices. It opens the very thoughts of their hearts to us. However, it seems that their lamentation was more for themselves then for the suffering of the crucifixion of the Lord. We feel this way because of the Lord’s reply to them because of their unbelief.

And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. (Luke 24:23)　

And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. (Luke 24:24)

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: (Luke 24:25)

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? (Luke 24:26)

   The Lord was expressing the foolishness of their unbelief. They were slow of heart to believe for they had the witness of all the prophets and what the prophets had written about the Lord Jesus Christ. We, also, in this day to reinforce our faith, need to lay hold of all the prophetic scriptures that prefigure the Lord, His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection as well as the prophetic revelations that we have received from the apostles, and the scriptures that they have been given to us by the breath of God. What is sad today is that there are many fools and slow of heart to believe for the minute that life presents a trial or tragedy, they turn their backs to the Son of God and reveal that they never had a saving faith to deliver them. With the two men on the Emmaus Road, the Lord Jesus did not leave them in their mournful state. He used the Scriptures and expounded all things concerning Himself through the writings of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms for the Scripture are filled with glorious pictures and images of the Lord Jesus Christ. They could not see because of their own inherent unbelief. Remember that the people of Israel at that time were under the control of religionists, and they believed more the traditions of their fathers, then the Scriptures. So, the Lord Jesus took them where joy may be found in the word of God. You cannot find the joy of the Lord in vain philosophies for philosophers do not have the Spirit of God within, nor will you find the joy of the Lord in religion for religion is founded in the rudiments of the world. Mankind, in their worldly life and surroundings, has betrayed the fundamentals of true Christianity. The temples of mankind are filled with those who are blind to all that is of God. As it was on the Emmaus Road when He supped with them, as it is even today as He sups with us, it takes the Lord Himself to open the eyes of those who are blind to the Scriptures. Notice, that the Lord began at Moses . . . . In the beginning, God. Then to show how precise He was, He used ALL the prophets and the Psalms. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. (Luke 24:44) The Lord Jesus emphasized that the Scriptures were about Him.

   What I write is from the bottom of my heart. When the Lord gives us new life in our new birth, God the Father gives each and every one of His children the Spirit of Christ within. This is the same Spirit and witness which was in Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalmists, and in the apostles. It is through the Spirit of Christ that He opens the Scriptures to us just as He opened the Scriptures to the two of Emmaus while they were in His presence. He is in the presence of each and every child of God today. And this is why Romans 8:9 is so important to understand. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. In Romans 8:9 we have the life of the Spirit, we have God the Spirit and the Spirit of Christ which is one and the same. And we can only be in that Spirit by the new birth. And it is a continual application of God to us for the Spirit of Christ is permanent at our new birth, and will not depart or leave us, nor forsake us. And this Spirit within us is to open the Scriptures that are in relationship to the Son of God to glorify Him in our hearts which belong to Him so that we, as the children of God, can see Him as He is.

    You may know that there was a Christ, however, the point is that you must KNOW God’s Christ, and there is a big difference between unbelief and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. We also see on the Emmaus Road and with the fellowship that they had with the Lord Jesus, it is the Scriptures that revealed Him, and the way that He expounded the Scriptures to them that caused their hearts to burn within themselves. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. (Luke 24:31) And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? (Luke 24:32) Do you see the truth that their eyes were opened? This shows us a state of blindness before the Lord opened the Scriptures to them. By expounding the Scriptures to them, the Lord OPENED their understanding. And when they had divine understanding, their hearts burned within them. This shows us the state of their hearts BEFORE and AFTER the Lord expounded the Scriptures. The word of God IS THE SOURCE OF ALL UNDERSTANDING through the Spirit of Christ. The word of God OPENS the eyes of our understanding, and we need to lay hold of this fundamental truth that the Bible in your hand IS THE SOURCE OF ALL SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING. And when you receive that understanding through the Spirit of Christ, your heart will burn within you with great joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. The truth always lights a fire either for the truth or against the truth. And the place of insertion is always the same, the heart of man. In contrast to the disciple’s sorrow, the world will, and did, rejoice over the Prince of life being cast out of the world. The heart of man today denies God’s possession of the world as we read in Psalm 24. Man has all kinds of theories, too many to list, and why does man have all these theories because he denies God and God’s Christ. The very ones who should have received the Lord Jesus were the ones who screamed, Crucify him, crucify him. Both the Jews and the Romans, those who controlled the religious world, and those who controlled the temporal or physical world ALL had a part in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. They rejoiced for they thought that they were done with the Son of God. How wrong they were, for even today, the Son of God cries out through His Spirit, through His children to a sinful world, that they must have repentance toward God and believe in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, today He has an active voice and an active pen of the ready writer in this world today. His voice of revelation and biblical understanding is not silenced by the world’s unbelief. He continually speaks to all nations, and languages, and to all people. Even technology gives us computers that automatically translate one language to another. Man cannot cry out that he is ignorant of God today or ignorant of the life and crucifixion and resurrection of Christ that He rose from the dead, and as THEN their sorrow was turned to joy, and even NOW those who are dead in sin, and THEN finds new life in Christ through faith, they too are filled with joy because He rose from the dead. The evil of this world could not silence God. However, man’s heart is so dark that even if one rose from the dead, they still will not believe.

But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. (Luke 16:25)

And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. (Luke 16:26)

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: (Luke 16:27)

For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. (Luke 16:28)

Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. (Luke 16:29)

And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. (Luke 16:30)

And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:31)

   The story of the rich man and Lazarus reveals to us the hardness of the heart of man. The heart of man is as hard as a stone. We have the great example of this in 1^st Samuel 25:37 and 38. But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. (1^st Samuel 25:37) And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died. (1^st Samuel 25:38) Nabal was just one man from many through man’s history who had a heart that was so hard that the word of God could not penetrate the heart. From Cain to this present Church Age, there are many hearts whom God removed from this earth because of the hardness and wickedness within. These verses from 1^st Samuel should make the men of renown, those of political treachery, those of religious unbelief think about where they will spend eternity. Can man have his heart and his brain dissolve right before the eyes of the world? Think, you’re watching a complete babbling idiot every night on world news who has lost his heart and his mind because of sin and cannot even follow his scripted notes – this is the face of a corrupt nation that has lost their way and has cast off God in every area of life. The whole country, in fact, the whole world has entered into Satan’s cloud of insanity. And whether you believe it or not, God is judging the whole earth TODAY. Every country is going through their own calamity because God has been cast out of man’s realm. They might call it climate change, for they will not admit that God is able to judge them. They have not yet seen the very wrath of God against them. The reality is that the accumulation of sin brings God’s judgment. Even the apple of His eye was judged because of sin. The whole nation of Israel was and is still under the judgment of Calvary. The very words out of their own mouths, Then answered all the people, and said, His blood [be] on us, and on our children. (Matthew 27:25) His blood be on us, and on our children, is still being fulfilled, and their wishes for future generations will come to pass UNTIL they repent and receive and fall on their faces and cry out to the Son of God. Since God is judging His favored nation, where do we stand as the sons of men in the rest of the world? In the judgments upon Egypt in the days of Moses, God sent hail that wiped out their crops and destroyed much of their properties. In various times through history God has spoken through His thunder and rain causing local floods, He has darkened the skies with the eruptions of volcanoes in diverse places, He has opened the earth and shaken it in the quakes throughout the whole world. The world has had wars, pestilence, famine, plagues, and prosperous nations have turned to dust before the eyes of man. Look at the nation of South Africa. It has completely been destroyed from within, but outside influences caused a great deal of their dilemma. The liberals of the United States and Great Britain, the superpowers of deception putting in a state government of corruption under the help of co-conspirators of the liberal news agencies. A once prosperous nation turned into a nation of poverty and evil. And the next chapter of the play book of the destroyers is to make the United States of America dwell in the same poverty through their insanity of leadership. They have created a country of tyranny that has progressively revealed itself over the last two years to control the populace by scaring them to death to cause them to obey. Even today, in their January 6^th hallucination of an insurrection they are using their lies as a diving board to destroy what little is left of a once great Democracy (Republic) Even the murderers of millions of unborn souls will get in line with the government for their own fear of life. How strange are the tentacles of evil! Another example, remember the prosperous country of Venezuela? Now the people are eating from dumpsters, and where were they influenced from? The liberal Communists of America, the motion picture industry and its stars from America, and this is what is waiting for you for they have already projected that they are going to empty the stores, this of course will cause riots, and their paid bulldogs will lead these riots to destroy what remains of the food supplies. Under their rule small business will have to end, and we will live in a nation of Over Lords directing every state of man. And if you refuse to be directed by them you will be eliminated. Look what has happened under their tyranny of the fabricated January 6^th investigation. So, you ask yourself, why is all of this happening? Because the cup of sin is full, and sinful man cannot rule his own heart, his heart has become a runaway train without brakes. Sin proceeds faster and faster until man is derailed by God’s judgment. I say all this so that some may wake up to reality that the only hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ for it is only the compassion of God through Jesus Christ that will save.

And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. (Acts 24:15)

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. (Jeremiah 17:7)

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Romans 8:24) But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Romans 8:25)

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (1^st Corinthians 13:13)

And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: (Hebrews 6:11)

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; (Hebrews 6:19)

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The Revelation and Hope of Joy

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Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. (John 16:20)

   The Scriptures are full of the word hope when it is applied to the Person of God. It is a sure hope and an anchor of the soul. As Romans Chapter 8 discloses that the hope concerning the Almighty God is an infallible hope. It is a sure hope. It is positive hope. It is a hope speaking of actual facts and the determining factor of our hope is IN the Lord Jesus Christ, one that cannot be moved making our hope IN Him SURE and STEADFAST. The Holy Spirit wants to confirm the reality of hope with the tangible evidence of hope which is IN Christ Jesus our Lord. In Romans 8:24 and 25 the Holy Spirit uses the word hope five times. The word hope is important, in verse 24, we are saved by hope, and our hope is seen, and we are not like others who have no hope, and the hope that we have in the reality of our salvation and the Spirit of Christ within that is also found in Romans 8:9 we wait patiently for the fulfillment of our salvation which will transpire when we are glorified with Him. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Romans 8:24) But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Romans 8:25) In Hebrews Chapter 6, verse 19, hope becomes the anchor of our soul because our hope is anchored in Christ our Lord. And this anchor is both sure and steadfast because it is anchored within the veil. This is NOT the veil of the Temple, but the veil in heaven that divides heaven and the holy of holies. And verse 20 of Chapter 6 tells us that our forerunner, the Lord Jesus Christ, has entered within that veil as the High Priest Melchisedec not after a covenant nor a decree, but He is of the same order as Melchisedec because He is the Melchisedec of old. And in this priestly order He placed His own blood on the mercy seat in heaven within the veil. So, the hope that we have is not only in THIS life but confirms our place in heaven and our eternal life in Jesus Christ. So, you see that the Scriptures are full of the word hope, but the majority of the world has no hope because they know not God. Hope gives confidence in the Almighty. Hope is connected to faith and charity. Hope is the middle object that binds faith to God’s love which is concluded in knowing the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Which in the mind of Adam’s race is beyond all understanding, but the eyes of our understanding have been opened.

   Many speak about the revelation of God; some feel that the only revelation of God is in the last book of the Bible. They have yet to figure out the only way that anyone can know God is to come to God through revelation by the Spirit of God. The first revelation a man (in Adam) receives is that there is a God who is beyond the complete comprehension of mankind. So that God uses the very creation around us testifying to His greatness and power. I often passed by an abandoned house; it was on a road that I frequently traveled. As the years passed, vines grew upon the house, the roof deteriorated and collapsed, and a tree grew up within the house eventually the blocks began to fall. The house was being slowly surrounded and destroyed by the power of God’s creation until there were hardly any signs of what was once a house. God has used His creation to witness many times to the unbelieving world. God must reveal Himself through revelation. Whether it is by the word of God, the creation, or by His Spirit, He reveals Himself.

   There is a revelation of belief, and a revelation of faith, and a revelation of grace, and a revelation of His Son, a revelation of salvation, a revelation of eternal life, a great revelation of another sphere that is called heaven. All these things that I have mentioned, man can only know through revelation. The Law of Faith is revealed to man, it enters into the heart, the soul, and the Spirit. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. (Romans 3:27) Through faith we receive grace, and grace gives us hope, and hope leads us to the full knowledge of the love of God which is IN Christ Jesus.

   In life there are two paths that the Holy Spirit presents to us. Everyone comes to the path of division, as two separate roads meet at a fork. One road has a sign with the word DESTRUCTION. The other road has a sign with the word HOPE. And everyone has to choose which road he desires to journey on. The road titled DESTRUCTION is the path of sin and death. The road titled HOPE is the road of salvation and eternal life. If we take the road of HOPE God reveals more of Himself through His word, and through His Spirit until we, the redeemed, will come to the full knowledge of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. The path of the unseen becomes the way of sight. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) The Holy Spirit is quite specific and direct that without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD. This statement does not have to be defined. For man must take the faith which is in the Son of God by belief IN Him. One must believe that HE IS, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the fruit thereof removed from man any desire for God. Man not only turned his back on God because of enmity which came through sin, but he hid himself from the presence of God, and this left man void of godly faith . . . . and all because of the sin of Adam.

    No one can fully understand the chain of events that took place when Adam brought sin into the world. But through the word of God in Romans 5:12 we have the full understanding that sin brings forth death, and we understand that the obvious things that took place at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was spiritual death. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12) Both Adam and Eve were then naked before God, and the Spirit that concealed their nakedness departed exposing to us the first scene of sin and lust between man and woman.

     For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. (Romans 8:22) The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain and this goes right back to that first day of sin, and the first moment that sin came into the world. At THAT moment, Adam brought sin AND death into the world. Death fell on ALL that God had made. The animals would then die, the fish in the sea would then die, the fowls of the air would have to face death, and all the creeping things would die. The trees, the grass, the vines, and the plants would suffer death, and the stars that were meant to burn forever would now suffer death in darkness one by one through man’s history. And we have witnessed even in our day that darkness swallows up light because of sin. This death and suffering brought about by sin throughout the history of the world have been the most powerful plagues that man and creation has had to endure. Sin is more powerful than anything that man can contrive. The fear of death is the finality of a lifetime of being slaves to sin. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14) And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:15)

   The Lord Jesus Christ removed sin, defeated death, and destroyed the works of the devil. In the fullness of God’s time, Christ changed the history of mankind, even time itself began anew. He broke the chains of sin, and removed the shackles of death, and began a new work of the Holy Spirit of God which is also the Spirit of Christ. This began with a newness of life, that a man must be born again. It is not the newness of Adam, but a divine newness of heart, spirit and soul. And now, within this child of God He performs His work; consequently, the newborn child gives his soul and spirit to diligently seek after God. The water of life flows through the newborn to KNOW Him and the love of God through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11;6 thrusts us backward to Hebrews 1l:1, the combination of these two verses, shows us the evidence of things hoped for, and faith reveals the substance of those things that God was manifested in the flesh. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.  (1^st Timothy 3:16)

    This was the Son of God that holy thing brought forth in the fullness of time, made of a woman, made under the law so that He in His divine nature would fulfill all righteousness, and deliver man, who through fear of death, was and is under the bondage of sin through the course of his entire life. But FAITH breaks the chains of sin. FAITH IN Jesus Christ becomes the harbinger of hope between the child of God and his God. Hope becomes the foundation stone of God’s grace and love through faith and works within us to present us to God’s dear Son, and in turn the Lord Jesus presents us to His Father as the spirits of just men made perfect in Christ Jesus. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. (Hebrews 12:23) Of course, we are made perfect IN Christ THROUGH faith and according to the perfect will of God.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:  (Ephesians 1:17)

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:18)

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, (Ephesians 1:19)

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:20)

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (Ephesians 1:21)

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22)

Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:23)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  (Ephesians 2:8)

Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:9)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; (Ephesians 3:8)

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (Ephesians 3:9)

To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, (Ephesians 3:10)

According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: (Ephesians 3:11)

In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. (Ephesians 3:12)

Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. (Ephesians 3:13)

    In these verses from the book of Ephesians, we see the threads of the tapestry of faith. These threads have to come through the revelation of Himself. We are not only wooed by His Spirit, but we are called by that same Spirit, and our new life comes from the birth of that Spirit within us . . . . . forever changing us. Now when we are born of His Spirit, the true word of God in Jesus Christ works within us. God now has a heart for Him, and He can write upon that heart both His will and His wishes according to the Word of God. Before we declare the word of God in this world, God MUST declare His word within us as a witness of God, we must witness for truth by the word of God which is in us. And in turn, this becomes the witness of Himself within. The word of God (throughout the history of mankind) has been a progressive revelation of God Himself. This, of course, gives power to the very word of God. For it is the word of God that can disassemble man in Adam right to the very core of his flesh and bone, and intents of his heart.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13)

    Only faith can see the depth of these two verses in Hebrews Chapter 4. For it is the word of God that exposes every sin, and every sinner. Not only without, but in the very depth of the sinner’s heart, soul and spirit. The word of God calculates and accumulates sin til death, and the price of that sin is horrifying without grace through faith in Jesus Christ. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8) God’s grace (through faith) comes from above, from the Father of lights and perfection, the purest and holiest gift comes from the source of ALL purity and ALL holiness. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17) Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)

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The JOY of CHRIST

AS

The Gift of God • The Living Water • The New Wine • The True Vine

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    The Father sent His Son to be the perfect gift of God. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself related the gift of Himself to mankind in John Chapter 4, verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. He was in the land of Samaria, a mixture of both Jew and Gentile, a people who were not in favor with the Jews of Jerusalem, and yet, He picked THAT place to unwrap the most glorious Gift of God in Himself. He openly declared to the woman of Samaria that He was the true Gift of God. Then He went on to explain the power that was in this true Gift of God. That by belief IN Him, He would give a river of water within springing up in the heart as a living fountain of life, and this water would fill the heart, the soul, and the spirit and man with this divine life within man would never thirst again. And this satisfaction of life in Christ would only bring more water of life.

  Man was and is the empty cisterns of John Chapter 2. And the Holy Spirit announces to us that this was the beginning of miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.(John 2:11)　

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: (John 2:1) And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. (John 2:2)

And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. (John 2:6)

Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. (John 2:7)

And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. (John 2:8)

When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, (John 2:9)

And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. (John 2:10)

    This, of course, is a spiritual application. For once these cisterns were filled it was with the water of life, and fear and dread are turned to joy in the new wine of His love. The new wine of His love cheers both God and man. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? (Judges 9:13) This is a parable of truth, as a type of new wine in John Chapter 2, the new wine is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. All through the gospel of John, we have many spiritual applications and the facets of who and what the Lord Jesus is. He is the Gift of God, He is the Living Water of life, and He is the True Vine.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (John 15:1)

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (John 15:2)

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.  (John 15:3)

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (John 15:4)

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:5)

   He is the true vine and the true fruit. He told His disciples for without me ye can do nothing. All fruit must come from Him.

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The JOY of CHRIST

THROUGH

The Water of Purification • The Red Heifer • The Prophecy of the Cross

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   In John Chapter 2, from verse 6 to verse 10, we have a numerical sequence.

And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. (John 2:6)

Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. (John 2:7)

And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. (John 2:8)

When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, (John 2:9)

And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. (John 2:10)

   It begins, of course, with the number two (2) of this Chapter as a witness of the Spirit of God to the beginning of miracles of God’s dear Son.  And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. (John 2:6) In verse 6, we have the number of man, and there are six empty water pots which also symbolize man in his empty condition, and these are not pots of clay, but they are stone pots symbolizing the stony hearts of man. There is nothing good within these pots because they are empty. They were never meant to be filled with the wine of joy; they were the water pots of purification which takes us back to the book of Numbers which takes us to the waters of purification in Chapter 19. These waters of purification were to be mixed with the ashes of the red (blood) heifer, and the red heifer was to be slain OUTSIDE the camp.

This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: (Numbers 19:2)

And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: (Numbers 19:3)

And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times: (Numbers 19:4)

And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: (Numbers 19:5)

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And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel: (Numbers 19:17) us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Hebrews 13:13)

Side Note: The Gate and The Door of the Tabernacle. At the gate of the tabernacle, which was before the brazen altar, everything that was surrounded by the curtains was considered part of the tabernacle. The entrance to the tabernacle was called a gate. The entrance to the tent of the congregation or the holy place was called a door. You might remember Psalm 24 when the king of glory comes in that both the gates and doors open to Him. ♦ End of Side Note: The Gate and The Door of the Tabernacle.

   The waters of purification were to purify any person who had touched death, and they were also called the waters of separation.

He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. (Numbers 19:11)

He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. (Numbers 19:12)

Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. (Numbers 19:13)

   Now in the time of the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ these waters were used to purify the wedding, both the guests and the participants were sprinkled with the waters of purification. However, these water pots were empty. It is interesting to notice that in Chapter 2 it was the beginning of the third day. And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: (John 2:1) Those who were unclean in the book of Numbers, Chapter 19, would be sprinkled with the waters of purification on the THIRD DAY. He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. (Numbers 19:12) And of course, the third day also speaks of the Lord’s resurrection and the resurrection of the nation of Israel in the BEGINNING of the third day.

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. (Hosea 6:2) Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:3)

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1^st Corinthians 15:4) 

Mini Side Note: God sets a time frame for us in 2nd Peter 3:8 in order that we would not be ignorant of His time frame.  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, therefore, two days would be two thousand years, and the third day would be three thousand years.   But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2nd Peter 3:8) ♦ End of Mini Side Note.

   Living in the Church Age, individually we see our own resurrection in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He rose from the dead in His course of fulfilling all righteousness, and also completing the sanctification of His work and His people. For we are separated unto Him. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. (John 2:6) In the six water pots we have the emptiness of all of mankind concerning the things of God, we also see that these water pots symbolize the emptiness of Israel in the days of Christ.

    The Law of Purification or the Law of the Waters of Separation was given in Numbers 19:2, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. The Law of the Leper in Leviticus Chapter 14 also reveals to us the waters of purification.

    What is interesting is that in Numbers 19 it is the purification separation between life and death. In Leviticus Chapter 14 it is the separation in the Law of the Leper from death to life in the cleansing of the leper. For leprosy was so grave that it was a symbol of death in the individual. Thus, in Chapter 2 of the gospel of John, we see in the six water pots the desperation of mankind.

   Although the water pots were made of stone, and speak of the hardness of man’s heart, they are filled with water to the BRIM by a divine order from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Side Note: Two or Three. The Holy Spirit also gives us more numbers in that some water pots held two or some held three furkins, And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. (John 2:6) The number two and the number three are the numbers of divine witness. The number two is also the number of the Son of man, and the number three is the number of the Holy Ghost. ♦End of Side Note: Two or Three.

   The water pots of stone from the outside were the symbols of the hardness of man’s heart, and from the inside they were the symbols of life holding the water of life and they were filled to the BRIM. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. (John 2:7) This also symbolizes the Rock that followed Israel through the wilderness gushing out rivers of water, and this Rock that followed them was Christ. And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. (1^st Corinthians 10:4)

   Notice it was the SERVANTS who filled the water pots at the command of the divine nature which was and is the Lord Jesus Christ. The number six of the water pots, being the number of man, also relates to us that the water of life is available to ALL man in Jesus Christ. It is interesting to see that when the order to fill the pots was given the words SERVANTS was not used, but when they brought forth the new wine to the governor of the feast, THEN they were called SERVANTS. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom. (John 2:9)

   The red heifer in Numbers Chapter 19 was slain OUTSIDE the camp, just as the Lord was crucified OUTSIDE of Jerusalem. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Hebrews 13:13) And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: (Numbers 19:3) To overcome death, Christ was taken to a place of death, to the place of the skull. And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent. (1^st Samuel 17:54) That one skull, the skull of Goliath, that David buried on that specific mount of Moriah where Abraham (after a THREE day journey – Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. Genesis 22:4) took his son Isaac, built an altar, and raised the knife above his son according to God’s command. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Genesis 22:2) Then God intervened with His mercy. This is a marvelous scene for God found a man in Abraham who was willing to do what God Himself will do in the fullness of time. We also see that God provides the sacrifice in the ram caught by a crown of thorns.

    The head of Goliath was buried at the EXACT spot that the cross of the Lord Jesus was placed. When His cross was thrust into the ground, it crushed Goliath’s skull fulfilling the prophecy of the Lord in Genesis Chapter 3:15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. These are a few points that we should connect of the events before Calvary and at Calvary: first, victims were nailed to their crosses before their crosses were raised . . . . Isaac was bound to the altar that Abraham had built on the very spot of the sacrifice of the Son of God on mount Moriah. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. (Genesis 22:9) The altar and the wood was a symbol of the cross which would bear the fire under the sacrifice. (It was approximately 2000 years from the time of Genesis Chapter 22 (Abraham and Isaac) to the crucifixion of Christ on the cross of Golgotha). Secondly, David deliberately kept the armor and the sword of Goliath because of his victory as they were symbols of that victory . . . . And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent. (1^st Samuel 17:54) . . . . so Christ victoriously removed sin, defeated death, and destroyed the works of the devil. Thirdly, when this cross was raised it profoundly crushed the head of the serpent (Goliath’s skull was buried under the cross of Christ approximately one thousand years before the crucifixion of Christ), and the works of the devil were destroyed. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1^st John 3:8) This fulfilled the prophecy at the beginning of the judgment of the serpent in Genesis Chapter 3, in verses 14 and 15, And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: (Genesis 3:14) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14) And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:15)

    Back to the six water pots of stone . . . when the wine was delivered to the governor of the feast, he expressed that most men deliver the good wine first, and when the celebration draws to an end, then the old wine or bitter wine is served. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, (John 2:9) And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. (John 2:10)

   From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, evil revealed itself first in the sin of Adam. However, when the Lord was manifested among men He brought the goodness of God to them, and He brought the newness of life IN Himself in His very words the Lord Jesus said, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. He told His disciples that after their sorrow they would have great joy for their sorrow would be turned into joy, and only the servants would know the source of the new wine that cheers both God and man in God’s beloved Son. The sweetness of Christ overcomes the bitterness of sin.

   So once again, the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 16:20 was completely fulfilled according to the words that He spoke. Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Not one word fell to the ground. As the world rejoiced in what they had done to God the Son, they who followed Him had great sorrow, but nevertheless, on the third day their sorrow was turned into joy for the Lord had risen from the dead. He reaffirms this in Revelation Chapter 1, verse 18, I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. The Lord Jesus speaks of being dead, but death could not hold Him, so He announced to the world, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen.

   The great power of life is WITHIN HIM, and within Him is the power of an endless life. Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. (Hebrews 7:16) The life of the Lord Jesus was the life of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:2) His life was not a carnal life under the realm or nature of Adam. He was not made by sin, nor of the carnal commandments. He came forth in the power of an endless life and possessed that endless life BEFORE the world was. At His birth He was the outward manifestation of His eternal life. In John Chapter 1, verse 4, it is IN HIM was life, and that life was and is the light of man.In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

   When God worked in His creation in Genesis Chapter 1, when He created the trees, the grasses, and the herbs of the field, the seed was IN the trees, the grasses, and IN the herbs, and this propitiated their life. When He created the animals, He created them from that which was not, however, when God made man, He took the dust of the earth and formed it to the image of Himself. At that point man did not have seed within himself. It was Christ, by the breath of the power of His endless life, that BREATHED His life and Seed of Spirit into man, and man became a living soul.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26)

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27)

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28)

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. (Genesis 2:7)

   Man was created in the image of God not to be a god, but to rule God’s earthly creation for God. The earth would be man’s dominion, over the fish of the sea, over the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moved upon the earth. It was God’s breath that gave man life . . . . this brought forth life out of dust. And this life that was given to man became the seed of man in Adam, and Adam was formed out of dust in the image of God. Christ came forth with the power of an endless life, He was the manifest image of the thrice holy God. He was the image that gave His image to man, and we see that He is the image of the invisible God.

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:13)

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14)

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15)

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:17)

   The first breath that starts the life of every born person is God’s breath. And the first light that every man receives is from the Lord Jesus Christ.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. (Romans 1:19)

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, (Romans 16:25) But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: (Romans 16:26) To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen. <<Written to the Romans from Corinthus, and sent by Phebe servant of the church at Cenchrea.>> (Romans 16:27)

   Now these things are revealed in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that you may be obedient to the Law of Faith in Romans 3:27, Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. and for the obedience of faith in Romans 16:26.

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Joy Realized Then and Joy Yet to be Realized

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Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. (John 16:20)

  The Lord told His disciples their sorrow would be turned to joy. This word joy is NOT the outward emotion of celebration and gladness, and the expression of happiness. This joy is the inward expression of gladness found in Jesus Christ. The joy we have is linked to the joy that was set before Him when He endured the cross and despised the shame of the cross; however, His suffering brought forth the joy of the redemption of His own, and this joy also filled the Father’s heart in His beloved Son. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2) This joy is also fulfilled in us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Redeemer, as our Lord and Savior, and as our God. For we come through the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. The sin and suffering of this world that we have endured have been changed to the shores of joy upon the ocean of life everlasting. The shame and suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ was the metamorphose of our own death and shame, and He has given us life in His own life; thus, we are possessors of His life and are one with Him. .And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. (John 17:13) We belong to that same joy of Hebrews 12:2, we find and fulfill our joy within ourselves in Christ Jesus, and this joy will be totally fulfilled when we are in the FULL presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Jude 1:24 is the last mention of joy in the Bible, and it is related to being in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will have our joy fulfilled in Him, and He will have His joy fulfilled in us, the redeemed of the Lord. The joy of His resurrection confirms ALL that the Lord spoke when He was on the earth. Not one jot nor tittle has fallen to the ground. In John Chapter 16, the Lord Jesus was speaking about a divine joy that only He could give. And His resurrection confirmed that joy within His disciples, and we enter into that joy which His resurrection confirmed. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. (John 16:22) The experience of seeing Him once again would be so traumatic for His disciples it would be compared to the travail of a woman in birth. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. (John 16:21) They would see the Lord depart from them in such a horrible and brutal manner that it would bring the deepest sorrow to their hearts in a short period of time as they would watch all their hope being crucified. They, and the whole world, could not hide from this wickedness of Adam and his sin ever again. The whole world was on trial, and they didn’t even know, nor did they understand their own hearts. They had refused the truth that this was the Son of God, Immanuel, God with us. That it was God WITHIN Christ redeeming the world unto Himself. All that was evil in mankind from the very moment at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil came out on THAT day in the children of Satan at the tree of Calvary. They were in full view of the penetrating eyes of God, and man would never again have an excuse before God, and they would never again have the opportunity to receive the manifest image of God in Jesus Christ. The boil and poison of sin had come to a burning head, and the wickedness of man burst onto the most precious Gift the world had ever received. It would be the righteousness and holiness of God that would bear the sin of the whole world in His own Body on the tree. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1^st Peter 2:24)

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! (John 1:36)

    Man could not be justified in Christ unless God was justified in Christ. All that we have in the free Gift from God cost God a great, great, price. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28) He purchased us with His own blood. This was not the blood of man, neither was it the blood of a beast, it was the blood that came from the Body that was prepared before the foundations of the earth. In John 16:21, as we have mentioned, the Lord gave the example of a woman in the travail of birth. However, this was a mere example of what the Lord would suffer Himself in the travail of His own soul. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11) The fulfillment of ALL righteousness was the convulsion of righteousness within His own soul. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.(Isaiah 53:10) The end of sin was the death of Himself to overthrow sin. In overthrowing sin, He extinguished death in Himself. There are three specific things that we should remember in the travail of His soul. He bore our sin, He overthrew death by the death of Himself, and He destroyed the works of the devil.

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14)

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1^st Corinthians 15:55) The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. (1^st Corinthians 15:56) But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1^st Corinthians 15:57)

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (Ephesians 2:15) And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: (Ephesians 2:16) And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. (Ephesians 2:17) For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (2^nd Timothy 1:9) is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: (2^nd Timothy 1:10)

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1^st John 3:8)

   Nothing on earth, nothing in heaven, and nothing in eternity can match the travail of His own soul. And nothing can match the joy that was set before Him that He has shared with us in reconciling us to God. Not only is the joy within Him, but through His Spirit, He has implanted that joy within us. When we sorrow over sin, which the conscience brings to us, there is only one place to find joy, and this is in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we were bearing the heavy load of sin, it worked through our whole body, it also worked in our hearts, souls and in our spirits. In many ways, sin dictated to us, and it surely robbed us of any joy. Paul knew the great price that was paid for his joy in the Lord. And the only way that he could explain that joy was to see himself crucified with Christ, and crucified unto world, and the world crucified unto him. (Galatians 2:20) But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14) In John Chapter 1, the Lord declared through His word that in Himself is life, and the life is the light of man. However, He gives us a description of that life in John 1:12 and in 13. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Verses 12 and 13 shows us the supernatural birth of John Chapter 3 that a man must be born again. All this brings out not only life, but the light of God’s thoughts, and these thoughts were in Christ. Everything was set before Him before His manifestation and before the foundations of the world. All these thoughts were in Him BEFORE the cross, and yet, deep within His sufferings there was a joy set before Him. And He NOW is in the midst of that joy in every child of God. We see this joy in Hebrews Chapter 2, Behold the children that God has given me. Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. (Hebrews 2:12) And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. (Hebrews 2:13) The joy of the Lord Jesus was shared with the Father and the Spirit, and He, the Lord Jesus, is the joy of heaven, and soon He will be the joy of the whole earth. This all began in the darkness of night with a message from heaven when the angel proclaimed that there would be great joy. This message of great joy came from heaven as documented in Luke 2:10, And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. These tidings were of GREAT JOY, and they are still of GREAT JOY to those who are redeemed by Jesus Christ. There will be a day of GREAT JOY and there will be a new heaven and a new earth wherein the fullness of God’s righteousness will reign because of the travail of His own soul.

Amen and Amen.

© Copyright 2022, Michael Haigh

This article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.

All Scripture references are from the King James Bible. (KJB)