EDEN AGAIN--2
As we have been thinking about what the Garden might have been like with no sin, what would Adam and Eve done?  They might have left the Garden, to go into the world.  So what would they have done outside the enclosure of the Garden?

  We can mention three things.  First, Adam and Even might have gone out of the Garden to follow the Spirit into Palestine, the land flowing with milk and honey.
  Second, Adam and Eve might hae spoken of the knowledge of God they gained while they walked with God in the cool of the evening.
  Third, their family could have been a blessing to the world, that through them all people everywhere would be sons and daughters of God.

  When we read through the OT, we find that God did just those things.

  God did lead Moses and the people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, Exodus 14 and Joshua 3.14.
  God did give Moses the knowledge of Himself from Exodus 19, the Law, the ordinances and ceremonies.
  And through Jesus every man and woman can be blessed by God with salvation and holiness.

  This is the message of the NT.  So let's look at that message a little closer.

  Salvation in the NT has three time aspects to it.  First, it is a sure thing.  Paul says--that God chose us before the foundation of the world--before we were born, Ephesians 1.4.  In Acts 15.11 Peter is in Jerusalem saying--We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are (Gentiles).  Peter uses the aorist tense, meaning 'we are saved' is a completed action when Peter said it.  In Romans 8.24 Paul says--in hope we have been saved--and this is an action completed in the past.  All of this says salvation is completed, it is finished.

  Second, salvation has a continuing element in it.  The same Paul describes salvation in 1 Corinthians 1.18 as a process: to us who are being saved, it is the power of God (Romans 1.16--power of God).  In 1 Cor. 15.2 Paul uses a conintuous present tense--by which also you are saved if you hold fast the world which I preached to you.

  Third, Paul uses salvation in a future sense.  He says--Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him, Romans 5.9.  In 1 Cor. 3.15 Paul uses the future tense when he says--If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved.

  This may remind us of the expression--You have been saved, you are being saved, you will be saved.  I hope this tells us salvation is not a closed room but a living relationship with a living God.

  So why does something which has been determined before we were even born have to be lived out now and culminated in the future?
  It's like playing catch with your Dad.  He throws the baseball to you so that you can throw it back to him.  God chose you to be His so that you would be His in your life, to glorify His name.  Matthew 5.16 says--Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.  Notice how Jesus does not say 'glorify God,' a tone of distance and separation.  He says, 'glorify your Father,' your own heavenly Father who made you, gave you breath and His Spirit, to be His glory on the earth.
  The apostle Paul says this to the Ephesians when he says--in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places, Eph. 3.10.

  We are here to show the universe that God has shared His glory with us who believe.  Maybe the purpose of the Garden all along was to show the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places of God's love for those who show His glory.  Halleluiah!

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I've written a tragedy in the manner of Shakespeare, about Judas.  Anyone wishing to read it, just email me and I will send it pdf.  Paul

EDEN AGAIN--1
What if Adam had not sinned?  What would his life have been like?

  If there had been no sin, possibly the world would have been a kingdom of God for God, by God.  When Jesus came preaching in Matthew 4.17, He says the kingdom of God is at hand.  The expression 'at hand' is symbolic but it also conveys a daily living, practical touch concerning an exalted subject.

  Now that the kingdom of heaven was at hand for those who saw Jesus, was there an episode of what it would have been like had Adam not sinned?  We may have such an episode in Luke 18.35-43.  It is a short scene, and a glowing one.  Jesus is well outside of Jerusalem, north toward Jericho.  This city was ancient, having been captured and destroyed by Joshua centuries before.
  The city is over 100 miles northeast of Jerusalem, over a ridge that leads down into the river Jordan in Galilee.  Originally the city was int he midst of a huge grove of palm trees with fragrances everywhere.  Over time, so near the Jordan River, it became the main city of the valley, eventually being fortified.  It was these fortified walls that came down in Joshua 5.6.

  Here, as Jesus comes down the hillside to Jericho, a blind man sits on the roadside, begging.  A crowd is with Jesus, in front of him.  When the blind man hears the multitude of thumping, dust-curled footsteps, one on top of another, he asks who is coming.  Several who hurry by say it is Jesus.

  The blind man calls out--Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!

  He calls this out several times as the footsteps come trooping down on him.  Somehow the blind man knows Jesus is the Son of David.  Had this kneeling man heard of the prophecy of a Son of David to come?  Had he heard this from someone in Jericho?  Word of Jesus could have spread.  After all, Jesus had said to the disciples of John that the proof of His ministry was that--the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, Matt. 11.5.  Miracles get around.

  Had the Holy Spirit told the blind man?  In John 9 a blind man witnesses to his own healing from Jesus.  The Pharisees cannot accept that a blind man was ever healed, John 9.32.  Jesus says they who see are blind to the kingdom of God and--those who do not see may see.  Had God given this blind man the insight that Jesus was the Son of David?  Maybe so.

  Those who led the procession of Jesus into Jericho tried to shut the blind man up but the man would not shut up.  He kept up his calling out to Jesus.  Now Jesus was close enough to hear over the clamor of voices and stomping of feet the blind man's cry.  Jesus stopped.  Everyone else did, too.  Jesus commanded that the crowd bring the blind man to Him.

  The man's faith is evident in his refusal to be quiet.  He will not let Jesus go on by.  So Jesus asks--What do you want Me to do for you?
  The man only asks for his sight.
  Jesus says--Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.

  The blind man did not ask for power, he did not ask to be with Jesus, he did not ask for money or privilege or luxury.  He asked for his sight.
  What happens next?

  This now might bear on Adam's sin in the garden.  The blind man stood and followed Jesus.  He could have run into Jericho proclaiming his miracle, saying he has some special gift.  In Luke 17 twelve lepers call Jesus saying--Have mercy on us.  When Jesus healed all of them, only one glorified God with a loud voice, Luke 17.15.  The rest scattered.  But the blind man outside Jericho does not go off, he follows Jesus glorifying Him.  When the people saw this they began to praise God who had done this through Jesus.

  Now if Adam had depended on God's word to refrain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, could he have then followed Jesus out of the garden, glorifying Him and praising God for this world and his wife?

  Could it be that the inner work which makes a man an evangelist is to glorify God and praise Him forever?

Hebrew Sanctuary--4
Believing is not the end of faith.  With our justification we have the capacity to stand before God.  But what is the purpose of standing before God?

  In Exodus 29.38 Aaron and his sons offer the two lambs daily.  This was the duty of their sanctification before God.  Paul says in Ephesians 1.16 that he does not--cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers.  Here we have the continual offering of prayers before God, the incense which Paul burns for the Lord and for the people.
  Paul asks that--the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.  This is the light of the candlestick by which the tabernacle is lit daily.  So through communion with God Paul offers his daily prayers--his incense-- so that the Ephesians could be light to their city.  The communion with God was the incense, the light in the tabernacle, in the Holy Place.

  However this is not our greatest duty to God.

  Our greatest duty is to enter the Holy of Holies, to minister unto God.  In Exodus 30.30 God tells Moses--you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them that they may minister as priests to Me.  Ministering unto god combines the justification of standing in His presence with the sanctification of ministering to Him daily.  We live our lives in the Spirit which He has given us in His place.  Many might practice religious rites but they must be done in the love which the Spirit brings to the believer.

  This brings us to the mystery of faith.  How is it that we are in Him and He in us?

  Of course, cleansing and declaration must have taken place.  When this is so, we stand before God.  As Jesus was fully God and fully man, God and man are to be respected.  When we stand before God, we are not annihilated, nor does He disappear.  He is always God and we are always men and women.  If we are made in His image we have been given the capacity to receive Him as God without our dissolution.  If He came in the likeness of men (Philippians 2.7), God can receive us in the name of His Son so that His holiness is not compromised.

  This is stated in Exodus 24.9-11, where Moses, Aaron and the elders go up the mountain into God's presence.  God does not destroy them, they behold God, they eat and drink.  Such eating and drinking with God will occur again in John 21.12-13.  The way to the Garden of God has been opened to us through Jesus.

  All of this is to say, spiritual worship is receiving Christ.  We receive Him when we love Him.  1 John says if we love Him, we will keep His commandments.  This often fools us into thinking that keeping the commandments is love.  It is not; yet when we remain in His love we will wish to keep His commandments.  It is like the boy who wants to play baseball.  He'll put on the uniform long before the game begins.

  How do we love Him?  Each of us will have our own capacity.  We cannot grasp more of Him, although we can ask for more of Him.  As with love, the more we express our love for God, the more love we will be given by God.
  Love one another, for love is of God. 

HEBREW SANCTUARY--3
The tabernacle had three ministrations to the Hebrew believer--cleansing, justification and sanctification.  We will look at cleansing and justification today and sanctification next week.

  First, in Exodus 20 God gives His word, the commandments.  Then in Ex. 20.20 Moses says God has come into their midst--to test you and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.  The purpose of His presence is that He can be holy with Israel, as this is His desire.  Just as in the Garden of Eden, God's word of warning and blessing is because He is with them.  Jesus will say the same thing in John 8.11--Go and sin no more.  The cleansing from sin is the preparation for worship.

  The priest had to cleanse himself of any sin to accept the sacrifice of the people, outside the tabernacle.  The sacrifice cleansed the sinner, but the sin put upon the animal brought sin into the tabernacle.  So the priest had to sprinkle the animal's blood upon the tabernacle, to cleanse it.
  While God considers it necessary for the priest and the sinner to be clean, we often glide over confession too quickly.  We know our cultural preferences, but we forget what weighs heavily on God's mind: cleansing from sin.  Confession is bitter but it is where the blessing is found.  The blessing/curse of the two trees in Genesis became the blessing/curse of the two mountains in Deuteronomy 28, which became the blessing of Matthew 5--you are the light of the world--and the admonition of Matt. 6--do not be anxious, do not be as the hypocrites, do not lay up treasures.  The summary is Matt. 6.33--Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

  Now we come to justification.  We come to presence, cloud, light.  God told Moses He wanted Israel to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, Ex. 19.6.  The Table of Showbread is our communion with God by which He, through the bread and wine, enters us and we enter into His presence.  We are surrounded by the incense which the priest burns at the Altar of Incense, just as Moses entered the cloud o top of the mountain, Ex. 19.9.  We become the light of the world, as the light shone on Moses' face when he came down from the mountain, Ex. 34.29.  This light is not for God--who is light--but for the nation and through the church to all nations.

  This is the declaration part of worship.  As Jesus died on the cross , being the perfect sacrifice, He became our High Priest so that we could in His righteousness stand in the presence of God, Rev.21.3.  What happened to Moses on the mountain we now experience as the kingdom of priests.  In Christ we enter God's presence, we put on His clothes, the white linen of righteousness.  We have His word in our heart, we are obedient to His will, we walk in His path according to His name.

  This is the awesome stuff of life in Christ.

HEBREW SANCTUARY--2
The Veil of the Sanctuary--Exodus 26.31
The daily offices of the tabernacle represent the daily life of sanctification which prepared the sinner by cleansing him from his sin.  And the annual entrance of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies represented justification, without which no man can stand before God's presence.

  The veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies is the veil that tore at the moment Jesus died on the cross.  This tearing ended the need for a Levitical priesthood as mediator between God and us--
  Matt. 27.51--And behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from top to bottom,
                       and the earth did quake and the rocks rent...
The veil represents the body of Jesus.  It is only by passing through this veil that access is gained to the Most Holy Place of Judgment.  You can see the relevance of communion, taking the body and blood of Christ into oneself to have access to God.

  The veil's tearing is the death of the Lamb of God, so that the believer might come in.

  The Levitical priesthood has brought us this far, now with Jesus as our High Priest we no longer have need of the sacrifices and the veil.

The Ark of the Testimony--Exodus 25.10-22
The ark was made of acacia wood, covered with gold.  Inside the ark were placed two tablets of stone upon which the 10 Commandments had been etched.  Later Aaron's rod and a pot of manna were put in with the stone tablets.  The lid of the Ark was called the Mercy Seat, Ex. 25.17.  Above the Mercy Seat, between two covering cherubs, the glory of God dwelled.

  The Mercy Seat represented Jesus as mediator just as the seat was between the commandments inside the ark and God's glory above it.

  1 Timothy 2.5--For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
  Only the High Priest was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place to be in the presence of the ark and Mercy Seat.  And that was only one day of the year, the Day of Atonement.

  When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, the ark had already been removed.  In 70AD when the armies of the Roman emperor Titus sacked Jerusalem, the Holy of Holies was empty.  The ark has never been found publicly to this day (except by Indiana Jones).

  In Revelation 11.19 the ark is described.  This was written about 95AD, after the Roman army left Jerusalem.  John sees the ark of God in heaven, not the ark of the tabernacle.

  The ark is revealed in Revelation in these passages:
Golden Candlestick--Rev. 1.12, 4.5
Table of Showbread--Rev. 4.2-5
Pre-advent Judgment begins--Rev. 4.6
Brazen Altar of Burnt Offerings--Rev. 6.9
Golden Altar of Incense--Rev. 8.3-5
Ark of the Testtimony--Rev. 11.19
The Sanctuary as the City of God--Rev. 21.22

THE HEBREW SANCTUARY---1
After God gave Moses the Ten Commandments in Exodus 25.8, He says--
  Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.
With these few words God tells Israel He wants to be with them.  The plan of the tabernacle was a simplified version of the heavenly kingdom.  Its' purpose was to reveal that Jesus of Nazareth is our high priest, our mediator, our sacrifice.  As He was Lord of heaven, so He is high priest on earth.
  The tabernacle will enable us to be with God in four stages:
    Sacrifice for sins
    Declaration of cleanness through the Brazen Altar, Laver, and Menorah
    Daily Offices of the priests through the Veil and Ark
    Judgment and Blessing in the Holy of Holies.

  First, the Sacrifice for sins.
  All of this took place outside the tabernacle.
  The sinner brings the sacrifice to the tabernacle east door to cover sins.  The sinner places his hands on the animal's head, making his confession.  Then he slays the animal, collecting the animal's blood.
  The Brazen Altar
  At this point the priest takes certain portions of the animal to the Brazen Altar to be consumed by flames.  The altar was acacia wood covered by bronze.  The wood symbolized humanity, the brass symbolized suffering.  When the animal was burned, this means Jesus protects the sinner from the fires of God, as they go on the animal.  The altar was square, with four horns at the corners.  According to Psalm 118.27 the animal pieces were tied to the horns, with the blood poured out below.  Leviticus 9.24 says the fire came down from heaven.
  The Laver
  Before the priest burns the animal pieces he must come to this Laver to wash.  This was a basin of water, made from the mirrors of the women.  The priest washes his hands and feet, symbolizing baptism, the mirrors represent our sins, cleansing our souls and receiving righteousness.  If the priest does not cleanse himself enough, he is struck dead, Exodus 30.21.  This is because to reject the righteousness of Christ means the sinner and the priest die in their sins.
  With this done properly, the sinner and the priest are clean before God.

  Second, Declaration of Cleansing
  Now we are just inside the tabernacle.  This rectangular area is the Holy Place.  We have the Table of Showbread, the Golden Candelabra, and the Golden Altar of Incense.
  The Candelabra or Menorah used pure olive oil.  The priest trimmed and refilled it.  The wick was made of old priestly garments.  It was always lit.  It represents Jesus, the light of the world, John 1.9
  The Table of Showbread was a small table made of acacia wood, covered in gold.  It had 12 loaves of unleavened bread, representing Jesus, the bread of life, John 6.35 and the 12 tribes of Israel.  Wine was also kept on the Table, so the Lord's Supper was present.
  The Altar of Incense was before the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies inside.  On it was a brass pot with coals from the Brazen Altar.  A special blend of incense was burned here, which filled the tabernacle with a sweet cloud.  This cloud obscured the glory of God over the Holy of Holies, preserving the high priest's life on the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16.13.
  The Menorah is always lit, the Table always shows bread and wine, and the altar always shows the incense and the cloud.  This is the eternal nature of cleansing from sin, once declared it is always so.

NEXT WEEK--THE DAILY OFFICES OF THE PRIESTS

MESSIAH--2
In the Middle Ages the Jewish rabbi Moses Maimonides wrote the guidelines of who the messiah would be for Israel. Usually 18 OT verses are used to apply proof to his text:  Some of them are:
The messiah will restore justice, Isaiah 1.26
The messiah becomes king so the nations look to him for guidance, Isaiah 2.4.
The world will worship the God if Israel, Isaiah 2.11-17.
He will descend from David, Isaiah 1.11.
The Spirit of the Lord will be upon him, Isaiah 11.2.
Evil and tyranny cannot stand before Him, Isaiah 11.4.
Knowledge of God fills the earth, Isaiah 11.9.
He will attract people from other cultures, Isaiah 11.10.
All Jews will return to Israel, Isaiah 11.12.
Death is swallowed up, Isaiah 25.8.
All Jewish people will have joy and peace, Isaiah 51.11.
He will be a messenger of peace, Isaiah 52.7.
Nations will recognize the wrong they did Israel, Isaiah 52.13--53.5
The world will turn to Israel, Zechariah 8.23.
War is destroyed, Ezekiel 39.9.
  These are the particular points Maimonides emphasized.  According to these texts, the messiah is a future king from the line of David who will be anointed and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic age. He will rebuild the temple, reinstitute the Sanhedrin and animal sacrifices.  All Jews will return to Israel.  And the messiah will lead the Jewish people in what one website calls, 'full Torah observance.'  Modern Jewish commentators say the messiah will be born of human parents, he will have no supernatural qualities, he will not be God.

  While many of the OT passages Jewish and Christian scholars use concerning the messiah are the same, the different interpretations remain apart.

  Jesus said--I am the Father are one, John 10.30.  He said--I am the way, the truth, the life, no man comes to the Father but through Me, John 14.6.  Jesus created the way to the Father--by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, Hebrews 10.20.  The Jews of His day believed they already had a connection to God.

  Jewish scholars say Jesus did not rebuild the temple, institute animal sacrifices or install strict Torah observance.  They say there was no prophet, that all Jews must return to Israel.  Some Jewish scholars say Jesus was not a prophet, did not descend from David, that He did not lead Jews in Torah observance.  
  Christian scholars say Jesus ended the sacrifices as He was the last sacrifice, the Lamb of God, John 1.36.  The Holy Spirit at Pentecost has made every believing soul the temple of God, 1 Peter 2.5, 6.  Jesus said in Matthew 11.9 that John was a prophet and that the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.  In John 4.19 the Samaritan woman at the well says--Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.  In Matt. 21.11 the people say Jesus is a prophet.

  But really these are secondary matters which might not change a person's mind.  The significant issue is whether Jesus is God and whether Jews will return to full Torah observance.
  Jesus said He was God, He came to fulfill the Law, that the Law will not pass away until all is accomplished, Matt. 5.18.  What is to be accomplished?  He said---All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command you; and lo, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age, Matt. 28.18-20.