Sermon Transcript — June 3, 2006
We're observing tomorrow, Sunday, June the 4, 2006 as what we call the Feast of Weeks, it's also called the Feast of Firstfruits and we also call it the Feast of Pentecost. But I wonder if we recognize that if we have the eyes to see, if we are willing to admit to the fact that God has and God is performing a very supernatural and miraculous event that is unfolding before our eyes. If we take a look at this Feast of Pentecost, perhaps we have not looked at it in the way that I'd like to share it with you this morning in the sermon. He has opened your mind and He is opening your mind to something that almost six and a half billion human beings on this earth do not understand.
I went through the four gospels just in the spring of the year and one of the outstanding things that I noted was that Jesus Christ was a failure as an evangelist of the Protestant or the Catholic world. He didn't evangelize the world the way they do. He did not come to that particular approach to it, in fact when He died and He went to heaven, and on the Day of Pentecost, He only had 120 people and it wasn't very many people. He had throngs and throngs of people that He healed and individuals that He actually worked with for a long period of time and in 33.5 years of living He only had 120 people. So in an evangelist world, that is failure because they have mega churches of 10, 20, 15,000 people. Now I'm making fun, I'm making fun. Because Jesus Christ came to do what He did and He did what He did and there's a very great reason why He started with 120 people. And He baptized 5,000 and 3,000 people but the point is, that still is a minuscule number of people when you understand the overall plan of God. We recognize that it's even more awesome when we come to the realization that not only have we lived among 6.5 billion people, but there have been billions and billions and billions of people who have lived and died and they died without the very knowledge and understanding that you and I have. And it's an awesome thing to realize what it's all about, what its purpose is and why this Day of Pentecost becomes so important to us in the foundational understanding of where God is going.
Seven weeks ago and over 2,000 years ago an event occurred that was talked about several weeks ago by Mr. Welty. When Christ, who had risen from the dead appeared before His Father on that Sunday morning to be accepted as the first human born of God. To be the first human born of God. Nobody had ever gone to heaven, the bible said in John 3:13, no man has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man which came down from heaven. And so nobody was there, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, David, none of them were in heaven, none of them! And here Jesus Christ became the first human born of God, born into the very family of God. Now that's a profound event, it did not happen before that time in 31 AD because it is significant to understand the purpose of this Day of Pentecost for us and what it means in the relationship of being firstfruits to God. So the first Adam that was responsible for doing what he did, that first Adam was the first to cut all men off from God and the Tree of Life. If you remember back at the time when the devil came into the Garden and he tempted Adam and Eve and the end result was that God had to remove Adam and Eve from the Garden, there was no access to the Tree of Life.
After the flood there was no more Tree of Life available anywhere but until that time there were two cherubs that stood at the gate of that particular tree, to not allow a human being to eat of that. And so we recognize that it was gone, yet the second Adam, Jesus Christ, opened that Tree again on the Day of Pentecost, not before, but on that day and He opened that Tree so that we begin to understand that man had opened to him the opportunity, more than just a few, but a larger group of people called firstfruits, a larger group. Now they were a small harvest, as was pointed out by Mr. Welty a few weeks ago but the point is, it was a greater number of people instead of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, people individually, small groups of individuals who were allowed to be a part of this way of life, but yet just a very very few at that particular time. Almost no one from Adam to Christ received the holy spirit, except those few chosen individuals. Christ became, as He said, the firstfruits or the first of the firstfruits as we realize that wave sheaf that was offered before God on that Sunday morning, to be accepted before God as the first before the rest of that small harvest was harvested.
So we see that He was also called the firstborn among many brethren. This day, which we're going to observe tomorrow, is called Firstfruits and this particular day pictures the called and chosen firstfruits as the result of the Father's begettal and Christ's work with that small group of people. Now stop for just a moment and understand some of the scriptures that we will look at just for a moment. Jesus said, "Fear not little flock for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." He began to explain to us in the four gospels that it isn't the many, it's only the few that at this particular time are being chosen, but He called that particular group, that little small flock. Jesus said, "Many are called but few are chosen." Jesus said, "Small is the gate and narrow is the way and few there be that are finding it." Present progressive tense of the Greek. Few there be that are finding it. Jesus was pointing out that the world is left in blindness, it's left in a deception, it's left in a condition for a future time. Jesus even gave parables and He told the disciples to know that they only were able to understand those parables but to the rest of the world, it was not given. Yet people tell you today the parables were written so that they have a cute story that you can understand. Jesus said not so, He said, "I've given them a heart that will not understand these things." Jesus said, "Every plant which My Father has not planted shall be rooted up." He was talking about the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the religious leaders of His day. How much more today would we have the same thing? "Not every plant My Father has not planted shall be rooted up."
Jesus went on to say that "No man can come to Me except the Father draws Him." And so you read all of these examples that Christ gave to point out to us that the world still, with the exception of the Tree of Life for those few people is still closed and their time will come, their opportunity will come.
So we're here today because the whole world is shut up in unbelief. It's hard to believe, we don't want to believe it, we live in a world of Christianity where we hear the name of Jesus on radio and television everywhere in the religious world and yet we're only 16% of the entire population of the world that believes even in the name Jesus, the rest of the world doesn't even have that ability to understand even the aspect of the phonetic pronunciation of Jesus. I'd like you to turn with me if you would this morning to Ephesians 1:3 to see a principle that has been given to us as observed by the keeping of this particular day, tomorrow, called the Day of Pentecost, the Feast of Firstfruits. Notice what the apostle Paul tells us here beginning in verse 3:
Eph. 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Now what does that mean? It's a very religious sounding set of words. All it means simply is that you and I have been endowed with the ability to understand spiritual things and we have been given the gift to understand better, we've been given the gift to begin to have recreated within us the ability to be a part of something big. This is what it means, it means that spiritual blessings in heavenly places, you have the understanding of the mind of Christ, you have the understanding of the mind of God. You see things that are black and people say they're white, you see things that are white and people say they're black. You say up and they say down and you finally get to the place where, as Dave Evans said last week in the sermonette when he had the discussion with the girl who said she was saved and he went through all the scriptures and finally in the end when he showed her, he asked her the question, what did she think. She said even though the scriptures say what they said she still believes what she believes! I sat there and said, isn't that interesting, but that's the frame of mind that does not understand the truth of God. Doesn't make us better, it simply gives us a greater responsibility. But we read:
V. 4 – According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
Now if you look at this scripture for just a moment, you're going to see that what we're looking at is something far greater than the foundation of the world. You see that's before He created, in the sense of the word, the society or the world that we see from Adam and Eve, that particular period of time, the foundation of the world, that we really are a part of something that is even greater than this earth, the place where we walk on, that we breathe this air, that we eat this food, that we drink this drink. What we're seeing here is that He has done something that has to do with a far greater purpose than we have just simply in being alive on this earth. He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. It's an interesting scripture but people don't think about the fact that this foundation of the world is far greater – or before the foundation of the world is far greater in the firstfruits purpose than perhaps anything we've ever seen before. He goes on to say:
V. 5 – Having predestinated us onto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
If you look at the scripture you begin to understand that we're dealing with a family, we're dealing with a foundation that goes way beyond this earth, it's far bigger and what we have to understand is that Pentecost opens the door to seeing something far greater than perhaps you have ever seen before. It goes beyond the foundation of the earth; it goes to the fact of being a family in what? A family that is being prepared, a foundational government to rule the universe. It is a foundational thing that God has started and the earth is what we describe as His footstool from which He is beginning to develop something far greater than just this earth. We see things that happen, we see the 6,000 year plan of man, we see the 1,000 year plan of the Millennium, we see the Great White Throne Judgment, and then we see just a smidgen beyond that but there are some scriptures that we have never examined that I want to examine today that show us that this plan just doesn't go to here or to here or to here. A lot of you in this room have had to admit that you don't know how in the world you're going to be a king or a priest, a lot of you have said that, "I don't know how I'm going to be a king or a priest." You don't have any idea what you're suppose to be doing as a king or a priest. Guess what, neither do I! But you know what? There's a reason for that, there is something far greater because that's something that's going to be learned, that's something that you can acquire a skill for as a spirit being but what God wants to have is foundational and what He wants to do is something foundational.
So what we recognize is that when we look at Ephesians 1:3-5, it says this family is being developed before there was even a foundation of the earth because it has to do with something far greater than the earth, it is a foundational government to rule the universe and we don't talk about that very much. You know why? Because we've got our eyes down at our shoe tops, because we're always looking down there, every day I know is a struggle for all of us as we have to get up and have to make a living and have to do those physical things. I understand that. I get caught up in the minutia of living as a human being, I know all about that because I've been there, you've been there for a long period of time. But there is something that should allow us, on this coming Day of Pentecost to get our eyes up and to take a look at something far greater that we need to examine.
Now God begins to work with you and with me like a grain of mustard seed. The holy spirit is the begettal of our minds and the impartation of the nine fruits of the holy spirit. He's begotten us with those nine fruits of the holy spirit. He has given us those nine fruits to begin to develop and work with because they are foundational character for kings. Foundational character for queens, foundational character for the family of God. It is the mind of Christ; it is the mind of God that is going to be developed over a period of time on this earth – for what purpose? Something far greater. Let's talk about it today; lets evaluate it for a little bit. God and Christ will use people to prepare His government, we've talked about that – remember the old booklet on the Wonderful World Tomorrow? Remember that? How many of us remember what it said about the different people and the jobs that they would have in the millennium and the things they would be doing in the ruler ship of the world and it was a speculative thing, it's OK, but the point is, it had something very important.
For 6,000 years God has been and continues to call a team of people to be qualified and equipped to do what? To rule. Where does He begin? Foundational character. Because if we get it right in character then we can do the other things, then we can be born of God and then we can have these abilities given to us to learn how to rule and to do all of those other things that need to be done.
Now we recognize that Jesus Christ is going to be King of kings, He's going to be Lord of lords, He's going to be over this earth, He's going to be the boss, He's going to be the Master, He's going to be the chief ruler over all of these things. Then we see people like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who are going to come in to help Him in the ruling of this earth. We see people's names like Joseph and Job and Noah and Elijah and John the Baptist, Moses, David, the twelve apostles, Daniel, Paul and others we have read about and seen. The bible tells you about some of the positions that these individuals will have, David as king over Israel, it tells you the twelve apostles will be over the twelve tribes of Israel , we get a smattering of all of that, but then let's talk about you. Let's go over to Revelation 5:8. Notice the apostle John writes the following words, I'm going to change it a little bit because the old King James doesn't have it correct from the Greek so we'll read it the way it's suppose to be.
Rev. 5:8 – And when He had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having everyone of them harps and golden vials full of odors which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, "You are worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof for You were slain and You have redeemed them ...because these were angels talking... you have redeemed them to God by Your blood out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation."
So we see then that through the Passover and the meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread we have been redeemed, we have been set free, we have been given the opportunity now to be a part of the government, to be a part of a kingdom. It goes on to say:
V. 10 – "And you have made them unto our God kings and priests...other translations have it a kingdom of priests, but the point is, it's kings and priests... and they shall reign on the earth."
So we recognize that God and Christ are building a family of hand-picked individuals according to His need for a balanced family with gifts, talents, abilities and He has wants and He has needs to begin the Millennium, that's basically what we see. We see individuals that have been called going all the way back to people like Enoch and Elijah and Daniel and all of those individuals, that God began to hand pick individuals. Now whether you like to believe it or not, you are. You can argue with me if you like, but other people like to say, I'm not sure, well I really don't care whether you're sure or not but you are and that's where we are so don't argue with me on that particular point! We're going to go down the road, that yes, you are called and chosen and you are sanctified and that's why you're here and that's why you're here to learn as I'm here to learn the basic foundation of these things.
The principle of Pentecost, God's calling and choosing and the preparing of the family of firstfruits is foundational. It is the bottom rung as we say; it is the bottom of the ladder. But we ask the question, what is the end result of all of this? What's God's ultimate objective? What does He have in mind? Can we know? I think there are some scriptures that tend to indicate a little bit of that so I'm going to go off on the limb a little bit today.
I told Mr. Welty you know you can keep the sermon from being sent out if I say the wrong thing here but I will tell you, I will go out on that limb a little bit today and talk a little bit about the ultimate end of all of these things. II Cor. 5:17 for just a moment. You know I always use this scripture, it's my favorite one because it tells me a great deal about first of all, Christianity and it tells me also a great deal about the mind of God. This is the mind of God, like the Greek language, the words that are used here are present progressive and I'm going to tell you simply that as we look at God and His plan, He is present progressive. This is the way He operates, He starts out by dealing with us in a very basic way in things like the snowball rolling down the hill begin to roll down the hill. Just like the movement of the wheel, it begins to go faster and faster and faster. The principle is simply that God is going through a process of working with the creation, He's working with the angels, He's working with human beings and everything progresses down this road, everything you're going to see, God does is for an ultimate purpose at the end. But it says here, the apostle Paul says:
II Cor. 5:17 – Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away and behold, all things are become new.
Now that's not true if you really look at it from the point of view that not all the old things are passed away because of the fact that you still have programmings in you that you've got to get rid of. You've still got sins that you have to struggle with and not everything is completely new, you have new things, you're getting rid of old things but the point is that the Greek language points out what the reality is here and that is the fact is that it's present progressive. So as you read the scripture it says, "Old things are passing away..." God is re-programming our minds from the deception that we had when we lived in the world of Satan and little by little we overcome, just like the children of Israel overcame their enemies going into the Promised Land, little by little. And new things are gained little by little, you didn't come to all the knowledge that you have of the word of God over a period of three weeks, six weeks, six months. You and I have probably been around the Church of God for ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years, maybe even longer than that and you started out being totally deceived as I was and then little by little you gradually had your mind opened until finally you were able to see you were wrong and you came to a repentance and you were baptized, you received the holy spirit and you began to grow in knowledge. And that knowledge became understanding as you obeyed it and that understanding became wisdom as you continue to progress down that road – and that's present progressive Christianity. That's the present progressive mind of God as He works with you, that's where God is going, He starts over here with us, knowing nothing and He's going to end up with us over here as finally the product He'll be able to use to rule the world and it starts like a little grain of mustard seed, the begettal is so small. But the foundation has been laid, that's the point and so we see this is the mind of God, like the Greek language, present progressive.
Now in the world that you and I live in, in the religious world if you look at the Catholics, they have what they call the beatific vision. Now the Protestant concept is almost the same, what they do, they have God in the third heaven, sitting upon His throne, He's sitting in glory, He basks in this glory that He has and that man, the ultimate end of man is to sit before God and to look upon the face of God forever. I don't want to do that, I don't want to have to go to that place and sit there because I like to be active, I sure hope that they're wrong, in fact I know they're wrong. The bible says something totally different, but the point is that the Catholic and the Protestant concept is that God is static. In the beatific vision, God is seen as sitting on a throne in the third heaven, God has ultimately reached His objective; God has reached His pinnacle, that's where He is.
And then of course, God has reached this perfect wisdom, perfect understanding and perfect knowledge, God has reached His ultimate end. Unbelievable, ladies and gentlemen, that is so deceptive because you only see God and you see Him only as an end. God doesn't have an end, there is no beginning of days, nor end of days with God. You know we've even talked about the term alpha and omega but in reality what you see is that God moved from back here in eternity and He continues to move and He continues to develop all the things within His plan and God just doesn't sit upon a static throne where we're all going to go up there and look on His face and that will be the greatest reward of all. You have to pardon me, but that just doesn't appeal to me. Nor does white clouds and pink lemonade and all that other stuff up there either!
It's not the way it's going to be, it's a deception, it's a total deception. But God and Christ are progressive, they are dynamic, God is moving in a direction. God continues to grow and develop and expand everything that He is doing and you and I don't realize that. We have this deception; everything comes to an end, that's the end that is suppose to be. But you know, when you look at the laws of the universe, when you look at the present progressive concept of II Cor. 5:17, that is not found in God's mind, that is not found in God's thinking because we begin to understand, that as man has said some years ago, he said, "True success is a direction, not a destination." You know why God is successful? Because He's moving in a direction, because He has a beautiful overall plan that frankly most of us don't even know much about it because of the fact that it has not yet been pointed out to us because you get past Revelation 22 and there's very little to be said – but there are some scriptures! And we're going to touch on them today – that show us that He has something in mind.
So when man says true success is direction, not a destination, that's true, that's a true principle. God doesn't stop growing, God doesn't stop developing, God doesn't stop doing all of these things, He doesn't come to an end in His plan. God continues to work with us because He is present progressive. Christianity is a way of life, the bible says, it talks about "that way." It's a direction of living, it is the mind of Christ imparted to all of God's children. For what? For the human life only? Not at all, no it's imparted for all eternity because the way of life that you have now, when you have this spirit body given to you, you will continue to do what you did in this life, in the sense of the word of progress and develop and it starts very very slow, very small, very miniscule but it continues to grow. For what purpose? For what reason? Hang on; we'll go there in just a little bit.
Success, the way God looks at it is an ongoing thing, it's not something we're waiting to possess, not something that you nestle to your bosom, it is not something that should be happening for just one time and comes to an end, it should be something that is happening right now, it's something that should be happening tomorrow, should be happening for all eternity. This is where God wants us to go, He wants us to understand that. The kingdom of God is not an end in itself. Let me repeat that for you – the kingdom of God is not an end in itself, it is a door, it is a door through which we will go which will open up a whole new world of experiences. It is not an end. I think people look at the concept of coming to an end, everything comes to an end. We think in terms of finality, we think in terms of completion, the end of the world, the Last Great Day, we live in a world of conclusions, everything has a beginning and everything has an ending. Our minds are programmed that way. Chuck it out, will you? Chuck it out! Because that's not the way God thinks.
God has, obviously, objectives that He is going to reach, but the point is, His mind is not one that comes and brings everything to an end, it is a growing, expanding, developing kingdom, I think we must understand that man is a gold striving mechanism, he has to have tangible and realistic goals, he has to have stepping stones of progress to reach this apex, to get to the top of the mountain, you know, that type of thinking. You and I think of perfection, we think of the kingdom of God, we think of eternal life as an end. That's the thinking of the human mind, but our goal is not just to get into the kingdom. I know that's hard to evaluate but the kingdom is only one stepping stone to a whole new world of experiences that we're going to face and it starts with us developing something at the foundational level.
Perfection, the kingdom of God, eternal life are only a level that we have reached and you move from the physical realm and you begin to dwell in eternity and when you dwell in eternity, time, the physical world and human nature have no more control, no more control over you. You live in a totally different world and therefore what we begin to understand is that something must control you. What controls you? The nine fruits of the holy spirit? Yes. The total character of God? Absolutely. What controls us when we are born of God is the character of God but the second ingredient that has to be a part of that is direction. Because you see God is moving, God is developing; God continues to do all of these things. He started back here in eternity and you don't know what He was doing back there, but you do know what He is doing since He created the heavens and the earth and all the way through Rev. 22. You don't really know what's going to happen outside of that because we're not really completely in understanding of everything about those two things but we recognize that God wants us to have His character and He wants us to have a second ingredient. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creation, the old things are passing away and all things are become new." That's direction. And when you move the human being out of being human, the direction has to stay, it has to be a part of you, it has to be a part of what you're going to be doing in the kingdom of God. We join God in being present progressive, moving in the same direction He moves. Now, let's go over and look at Christ for a moment, over here in Hebrews 5:7. Notice what the apostle Paul tells us:
Heb. 5:7-8 – Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.
That's what this life is all about – you learn obedience by the things that you experience. Now I use the word "suffering" here in the King James but intersperse the word "experience." Life is an experience, life is full of experience and some things that you go through are going to make you suffer, they're not all that easy to take, you understand that, I understand that. But the point was, Jesus was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Now wait a minute, hold on, wait, let's not go on. Do you mean Christ wasn't obedience before He learned obedience? No, look at what the next verse says:
V. 9 – And being made perfect...oh that does present another problem here – you mean He wasn't perfect, He had to be made perfect? Oh, that's a problem...
No it's not a problem because you see the interesting thing that we see here, that Christ gives us an idea where our Pentecost calling needs to take us. You see what happens is, we see Jesus who was a perfect baby because He was begotten in the womb of His mother Mary with the holy spirit of God and when He was a baby he was a perfect baby. When He was a twelve year old, He was a perfect twelve year old. When he was 24 years of age, He was a perfect 24-year-old person and when He was 30 and He began His ministry, He was a perfect man to do the job. When He died at 33.5 years of age, He was...listen to the word...more perfect than He was back when He was a baby. What does that mean? It means very simply that when you look at the concept of God and Christ and what He did with the Son, was to show us that you can be perfect but there are degrees of perfection and those degrees of perfection are what we are going to learn, not just in this life, but we're going to learn in the millennium, that's where we get our direction right, that's where we continue to grow because we will continue to learn, we will continue to grow in this obedience, yet we will not be sinners because our human nature is gone. Jesus did not sin even though He was a human being.
So we see this progression, we see this development; we see this continual movement that we have. What does that have to do with God and Christ? That's the way that they have approached all of the things going back to the time of Adam and Eve, you have seen God take all of these experiences that He has gone through and He has taken the things that were thrown at Him as lemons and He made lemonade out of them. He did it with the devil, He did it with Adam and Eve, He did it with a number of situations where He made adjustments in the program to carry out His will. God never made a mistake but God went along with this process and dealt with these things where He had to make adjustments and dealt with them along the way. Why? Because this is His nature, this is His way, this is what we are to become. God is not static because He and Christ continue to expand, plan, execute, grow and they take advantage of their opportunities and their experiences and we're suppose to learn to do the same thing in building our character in that particular direction.
So we see that God is perfect wisdom, God is perfect knowledge, God is perfect understanding, but God is not finished. God doesn't sit on this throne and say, That's it, I've made it, that's where we are! No way ladies and gentlemen, that's not His mind. He's got far greater things to do, He's got much more to accomplish than to sit on that throne and all of us look up into His face for all eternity. I don't think He wants us around to do that forever and ever, I don't know what you find, but I can look at certain things for awhile and after awhile I say, that's enough of that, let's get on with someone else. Who wants to look into my ugly face for more than, I don't know how many seconds that would be, but you know the point that I'm making. The point is, we see in Christ and God that there are degrees of perfection as the plan expands. When you look at the plan of God you must either admit that God made some adjustments in the outline of that plan, because you look at the time of Lucifer all the way through to the present day, or then you have to say that God made mistakes. God doesn't make mistakes, God's perfect wisdom. But the point is that God executes and carries out and develops because God is present progressive just as we are.
Now what is God's plan for the universe with His sons? Let's take a look at that for just a moment; let's go over to Genesis 1:1. Let's do some speculation now just for a little bit, little bit of speculation so that's on the tape, I've got it on the tape, I'm saved, I think I'm OK Mr. Welty when I say that! God's plan for the universe with His sons:
Gen. 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
OK, we see this is the absolute creation, remember that we recognize that the earth became without form and void, it became tohu and bohu as a result of the rebellion of Lucifer to become Satan, you know the story, we have this time period between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2. We recognize by reading several places in Isa. 45, the earth was not created tohu and bohu, chaotic and in confusion, so we recognize then that in chapter 1:1, this was the absolute creation, this was the universe, the heavens and the earth involved two different areas or types of operations with the earth seemingly the more advanced of the two. Now you noticed the words I used, I said "seemingly," OK, so that gives me a little bit of an out in case I haven't got it all right. But I think we're going to see that there is a whole lot more that we do see because the bible is the infallible word of God and it does tell us where God is going in that sense of the word.
Now it shows that there is a physical creation of the earth and basically it's complete, the rest of the universe is only in the beginning stages and the earth is the first inhabited planet. Now you say, how do I know that? I mean there may be more out there. All you've got to do is look at the bible, just stop and look at the bible; the bible says what the bible says. It says, "The heavens of heavens is My throne and the earth is My footstool." And when you begin to understand that you understand that God is there and the earth is the place where that He is working with. Is He working with any place else? He doesn't say that but we're going to see that He's going to come down to this earth, the Father is going to come down to this earth and He is going to dwell here and the earth is going to become His headquarters.
Now that's going to tell you a little bit more about the fact that the earth becomes a very interesting place for God. Now I think we should understand, the deeper our scientist probe the universe with our sophisticated tools of discernment, the more we see the evidence that is there. It simply proves the bible was right after all and we're beginning to see that, we're beginning to understand that, more and more even as our telescopes go into the depths of the universe, we recognize we have a little different situation with the earth than the rest of the area. There are 600,000 planets in our galaxy, according to what we were told, alone they are at various stages or elements necessary to support life. The earth has nearly 120 elements whereas most other planets, according to our scientists, have approximately 66. That's information that goes back about 30 years ago. Now I'm using that because when you get to this particular book that I'm working some things out of today, which is entitled, The Universe and Beyond by Terence Dickinson, he says the same basic thing, some of the same things. So this is probably 30 years later but the same principle applies.
OK, does this not show then that there are various stages of preparation, to show that God some day plans to use them? I think so, I think we have something out there. Why should God create a universe and then stop and leave it out there? You know, that's not His mind. Remember what I said about His mind? It's growing, expanding, He's not static – remember those things? God's going to grow, God's family is going to grow, I think we have to understand that. But the point is, the earth is the only planet, apparently, that right now will support life as we know it because the heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool. Does this not show that God, in His present progressive state of mind is moving, He's going somewhere, are we looking at the earth as the foundational stone, the ground floor on the plan of God? I think so. Because it says in Rev. 21:3, you don't need to turn there right now, we're going back there in a few minutes. Rev. 21:3 says the earth becomes His headquarters after the Great White Throne Judgment the earth will be prepared to receive who? It will be prepared to receive the King of the universe. The King of what? The King of the universe, He is not just the King of heaven and earth, He is the King of the universe, He created, according to Genesis 1:1 the heavens and the earth and all that in them is. That's what He has created. God doesn't create in vain, He uses everything He has created, you stop and look at it, stop and evaluate it. Now let's go to Psalm 19. I'm behind time in my sermon; I should be out of here by 2:00 according to what I've got Mr. Welty! So we're still OK, still have ½ hour before we can all get some lunch and come back later...I'm only kidding, I don't really mean that, you know me better than that! Psa. 19 – wonderful scripture, how do we understand it? Look at what it says:
Psa. 19:1-2 – The heavens declare the glory of God...what glory? The glory of what He is doing, the heavens should tell us some things about the plan of God. The closer you look to the heavens and... the firmament shows... what ...His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, night unto night shows knowledge. It shows intelligence, it shows the witness that is constant of a great plan that God has, does it not? Absolutely, He gives you information.
V. 3-4 – There is no speech, no language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone throughout all the earth and their word to the ends of the world. Then He says:
V. 5 – In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber rejoices as a strong man to run his race. Then He tells us:
V. 6 – Its going forth from the end of heaven, its circuit to the ends of it, there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
Meaning that there is a cycle of law that goes on within the universe, there is nothing that goes on without God's complete control, we understand that, God is the lawgiver, God is the creator, God has created all things according to all of these laws that He has put in motion going way back in Genesis 1:1. So we see that, we understand that and we see intelligence, information transcending purpose that God has. Now lets go over to Romans 1 and read one more scripture in this regard because it tells us we should be looking for something in the creation.
Rom. 1:18 – For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is manifested to them.
The point was, David said, Get your eyes up, take a look at the creation, look at what you see, you see a creation, a law-abiding area that your physical naked eye can see, you can see the circuit of the sun going down, coming up, etc. You see the seasons as the earth revolves on its axis with the sun, moon and stars, you see all of those things. He says that tells you that this being is doing something and it says:
V. 19 - ... God, it is manifested to them for God has shown it to them.
V. 20 – For the invisible things of Him...that is the God who is in charge of all of this creation... are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made even His eternal power and God-head so that they are without excuse.
So we see that these things, we can understand, something is going on and if we look close enough to some of the scriptures, then we will understand it. Now the first point was, I said that God is present progressive, remember? I said that God continues to develop; He has set that in motion in the creation of His character within man. Old things are passing away, all things are becoming new.
What's the second law of understanding God and His being? I think we very simply see that present progressive is to understand that we are living in an ever-expanding universe, present progressive is understanding we are living in an ever-expanding universe. Do we understand that? We need to understand that, it is a law, which finds its fulfillment in the work of the sons of God. Now I want to take you to a scripture and I want you to keep your finger in the scripture and I want to take you to a second scripture, I'm going to work both scriptures for a moment. Hebrews 2. I want to read you something that maybe you have never seen it this way before. Let's hope that this is something that will stir you and inspire you on this Pentecost weekend. Heb. 2:5-10 – now at the same time keep your finger there and keep your finger also in the book of Psalm 8, let's keep both of them in fingers length! Psalm 8:3 but let's start with Hebrews. Notice what he said:
Heb. 2:5-10 – For unto the angels He has not put in subjection the world to come...
Notice that? There is a world to come. Now you and I think of this as the world tomorrow. OK, the millennium, the world to come, the Great White Judgment. The time when God the Father comes to dwell on this earth, the world to come. But you'd better wait because we're going to go beyond that, ecause there's a scripture that says that and we're going to see that. Now, notice verse 6:
V. 6 – But one in a certain place testified saying, "What is man that You are mindful of him or the son of Man that you visited him? This is found also in Psalm 8:4-6.
V. 7 – You made him a little lower than the angels.
Now in the Old Testament it says "You made him a little lower than eloihim, OK, we can say that eloihim refers to angels, that is correct, but we also know that the word eloihim has to do with the family of God, that's His family name. Just keep that in mind, let that sit back in the back of your mind for a moment.
V. 7 – You made him a little lower than the angels, You crowned him with glory and honor, You did set him over the works of Your hand.
V. 8 – You have put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him.
Now if you go back to Psalm 8 with me for a moment, keep your finger here now, let's go back to Psa. 8 and you begin to see the same statement that is made in verses 4-5 and notice verse 6:
Psa. 8:6 – You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands, You have put all things under his feet.
Now, when you read what David said, it has to do with what was mentioned in Genesis 1:26-28, that all of that creation, from the time of Adam, the animals and all of those things that man was to have dominion over those things. Now that's exactly right, man was created to rule over this earth, God intended for him to take care of it, to dress it and keep it and to work with it. This is what Psalm 8 says, but let's go back to Hebrews 2 because it has a far greater meaning than that. Let's go back to Heb. 2 and we'll see that David was talking about the physical creation and the animals and those things but when you get to chapter 2:8 it says:
Heb. 2:8 – You have put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that He put all in subjection He left nothing that is not put under him.
Why did Paul emphasis that? Why did he punch that particular statement? Because he's going beyond the physical creation that David saw in Psalm 8, he's talking about the creation that goes way beyond that, the universe, not the earth, this is what he's talking about. But notice what it says in verse 8, the last part:
V. 8 – But now we see not yet all things put under him.
Oh yes he did, back in Genesis 1:26-28, yes he did. But the point is, he's making two different points and Paul is grabbing a hold of this scripture and saying, this applies over here, this applies to this, the universe, not just to the re-creation of the heavens and the earth and all the things that God gave man for the 6,000 years on the face of this earth. There's something more: We do not see all things yet put under him but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels. So we begin to see that the scriptures are expanded beyond the physical creation of the 6,000 years of human life, the physical creation that man lives in. This is what we see and therefore all things that are under mans feet is not the earth, it's the universe. It has to be because you cannot put the two scriptures together and say it refers to that all back there because man has not yet had all things put under him. So you begin to see this thing expanding and when you begin to understand that the universe is unfolding as it should, we're beginning to get an understanding of the great plan of God.
Now, our old booklet, The Awesome Universe, that was from our days back, in the 1980's somewhere in there, he said there are more than two hundred billion galaxies of two hundred and fifty kinds and many kinds of planets in those galaxies. "The Andromeda Nebula is the only external galaxy, northern hemisphere, observers can see with the naked eye. Here is a galaxy more than ten trillion miles from the earth, this blazing galaxy contains about 100 billion stars, its light traveling 186,000 miles per second, requires two million years to reach the earth. There are billions of stars separated by many light years in our own galaxy alone, each galaxy itself is thought to be separated by a million light years." You can't understand it and neither can I, that's why I'm reading it so fast! You know what I'm trying to say to you? It's beyond your minds eye right now. I just read it so that you get the point that I'm trying to make. I'll let you read it, you can go back to the old booklet, The Awesome Universe, beautiful booklet that we had in 1980, but it does tell us that. That was written over 25 years ago.
The Hubble telescope several years ago, showed through infrared penetration, galaxies twelve billion light years away. You know what that means? 186,000 miles per second that light travels, you know if you've got 12 billion, forget it, you cannot figure that out, we don't have anything that can do that today in the sermon! But it gives you a little bit of an idea of where we're going. Guess what they said 2 ½ years ago? The universe is 2 ½ times bigger than we thought! 2 ½ times bigger than what? When the booklet was written, The Awesome Universe. 2 ½ times bigger than what was described there. Do you find that interesting? I find that absolutely unbelievable, but the point is that you begin to catch the expansion, the expansion of something God is doing. You see, as I said before, God is not static, His mind is expanding, God is learning, planning, growing and executing. The universe is unfolding for us to see, the universe is unfolding as it should be.
Pierre Rousseau who wrote back in 1981, 1979, somewhere during that period of time, said the following: "There's a vast following region to which man cannot penetrate. Our knowledge is confined not only in space but also in time. Techniques of astronomy are developing, they will soon reach out to this boundary wall without any hope of going beyond it." So you begin to realize that man is so puny that he doesn't really understand the greatness of the universe. " We have reached the unknown, we have sought the end of the universe and it has none ." Since that time, 2 ½ times bigger and we still haven't found the end of it! How about that, it's amazing isn't it? But the point is that we don't know what lies beyond the frontier of the perceptible universe, he said from this particular book, which beautiful pictures by the way, if you ever have a chance to buy it, I think you'll find it very helpful. From the book, The Universe and Beyond by Terrance Dickinson, page 120 he talks about the expanding universe and says: "In less than a minute the universe will increase its volume by a trillion cubic light years." I give up. You see the point? Going on he said, "Propelled by the force of its explosive birth, the universe is expanding like an inflating balloon. On the face of it, the idea of an expanding universe suggests that everything is moving away from us..." Interesting. "... placing our galaxy at the center of the universe." Interesting, it's moving away, it's placing our galaxy at the center of the universe – unique is it not? I think so, because if we understand that the King of the universe will make this earth His headquarters, what does it mean? He's right smack dab in the middle of everything, and everything surrounds Him. Rev. 21. I've got about half the sermon finished! I promise I will quit soon.
Rev. 21:1-3 – I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away. There was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them, they shall be His people and God Himself shall be with them."
So you see the concept that we talk about the earth being the footstool and now it becomes the headquarters of where God the Father and of course Jesus Christ operate the government from. Now dropping down to verse 5:
V. 5 – Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."
Now did He just say now that He said "I made all things new," is that what He said in this particular scripture? "I made all things new." And He said unto me, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." No, He didn't say that. He said: "I make all things new." Unique, interesting thought. Verse 5 is the same things as the original Greek language of II Cor. 5:17. You know what that means? It says, "I am making all things new." Didn't say "I made them." He said, "I am making..." It's a present progressive tense of the Greek. Again the concept, remember what I said, the concept of God. God continues to develop in His plan, He's bringing along sons to become a part of that and that's where we are at the present time. Notice:
V. 7 – "And he that overcomes shall inherit...what, the earth? No... all things."
Remember what it was in Heb. 2:8,9 and 10? All things had to do with the universe, it had to do with more than just this physical earth that David was talking about back in Psalm 8, it has to do with a far greater thing. Inherit all things, same as Heb. 2:8-10, power to rule, to create and to sustain. That's what it's talking about here.
V. 7 - "Him that overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be His God and he will be My son."
So you begin to get a little bit of a grasp as to what Pentecost is all about. Now let's put all these things together real quickly and here's what we see. This life is to become present progressive by God and Christ, being made perfect, getting our direction right, that's the number one thing. Then we are to be born of God, being made rulers over cities, remember it talks about being a ruler over ten cities, five cities, a couple of cities, remember that? And then it also talks about some will be kings and priests in the millennium. It starts small you see. The millennium, if you look at it, the earth only has ten percent of the former population when according to what we read, it begins. The earth has gone through a terrible cataclysmic situation that only allows for 10 percent of the entire population that has been living on this earth to be alive at that particular time. I can get you all the other scriptures later. Tragic but true. We start small; remember the grain of mustard seed? You start to be a ruler small, you have the foundational character of God and from there you build. O.K.
We start small, the earth has only 10 percent of the former population, we grow in our job for a 1,000 years, then we keep moving in the direction of greater wisdom, greater understanding, greater knowledge, greater competence, right? This is where people who tell me they don't think they can rule, find out that hey, once I have that foundational thing, God is going to give me the ability to rule, He's going to give me that opportunity and I will have 1,000 years to get it all together. Then there's the Great White Throne Judgment, how many people? Want to play with that a little bit? 45-75 billion! I did a study on the population of this earth from the time of Adam until I think it was about 2002, it says that we very well may have between 45-75 billion people who have lived on this earth. That you can get from the Internet; I can get you the information to find it. That's awesome, between 45 and 75 billion human beings – to care for, to give them direction, to give them teaching; this prepares us for the expansion of the government of God.
Now let's go over to II Peter 3, perhaps we've never looked at this scripture before in this particular way, but I'd like you to look at it with me this afternoon.
II Pet. 3:7 – But the heavens and the earth are now kept by the same word, kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Notice what it says...the heavens – plural, and the earth, OK, 1,000 years as one day with God, God is not slack concerning His promise, but:
V. 10 – The day will come like a thief in the night...notice what it says...the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and the earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up.
V. 12 – Looking for the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
V. 13 - Then we look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness.
So now you see that He's not just talking about a new earth, He's talking about at the end of the Great White Throne Judgment period, God is going to take the fire that apparently consumes all of those in that third resurrection and it begins to burn the earth and it literally goes out into the universe and it begins to melt down and begins the recreation of the expansion of that particular creation. Fire burns up every vestige of Satan's rebellion as well as the results of sin on this earth and in the universe. It says at the end of this particular period of time, we say 7,000 years, the end of the cycle, we see there is going to be a change in the physical spectrum, the elements will explode and melt the changing of the composition of the already created universe with heat, fire and the power of God's spirit will break the bands of uninhabitability. Simple! You say, but where did you get that from? Well that's what it says here; He's going to create new heavens and new earth, that's what it's all about. We recognize the earth as simply being the one area that has all of the elements necessary. I'm just simply saying to you this is what it seems to be, this is what seems to happen. The Father comes down, makes this earth His headquarters according to Rev. 21.
Now let's conclude the sermon today with Isaiah 9. As you can see, I put in the words, speculative in a couple of places, but I will also tell you that if you look at the scriptures that I did use, you cannot deny that this great being is on a purpose – what shall I call it – a direction, He's going somewhere. Notice chapter 9. I think this particular scripture in verses 6 and 7 say it all, I think it's probably one of the most profound statements in all of the bible as far as I am concerned, showing you the mind of God. I think it's very important that we see. It talks about how a Child is born...
Isa. 9:6 - ...the government shall be upon His shoulder, that He should be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
V. 7 – Of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth even forever.
Now if you look at the scripture, you'll see that it simply says "of the increase of His government" – the millennium? Yes. The Great White Throne Judgment period? Yes – but beyond that because as we saw, the law of the universe is unfolding as it should. This is what you see happening in this particular case because of the fact that of the increase of His government and of peace, there shall be no end. It is this extension of the mind of God, it is this extension of the family of God, it's where He seems to be, as we look at the scriptures, going. You know why? I think we very simply said, God is present progressive. We see God as developing and expanding and has a developing and expanding universe. We see God dynamic, we see God moving, we see God growing, we see God developing and it just simply shows us that as we look at Pentecost we see that we are on the foundational groundwork for this great expanding plan of God.