New territory up ahead.
After many
years of wilderness wanderings, the nation of Israel was on the move into new
territory. Their instructions were to watch the Ark carried by priests as it
approached the Jordan River; “Yet there
shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do
not come near it that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not
passed this way before.” Joshua 3:3,4. This is a word from the Lord, intended,
not just for Israel centuries ago, but also, and more especially, for
the people of God today. Just why, I hope to make clear in these few pages.
The basis of
my books is Typology, i.e. understanding the purposes of God by studying the
redemptive types [maps, patterns] of the Old Testament. Israel is the pattern
nation. Every redemptive act, event or object in the Old Testament finds its
spiritual counterpart in the New Testament and in the ongoing journey of the
Church. Jesus said that the Spirit would lead and guide us into all truth. Revelation
by the Spirit is ongoing. By the Word and the Spirit God unlocks the truths
which will bring us into maturity. “The Lord has yet more light and truth to
break forth from His Word.” AHB 335
The
principle of Typology is: ‘First the natural, then the spiritual.’ Before the
coming of the Spirit, people couldn’t understand spiritual truth. Such truth
can only be ‘spiritually discerned’ [1 Corinthians 2:14]. God gave them physical things which represented
the spiritual truths which would then be revealed in the New Testament after
the coming of the Spirit. The spiritual descendants of Abraham are the nation
of Israel; the spiritual descendants are all true believers, i.e. the Church. [Galatians
3:16,29]The redemptive events in Israel are paralleled in the Church.
They are physical in Israel and spiritual in the Church. God’s purposes are:
Demonstrated in Israel; Activated by the Cross; Manifested through the
Church.
Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life; and these are they which testify of Me.” The Scriptures He was
referring to were the Old Testament Scriptures.
Since the Cross is God’s only answer, everything God did in Israel
pointed to it and everything since the Cross issues out of it. Most Christians
know that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Passover Lamb; however not many follow
the Type through to its conclusion; therefore we have not yet come into the ultimate
outcome of the sacrifice of the Lamb. We have understood the truths of
Passover; but not yet entered into the truths of the Feast of Tabernacles. Likewise
with the Type of the Tabernacle we have been to the Altar in the Outer Court
but have yet to enter into the Glory in the Holy of Holies beyond the Vail.
At a Lay Preacher’s Retreat, I commented on
the many Old Testament Scriptures which don’t make it into the Lectionary.
Someone asked me “Well would you want to preach on the furniture of the
Tabernacle?” She was obviously unaware that the Tabernacle with its furniture is a pattern of spiritual truth
of great significance. When God gave the pattern of the Tabernacle to Moses He
said, “See that you make all things
according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” [Hebrews 8:5] It was “the copy and shadow of the heavenly [or
spiritual] things.”
The
Tabernacle with its furniture is a map showing the spiritual progression of the
people of God into the completion of God’s purpose. If we study it alongside
the Journey to the Promised Land and the Feasts of Israel we will understand
the way God is taking us and the spiritual truths whereby we arrive at our
destination. God chartered this map by the Cloud of the Spirit as He led His
people into the Promised Land. Jesus did all things ‘according to the pattern,’
and in bringing the Church into its destiny in the Earth, God is doing all
things ‘according to this same pattern. ’
Jesus often
said “My time is not yet” E.g. John 7:6. Because He was working according to the
pattern of Redemption laid down in the Old Testament Scriptures. We will not come into the fullness of truth
unless we study the whole Bible. This
is the pattern or the map of the journey the Church is on:-
ESCAPE
FROM BONDAGE -PASSOVER: Egypt with its tyrant ruler is a Type of the Kingdom of Darkness ruled
by Satan where Man is in bondage to sin and death. We escape through faith in
the shed blood of the Passover Lamb. The truths of Passover are; Justification
by faith,[Passover] Sanctification [Feast of Unleavened Bread], and Baptism
into Christ [Feast of Firstfruits]. God had his infant Son brought out of Egypt
to fulfil the Type. [Check out Hosea 11:1]
COMMISSIONED:
Israel, Jesus, and the Church have all been commissioned. The Church has an
assignment to complete in the Earth before the Coming of the Lord. Our
deliverance was accomplished at Passover ; the rest of the Journey is about
coming into the fullness of our deliverance [the ‘manifestation of the sons of
God’] and completing our assignment.
EMPOWERED TO FULFILL THE COMMISSION –
PENTECOST: Pentecost is about equipping the people of God to fulfil their
commission.
Israel’s
Commission. God
called Israel to possess their inheritance, [Canaan] and be a ‘kingdom of
priests, a holy nation.’ They were to dispossess the inhabitants of the Land
and establish the rule of the Kingdom. They were equipped for their assignment at
Mt Sinai with the Law and the Tabernacle.
Jesus’ Commission was to ‘destroy the
works of the devil.’ [I John 3:8] By the Cross, He stripped the devil of his
authority and gave it to His Church. He stated ‘I will build My Church and the
gates of hell will not stand against It.’ Which brings us to our commission.
The
Commission of the Church. Our commission is to make all
the nations Jesus’ disciples. In essence it is the same as Israel’s commission
– dispossess the enemy and establish the
. Kingdom. The Earth is our inheritance.
[Romans 4:13]At this present time ‘the whole world lies under the sway of the
evil one.’ [1 John 5:19] Looking at our world it can be clearly seen that this
is so. It is gross error to pass off all
the terrible things that happen in our world as the will of God. That's why the priority prayer is that God’s
name be honoured; His will be done; His Kingdom come ‘on Earth as it is in
Heaven.’ Our Promised Land is the Kingdom of God on Earth. The Holy Spirit is
given to us to bring down the ‘gates of hell,’ free the nations to receive the
gospel, and thus establish the rule of the Kingdom, before the return of the
King. The Types show us how this is to be accomplished. For Israel it was a
physical journey; for the Church it is a spiritual journey.
WILDERNESS
WANDERINGS. Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40
years because they had an identity problem. God said “Israel is My son, My
firstborn.” [Exodus 4:22] Israel’s faith confession when they saw the giants in
the Land was, “We are as grasshoppers.” [Numbers 13:33]. They didn’t know who they really were or
believe that they could do what God had commissioned them to do. They still
operated in the slave mentality they acquired in Egypt. It was right here that God made the vow that
one day His glory would fill the earth. [Numbers 14:21]Taken in context; this
is dependent on the people of God possessing their inheritance.
Jesus was also tested in the wilderness and the
temptation He faced was also an attack on His identity. He came from His
powerful encounter at the River Jordan with the Father’s affirmation, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased,” to face the insinuations of the Tempter “IF You are the Son of God…..” He came out of the wilderness after
40 days, ‘in the power of the Spirit,’ ready to begin the attack on the
strongholds of the enemy.
This is
where the Church is at right now. Like Israel, we don’t know who we really are
or what it is we are to do. Some are preparing to get away from it all in a
space flight called the ‘Rapture.’ Some are opting to go with the flow and be ‘progressive.’
For others it’s just business as usual. What we need to do is to get back to the Word
of God and wait on the Spirit for revelation. There is a cache of revelation
that is reserved for the end time, as Daniel was told. [Daniel 12:4-13]At a
time when ‘many shall run to and fro, and
knowledge shall increase’ God will bring the revelation that is needed. He
sees the way ahead and will show us if we earnestly ‘ask, seek and knock.’
We have come
to a way which we ‘have not passed before’. The Early Church set out on this
Journey and became a powerful Church of whom it was said ‘they turned the world
upside down;’ but like the first generation of Israel from Egypt, they didn’t
complete the Commission. Error entered the Church and it went through the ‘Dark
Ages,’ sometimes called ‘the devil’s millennium.’ For many years the Church
wandered in the wilderness of spiritual blindness. God again began the process
of restoration with the foundational
4. truth of Justification by Faith and brought
us to this place where we now stand. The final generation of the Church Age
will come into the ‘all truth’ that Jesus promised and complete the Commission.
COMPLETING
THE COMMISSION – THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES The final Feast
is the Feast of fullness and completion. It is the Feast of the final
harvest. Israel came out of the
wilderness under the leadership of Joshua. They crossed Jordan and began the
attack on the strongholds of the enemy by bringing down the walls of Jericho.
Eventually they conquered the Land and Solomon, son of David, came to the
throne. For a short time the nation became a faint earthly Type of the Kingdom
of God. The Land was at the height of prosperity, the rule of the Kingdom was
established and its king [a Type of Jesus, the greater Son of David] was famed
throughout the world for his wisdom and understanding. On the Feast of Tabernacles, Solomon
dedicated the great golden Temple which was filled with the Glory of God, a
picture of the ‘Glorious Church without spot or wrinkle.’ [Ephesians
5:27]. This glorious Church will draw
the nations in. As Isaiah said,(Isaiah 61:1-3) -
‘Arise, shine, for thy light has
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover
the earth, and deep darkness the people;
But the Lord shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
And Gentiles shall come to thy light,
and kings to the brightness of thy rising…..”
The truth which is encoded in the Day
of Atonement will be revealed. It is a deeper understanding of all that the
Cross accomplished; the truth of the finished work of Christ. Jesus
is now seated at God’s right hand waiting till his enemies are made his
footstool. [Hebrews10:12-14]. That’s our job! And it will involve spiritual
warfare. The truths of the completed work of the Cross will cause the Church to
rise up in power and glory and bring the nations in. A short paragraph like
this cannot do justice to this. I have written about it in my books and it needs
the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
In the Scripture at the beginning of
this paper, Israel was coming out of the wilderness. They were told to ‘Watch
the Ark’ so that they would "Watch the Ark" now which way to go, because they were about to
traverse new territory. The Ark is the highest Type of Christ in the
Tabernacle. It was to precede Israel by ‘about 2,000 cubits.’ Every detail that
God gives is important when interpreting the Types. Nothing is whimsical. This
mostly overlooked detail shows that about 2,000 years after Jesus came out of
the wilderness ‘in the power of the Spirit’ to begin bringing down the
strongholds of the enemy; the rest of the Army of the Church will follow. That
is soon! Much more could be said and is said in my books. The truths that God
is unlocking are the truths we need in these difficult days.
The times are difficult but they are also very exciting. It is my firm belief
that in spite of all the trouble and persecution we encounter; this generation
will see the rise of the Church in power and glory. “CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY! “
[Colossians 1:27]
