A STAFF AND A TENT

 

The Lord, speaking to Abram, spoke by way of promise, that to Abram’s seed would He, The Lord, give a land of inheritance. That seed would become a multitude, and that multitude would be heirs of a land of promise. That seed, to whom every promise pertained, was firstly, one individual who would be Lord and heir of all, and afterward, the multitude to come from that one, would be, together with Him, co heirs, joint heirs together with Him, in all the fullness of God.

To the nation, the natural offspring of Abram’s body, was extended a covenant, an offered contractual arrangement, if you will, that had terms. Those terms stated that this people would be a unique and special people, a nation separated to God, and cherished above all nations of men. Just as a house, being bought with a mortgage, is not yours until the terms of the mortgage, to the last payment, are satisfied, the house is not yours. Such was the case with the natural issue of Abram’s body, and the special status was never attained because the terms were never met. This is a little spoken of point in religious circles today, but is, nevertheless, a fact.

The individual and one and only heir of every promise, that one who came out of Abraham, was Christ. He, and only He fulfilled every term of the covenant with Abram. He and only He secured to Himself, the title of Firstborn among many brethren, the status of Lord, and secured to Himself, of the Father, the preeminence in all things. That nation, that peculiar people of special status, are a people unlike any other. They are not the fruit of Abram’s body of flesh, but of promise. They are begotten to God, in Christ in His resurrection, and are heirs of His body of resurrection. To be an heir together with Christ, in all the fullness of God, pertains to the individuals of that nation, called by the apostles “an Holy nation”. Jesus alluded to this people and nation as heirs of every promise to Abram, when He spoke this parable:

“Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them”.

This nation and people are not reckoned among the nations of men. And a purpose of this writing is to convey the sober message, that this nation of heirs is not any religious sect in the world and of the world, to which category belong the various sects and franchises of organized “Christianity” today. The “Christian” religion in and of this world, warned about before hand by the apostle Paul, with tears, calling it “Another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel”, is but one of the nations destined to be hammered in pieces as with a rod of iron. In fact, the rod is falling now. The nation to whom the kingdom of God shall be given, being taken from the kingdoms of religious men and leaders, is a nation born in a day, as said the prophets. But no twenty four hour day. Rather, the Day of the Lord, which day the apostle Peter declared to be at hand…upon us…since the day Jesus rose up out of the tomb. A spiritual nation, not reckoned among the nations of men, a people created in resurrection. No people, religion or nation, not begotten to God in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, have any part or matter in this. I call to attention, the many places in which Jesus warned of the rejection of many who will lay claim to the great many things they have done in His name, who being sent away as workers of iniquity, are sent with the statement, “I never knew you”. The person and presence of Christ in you, by faith, or trusting one’s disposition to a membership in some group and it’s leadership, large group or small, are a matter of choice. The leadership of men, or of the Spirit. To only one of the two, does Jesus refer to as the defining attribute of sons of God.

 

A people spent and exhausted, laboring under their Pharaohs, in a futile, Lot-like effort to reform the behavior of Sodom and Gomorrah, a place and age destined for fire, or a people of faith, citizens of an age and kingdom to be revealed, and the children of faith, revealed together with Christ, at his ultimate unveiling. Children of carnal meddling, or children of the true Exodus. It is a matter of choice. The Lord is not arbitrary and inequitable. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Of all who the Lord calls, many are called, few chosen, not because the Lord is arbitrary. Few are chosen, because few answer the call. John, in his gospel, declares a generation of faith, not of flesh:

“That was the true Light, which lights every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 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. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”.

There is, in the midst of every race and nation, tongue and people, in every generation from the resurrection until the summation, a people of faith, who have not received the hearing of faith from men, but have heard and believed within themselves, the witness of the true Light, who shined in them as a light in a dark place. As pollen to a flower, Christ in you, the hope of glory, the power to become the sons of God. No individual need wonder if he or she can be be a part of this. The answer is yes. It is a matter of choice, and the choice is with every individual.

To them who have believed, and are the Lord’s people, but are under the heavy hand of the Pharaohs and their descending network of taskmasters, who laden them with grievous tasks and burdens, ever learning, never coming to any knowledge of the truth, ever building, never seeing the fruit of their labors…who labor and are heavy laden…go to Christ and relieve you of these impossible burdens. His yoke is easy, His burden light. It is a choice of easy and light, over heavy travail and labor. His building, His workmanship, is YOU. The building up of His House is spiritual, not carnal. Go to Him, as Paul said, “Outside the camp”, and find rest. The most High dwells not in a house built with men’s hands. He dwells in the Man and people of Resurrection.
To the task masters and religious “leaders” who laden the Lord’s people with building your vainly imagined entities, there is this word…Recognize the ever increasing plagues in the houses of your building, and let the Lord’s people go. Or better yet…defrock yourself of imaginary title and importance, and go with them. “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain, who build it…”

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THE EXODUS- OUT OF EGYPT I HAVE CALLED MY SON

 

Two things need to be established before writing further. The Exodus, the real and true Exodus, is the Resurrection. And the Israel of God, the real and true Israel of God , is the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, and them begotten to God…raised up together with Him…in His resurrection. In this case, there is a quoting of chapter and verse. Because both the above mentioned truths are proclaimed, indisputably, in a few verses of scripture.

Matthew 2:13-18
“And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not”.

Hosea 11:1
“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt”.

 

 

Revelation 11:18

“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”.

The Israel of God , and the exodus from Egypt, were not fulfilled, Until Christ. I say again, the Israel of God , and the exodus from Egypt were not fulfilled until the events testified in chapter two of Matthew’s gospel. Everything that happened before this, was a shadow of this. It pointed to this. The place of Christ’s crucifixion, spiritually (and therefore truly and factually) is SODOM AND EGYPT. Herod filled the part of Pharaoh, causing the bereavement of Rachel of her children. The Egypt out of which God’s Son and Heir ( Israel means prince. Prince is heir), was the spiritual houses of bondage. The spiritual places, where men, as overseers and taskmasters, lay heavy burdens on their brethren, commanding them to lift and bear them, while these men themselves will not lift a finger to bear. Jesus bore the shame of the cross, to liberate and set free, mind body and soul, all who will follow Him. If the exodus of the book of exodus, was fulfilled in Moses, and the land of promise in Canaan, was THE land of promise, (Into which Moses was never permitted to set foot), then Moses would not have appeared together with Elijah, together with Jesus, transfigured upon a mount for Peter, James and John to see. These three men knew, especially once the Spirit was given, what was signified to them in the events they witnessed on the mount. And these events did not occur in the place spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, and errantly called the “City of David”. They occurred in the Glory of the Father. For 28 generations, from David to Christ, men errantly called Jerusalem, the “City of David”. But when Christ was born, the angel of God spoke truly, “Unto you this day is born, in the City of David, a savior which is Christ the Lord”. Moses was barred from the figurative “land of promise”, but not the true. He was barred from the shadow, not the substance. Today, the sects of “Christianity”, are reduced to the same expectation of the Hebrew nation of flesh. Together now they stare with fixed gaze, at the wrong city, awaiting a man of flesh, to “come”, sit on a piece of furniture in a restored temple and palace of stick and stone, and force all flesh into behavior. Both will not have known the time of their visitation. Both will be deceived together by a man of flesh who will fill all their desires.

 

Jerusalem beneath, the multiple religious entities striving over her, and their world wide network of political, social, and religious intrigues, are the great Sodom and Egypt of Revelation, which will brook no voice of the Lord, or of them that are His, in their streets, and will go to any lengths to silence them.

Just as Jesus began His ministry, being conceived, born, made of a woman, made under the law, and finished His course in resurrection, so too , did the shadow of things to come.

In leading the children of Jacob out of the land of Egypt, The state of the nation was depicted, described pre-exodus using but three of the names of the tribes. The Lord often uses names and their meanings to convey truths. Of course the exodus involved the whole house of Jacob, but the purposeful use of but three names, paints a picture for us. The names used descriptively of Jacob, in bondage to Egypt, about to be lead out, were the first three born to him. Reuben, Simeon and Levi ( Exodus 6:14-26). Moses and Aaron were also of Levi.

Reuben: “Behold, a son”:
(Gen 29) “And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me”.

Simeon: “Heard, to hear”:

(Gen 29) “And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon”.

Levi: “”Joined to”:
(Gen 29) “And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi”.

The entire descriptive is of a son born to an afflicted and hated people, a son by whom the people have hope, that they will be enjoined to their father.

PROCLAMATION:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” ( Isaiah)

 

FULFILLMENT:

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord”. (Luke’s gospel)

Among the sons of Levi, two men, brothers, will go before the people to lead them out. In the hands of these two men, Moses and Aaron, two rods…staffs…walking sticks, which will figure prominently in the events of the exodus. In the hand of Aaron, a staff of an almond tree, cut off from a tree in Egypt which was of a seed sent by Jacob , into Egypt as a gift to Pharaoh, some hundreds of years before Moses. This seed was a gift, accompanying money sent to buy grain from Pharaoh, because of the great famine in the land. Little did Jacob know, that his gift did not go to Pharaoh, but to his own son Joseph, whom Jacob presumed dead , torn in pieces by some beast, but in fact alive, now Lord of all Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. And the only reason there was grain in Egypt, was because of Joseph, who’s brethren hated him, cast him into a pit to die, and he was raised up, and sold into slavery in Egypt. Nor did Jacob know that a branch of an almond tree, would one day be used, before and after it’s resurrection, to lead the children out of Egypt.

The very choice of Jacob to send “a few almonds” into Egypt as a part of a gift to Pharaoh of the best fruits of the land ,was almost an afterthought. The almond had a special significance in Jacob’s experience. It was at a place called Luz, that Jacob, fleeing from his brother Esau, had his dream of a vision, a ladder reaching unto heaven, the messengers of heaven ascending and descending upon the ladder, and the entire experience centered upon the stones he had for his pillows as he lay in that place. Arising, Jacob poured oil upon the stone, and proclaimed the place of this anointed rock and stones to be none other than the House of God ( Bethel). The place, LUZ, means “almond”, a figure of resurrection, as we shall see. Jacob afterward referred to the place as “Luz which is Bethel” …”Almond which is the house of God”.

When the Lord would lead the children of Jacob out of Egypt, he would send to them, Moses, returning from his sojourn in the land of Midian, and Aaron, returning from the desert into which he had been sent to meet his approaching brother. The Lord, because of Moses’ resistance to being spokesman to Pharaoh, due to Moses’ being not eloquent, and slow of speech, made Aaron to be spokesman in the place of Moses, who would be to Aaron, in God’s stead. Aaron’s rod was used miraculously, performing signs and wonders, more times that was Moses’ rod, until the people eventually crossed the red sea on dry ground. This rod would become a serpent. And when the magicians, wise men and sorcerers of Pharaoh would also make serpents of their staffs with their enchantments, Aaron’s staff, now a serpent, swallowed them up. Again, this same rod was stretched over the waters of Egypt, and they became blood. The fish that were in the waters died and stank, and the water could not be drunk. Again, Aaron’s staff was held up over the waters, and there came up frogs, to fill every house, every bed and bedchamber. When the Lord caused the frogs to die, they were gathered into such heaps, the land of Egypt stank. Again Pharaoh would not let the people go. Again Aaron’s rod was stretched over the very dust of the land, and it became lice, in man and beast. There followed still more miracles. Swarms of flies, the death of all Egyptian cattle, plague of boils and sores upon man and beast, plagues of heart, pestilence, rain of fire and hailstones, that ruined every crop save the wheat and the rye, and broke every tree throughout the land of Egypt. Only in Goshen, where the children of Jacob dwelt, was untouched. For all this, Pharaoh would not let the people go. Afterward, locusts that filled every house and field, and left nothing in their wake. Then a thick darkness covering Egypt for three days, so thick , a man could not see to walk out of his house. Again, Pharaoh would not let the people go. Not until the Lord would send and strike dead, the firstborn of Egypt, from the firstborn of every beast, to the firstborn son of Pharaoh, would Pharaoh break, and the children of Jacob be thrust from the now ruined Egypt, with spoil and treasure, having been spared the blackness of the death of their firstborn, by the blood of a lamb on the lintel and post of their door.

Having left Egypt, and having crossed the Red Sea on foot, the Lord would speak to Moses concerning the building of a tabernacle. A sanctuary (set apart place) “where I might dwell among them” , said the Lord. Moses was told to be very careful to build everything according to the pattern shown him in the heavens. Everything Moses would build was, therefore, a shadow and figure of things to come, and not the things themselves.

The raw materials for the tabernacle were not coerced from the people, nor obtained by “shaking them down” with guilt and psychology. The Lord said to Moses, to collect what each individual would willingly give. He did not accuse them of “robbing God” if they chose not to participate. He did not take a “percentage” of their labor, because they had been a nation of slaves. And what they had, they obtained from the Egyptians, spoiling them when they went out of the place. The fruits of their labors, slave labor, did not figure in the building of the tabernacle. Nor did the Lord bring them out of Egypt, through a land of fruit and plenty. There was nothing in the wilderness to constitute a profession that might be taxed. EVERYTHING that went into the building of that tabernacle, was given to them when they went out of Egypt. It was not the wages of slavery, it was not their present subsistence, which too, was miraculously being provided. What they gave, was of the gift they were given upon departing bondage. The Resurrection is the true Exodus:

PROCLAMATION

Psa 68:18

“Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.”

 

FULFILLMENT

Eph 4:4

“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”

 

 

Moses was instructed to build an ark of wood, overlaid with gold. Into that ark would go the testimony God said, “I will give you”. This ark was placed in the holy of holies, the “set apart from the set apart”. Upon this ark of the Lord’s testimonies, a mercy seat where the Lord said , “I will meet with you and commune with you”. In the holy place was, in the South side, a man made lamp stand, a beaten work made of a single lump of gold. It was purposely made to look like a fruiting Almond branch, the lamps themselves made to look like almonds. The fuel for the light giving almonds, was the oil of the Olive tree. On the North side of the holy place was a table for bread. Each day, twelve loaves were prepared by men, and placed upon the table. Also in the holy place, before the seamless veil, an altar of incense.

Into the ark of testimony would come to reside three things. The tables of commandments, written with the finger of God. (Against the side of the ark, would eventually be placed, a book of Law, written by Moses. This handwriting of ordinances, Moses commanded the Levites to place there, as a testimony against them,as they would, and did, corrupt themselves and their office). Aaron’s almond rod, a figure of the resurrection, which bore a generation of almonds in it’s resurrection. This resurrected rod and it’s generation born in resurrection, were placed simultaneously and expressly in the ark as one. Also into the ark, would come to be placed, a golden pot, into which a portion of the manna which God gave in the wilderness would be placed.

So, even in the tabernacle, we see the holy place, and the holiest place. Into the holy place, went the man made lamp stand. The man made bread. The man made incense. Into the holiest place went the resurrected almond, of which the lamp stand was but a man made effigy. There went the manna from God, of which the show bread was but a man made effigy. Into the holiest went the tables of commandments written with the finger of God.

This model and picture makes a clear difference between man made testimonies, and the testimonies of the Lord. The apostle Paul alluded to this example when he said the following in Hebrews 9:

“…For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the show bread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

The way into the holiest is not made manifest while men serve the shadow and image of things, and not the one of whom the shadow and likenesses bear witness, who now, is come. Now, concerning bread of heaven, not even the manna in the golden pot was the bread of heaven, as Jesus told us. He is the bread of heaven:

“Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst”

Concerning the resurrection, not even the raised rod of Aaron is the resurrection, but Jesus is the resurrection, as He told us. He is the true Resurrection, and the true Exodus. The true Way into the true House and Tabernacle, the sanctuary not built with hands, the Father’s House, Is the Resurrected Lord. These things we are made heirs…joint heirs together with Him, in all the fullness of God, BY FAITH.

As a final thought , just as in Christ, before that He was raised up, did dwell all the fullness of God, all the Spirit of God given Him, not by measure, but fully, and as Aaron’s rod was most assuredly a figure of Christ, both before and after resurrection, if you consider this, you will begin to understand that the river and waters of Egypt, the waters upon which were brought so many plagues, are not in any way associated with the figurative rod in Aaron’s hand. The book of Revelation will also bear these things out, where plagues of waters, deadly to so many, are the waters of spiritual Sodom and Egypt, out of which the Lord does call His people.

Christ in you, the testimonies which the Lord gives.

THE RESURRECTION IN YOUR TENT