The Story of the Two Pots

Today, the story of the two pots. The pot of life or the pot of death. Are you dipping in the right pot? Let's go to 2 Kings 4 and verse 38. 2 Kings 4 and verse 38. Elisha has now come on the scene. Remember that Elisha asked for a double portion of the spiritual gifts that had been bestowed upon Elijah. And so that did happen, and Elisha performed many great miracles.

We notice here in 2 Kings 4 and verse 38. And Elisha came again to Gilgal, and there was a dearth in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And sometimes it's called the school of the prophets, that there was some kind of formal educational process for the prophets, those who would communicate the Word of God to the people.

You recall that Amos, when he was called, said that he was not of the school of the prophets, but there were some who were. So the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said unto the servants, Set on the great pot, or put the great pot on the heat, and heat up the pottage for the sons of the prophets. And one went into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine. A wild vine!

He didn't really know what it was, but it wasn't something that was ordinarily used, had not been really identified. I would liken it to the alien culture and the secular, atheistic kind of culture that has developed in the land that we call the home of the brave and the land of the free.

And gathered thereof wild gourds, his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage, and they knew them not. So it didn't really examine what was being put in there, and this, of course, is a physical thing. Today we have things being put into the culture, into the psyche, and into the spiritual being of our people that haven't really been examined. There are wild things. There are things that should have never been there. And so we have this analogy of what was happening here in a physical sense. So they poured out for the men to eat, and it came to pass as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out and said, There is death in the pot.

Death in the pot. So which pot are we dipping out of, or dipping in? The pot of death or the pot of life? And they could not eat thereof. But he said, then bring meal and cast it into the pot. And he said, pour out for the people that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot after the meal was put in. We'll come back to the meal later on. So we ask again, are you dipping in the pot of death, or are you dipping in the pot of life?

In Exodus 16, Israel has now left Egypt. They have crossed the Red Sea. They are now out into the wilderness. Just a few days before this event happened, I don't know exactly how many, but not all that long, after they had crossed the Red Sea, they came up out of the Red Sea, they sang the victory song of Moses in Exodus 15.

And now here they are, Exodus 16.1. They took their journey from Elam, and all the congregations of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month, after they are departing out of the land of Egypt. So they have been going out of Egypt 30 days. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron into the wilderness.

And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Eternal in the land of Egypt? What a lie! What hypocrisy! Because they were crying out with all their being when they were in the land of Egypt for a deliverer to come to deliver them out of their servitude. When we sat by the flesh pots, oh, we love the flesh pots, the death pots of Egypt, it was really comfortable back there, the flesh pots of Egypt, and when we did eat bread to the full, for you have brought us forth in the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with a hunger.

During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we say over and over that Egypt is symbolic of sin and death. Over and over the Bible speaks of God delivering Israel from the land of Egypt. Egypt is a place that is symbolic of this present evil world or this present evil age and the spirit of the times, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.

Satan the Devil will probably read that later. Egypt has a place in and of itself, just to say this land in and of itself is not evil because Egypt was once the great breadbasket of that part of the world. They had the Nile River that overflowed, producing rich, alluvial soil. They could have great crops of grain, and they could be well fed. It wasn't just the land in and of itself, it is what the people did. It was the spiritual influence of Egypt.

It was the spirit of the times. It is the cultural, spiritual influence of this world that has produced what it is producing. And we read about it every day in our papers. It was this spiritual influence of Egypt that led the people into gross sin and immorality of every sort that you can possibly imagine. And Satan is the God of this present evil age. Look, please, at 2 Corinthians 4.4. We might read a verse or two before in 2 Corinthians 4. In 2 Corinthians 4, and look at verse 3. 2 Corinthians 4.3, But if our gospel be hidden, it is hidden to them that are lost, and it's in the progressive sense being lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.

And we have such blindness going on today that people cannot see. It says in Scripture, if they are blind, lead the blind, they shall both fall in the ditch, which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them, the God of this world. And Satan the devil. We turn forward now to Ephesians 2. In Ephesians 2, note here what Satan the devil has done. And of course, he has had human agents from Cain to the present day, who has helped him develop and spread the kind of culture.

If you want to use the evil kind of the most dreaded and hateful name that I can think of, today is cancer. There is a cancer on the whole land, a cancer that is eating up our people. It has metastasized and spread into various vital organs of every person, basically, on the face of the earth. Ephesians 2.1, And you hath he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. That's where you used to be. Wherein in times past we walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air, Satan the devil, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.

So there is a pervasive spirit, the term that the German Jews use about this, the spirit of the times as it's translated. The spirit of the times. The spirit of the times is not reaping the kind of fruit that God is well pleased with. The spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation or conduct in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

God did not create us as sinners, but He created us in a neutral state, and we were subject to sin and death. We could choose to eat out of the pot of death or out of the pot of life. Satan the devil told Adam and Eve, you shall not surely die. You can disobey God.

You can eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You shall not surely die. You can dip out of the pot of death and yet live. That's what Satan says. But of course Satan's mission is to destroy you in the first place. He does everything that he possibly can, night and day, to keep on dipping out of the pot of death. There were powerful demon influences at work in Egypt, so powerful that they duplicated some of the miracles of Moses and Aaron.

Let's go back again now to Exodus 7, when the plagues began to come upon Egypt, and when Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh and the magicians, which would be the spiritual leaders of that day in Egypt, a few of the things that happened here, spirits and powerful spiritual demons. And one of the things that the beast system, the false prophet, will do, is that they will work mighty miracles, signs, wonders, miracles.

If possible, they would deceive the very elect. In Exodus 7, verse 9, "...became a serpent, then Pharaoh also called the wise men the sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments." So they duplicated it. "...For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." And so, showing that God had the supremacy over the evil spirits, the demons, and all of that, "...and he hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Eternal had said." Also, note verse 22.

Verse 22, "...and the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Neither did he hearken unto them, as the Eternal had said." Now look in chapter 8, verse 7. "...and the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt." Verse 18. "...and the magicians did so with their enchantments, to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice upon man, and upon beasts. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God.

And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Eternal had said." So even the magicians at this point began to get the message, hey, we've done everything else so far, but we can't do this. Now you look at chapter 9, chapter 9, verse 11. "...and the magicians could not stand before Moses, because of the boils. For the boil was upon the magicians, and upon the Egyptians, and the Eternal hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Eternal had spoken unto Moses." So Pharaoh, as they say, was a hard, hard person, a hard thing to bring around.

Do we think that Satan and the demons have stopped attending to the pot of death? Do you think that they have taken a vacation, that they've gone on leave? That it's not as bad as it used to be in Egypt with regard to the culture, the spirit of the times. The demons do everything they can to prevent you from casting meal, the bread of life into the pot.

Satan and the demons do not want you to receive the bread of life. Satan and the demons do not want you to take the Passover. They do not want you to prepare. They do not want you to put on the whole armor so you can stand against the wiles of the devil. But God has given us spiritual weapons that we may win the spiritual warfare. So Satan's strategy has not changed from the days he led the angels into rebellion to the present day. Satan still walks about as a roaring lion, like it says in 1 Peter 5 verse 8. 1 Peter 5, 8 says that Satan walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He wants all of us to dip out of the pot of death. Amazingly, in the land of the free and the home of the brave and the richest nation in the world, despite our debt, we have the natural resources, we have the infrastructure, we have all of the things. Now our leaders are drawing up the medium of exchange and borrowing and all of that. But at the same time, compared to the other nations of the world, imagine if you were to pull up to the gas station today and it would say on the pump, $9.59. Well, that's basically what it says in Italy. $9.59 for a gallon of gas. And then we could go to other things and you buy whatever you buy, and they say, oh well, there'll be 22% added to that. We're still the richest nation in the world when it comes to standard of living for everybody. Now I know that might be disputed by someone in Scandinavian, one of the Scandinavian countries or whatever. The Swedes think they really have it, being the most liberal in the moral sense of any nation on the face of the earth. In a nation in which the people of almost every convenience and advantage you want to name, in a nation in which over 90% of the people profess to believe in God, we have more people in prison than any nation on earth, basically one out of 30. America has earned its title as the biggest, baddest, and most wealthy nation on earth, but has also achieved many other considerably less flattering titles, including the world's leading producer of serial killers. 76% of all serial murderers were born and raised in the United States. Our nearest rival is England with 17%. Bear in mind that the U.S., while sporting three-quarters of all serial killers, has but 6% of the world's population. We have the highest rate of childhood murderers and suicide among the world's 26 wealthiest nations. For children 14 and younger, the U.S. suicide rate is double that of the industrialized nations. We have the highest rate of obesity, with 55% of the population classified as overweight or obese. It is also estimated that one in three children are overweight and levels of obesity are rising. The highest incidence of eating disorders, anorexia nervosa, in the world. The highest rate of adolescent drug use of any industrialized nation. The highest rate of adolescent pregnancy in the Western world. And most of the problems listed above exist almost exclusively in the U.S. and a few other Western nations. And yet we count ourselves as the greatest nation on Earth, in power and wealth and influence, military and so on. I suppose we could say that. Anorexia, bulimia, obesity, serial murder have all been classified as diseases of affluence or pathologies that are directly linked to collective prosperity, living in the richest country in the world. America's enormous wealth is undoubtedly a factor in the endless proliferation of mental illness epidemic to the country. One in 10, it's said, is on some form of psychiatric drugs, mainly for depression. And now they are pushing this down to the first grade. The child acts up and eventually gets around to giving him a pill.

What is this sickness of mind and spirit that is leading more and more Westerners to destroy themselves and everyone around them? Well, this sickness is of the spirit. It's of the mind. It is of the heart. There's virtually no act by any group that now has any shock effect on our people. You can gun down 20 in a classroom. You can do just about anything you want to name. And does it really change our behavior? Our children are learning to kill and learning to like it. Then we have the audacity to say, oh, what's wrong? What's happened to us? Here are three little examples in the past recent times. A group of third grade boys and girls have been caught conspiring to do physical harm if not kill their teacher. The plot was hatched in retaliation for the scolding of a student for standing on a chair. The eight to ten-year-olds intended to do violence to their teacher and even delegated individual responsibilities in a plan to knock her unconscious with a crystal paper weight, bind her with handcuffs and tape her, and then stab her with a knife. Then a video of a group of teenage girls mercilessly beating another teen was posted on YouTube and played over and over on the networks. Recently, parents of a teenage boy in South Carolina discovered his plan to replicate the horror of Columbine, and they called authorities. Now they are heartbroken parents as their beloved son sits in a jail in Carolina.

And these are just three small samplings of the violence that stalks the streets of our beloved country. We wring our hands and ask why. We have been so desensitized that it is rarely that we are sobered by any event.

Hopefully we have not come to that point.

And when we are sobered by a great trial or even death, it only lasts a short time. After the 9-11 affair in 2001, a lot more people were in church, even some in Europe. And within a few months, it was back to where it was. And now the drift, as this article that we have in the bulletin, with regard to church attendance in the USA, and even though some studies say 40% of Americans attend church, really the figures is more like 20-10% that attend church. The new church is Lowe's, Walmart, Home Depot, and other commercial places along with entertainment places on Sunday morning. Yet we give credence to the so-called great intellectuals of the day who continually denounce the truth of God. People are filled with fear, superstition, and the dogmas of man, and we are dying from within. There is death in the pot. Death in the pot. But there are virtually no warning signs posted, and no one stands guard, preventing us from dipping out of the pot of death. If anyone stands guard, it's an armed policeman. So we arm the police who are there to guard against physical injury or even death. But no one is standing guard against the psychological and spiritual death of the minds and hearts of our young people.

A dying lake may look clean on the surface, while algae and decay spreads in the dark, dank waters below. On the surface may look calm and serene. The sun may be reflecting off, giving off almost a blinding light. But what is beneath the surface? By the time the scum stains the surface and turns it brackish and blackish, most of the lake is corrupt and virtually void of life. Sadly, a similar process is transforming our nation. The walls are whitewashed, but underneath the rhetoric is corruption, and it has the stench of death. So look at Ezekiel 13. Ezekiel came on the scene to deliver a warning message. One to the people back in Jerusalem. He had been taken captive early by the Babylonians, and he was writing about the conditions extant in Judah and Jerusalem. But at the same time, it is a warning message for Israel today, and is very descriptive of our nation today and what is happening in Ezekiel 13 and verse 2. Some people want to say, well, there's no cover-up in the land. There's no conspiracy. Well, Ezekiel writes in Ezekiel 22-23 that there is a conspiracy in the land. Do you think that everything is just done open and above boards and just sort of things happen that are corrupt and evil and deceitful? Ezekiel 13 verse 2, Then shall you bring forth your stuff by day in their sight as stuff for removing, and you shall go forth at even in their sight as they that go forth into captivity. Dig through the wall in their sight and carry out thereby. In their sight shall you bear it upon your shoulders and carry it forth in the twilight. You shall cover your face that you see not the ground, for I have set you as a sign unto the house of Israel. Now what were they doing? You look at verse 10. Say unto them, thus says the eternal God, this burden comes, the prince of Jerusalem and all the people of the house of Israel are among them. Say, I am your sign, like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them. They shall remove and go into captivity. And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulders in the twilight and shall go forth. They shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby. He shall cover his face that he see not the ground with his eyes. My net will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare. Of course, I'm reading in chapter 12 and I said 13.

Now in Ezekiel 13 and verse 2, it is the same theme that is taken up from there. In Ezekiel 13 and verse 2, it is that a man prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, the leaders that say this, that, and the other. Oh, this is the way we're going. Things look better here, this, that, or the other. And say unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear you, the word of the Eternal. Thus says the Eternal God, O unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing, O Israel your prophets are like the foxes in the desert. Verse 10. Because even because they have seduced my people saying, seduction. Seduction has to do with deceit. It has to do with cover-up. It has to do with conspiring.

We have people in the financial world who, on the one hand, will issue contracts supporting a loan or whatever, and then on the other hand, they will bet against the loan and bet against it being repaid. And we have hedge funds, and we have all kinds of different gimmicks that are set up in which people have made, yea, even billions of dollars on the one hand, pretending to support that, and on the other hand, betting against it. Because even because they've seduced my people saying, peace, there was no peace, and one built up a wall and, lo, others dobbed it with untempered mortar. It wasn't tempered. It wasn't stable. It was like whitewash on the fence. It was like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and whatever out whitewashing the fence. And if you put water really on it and hard rain, it's going to come off. Saying to them which dob it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall, there shall be an overflowing shower, and ye, O great hailstone, shall fall, and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the fall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the dobbing? Wherewith you have dobbed it. Therefore, thus says the eternal God, I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury. There shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger and great hailstones in my fury to consume it. So will I break down the wall that ye have dobbed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered. In other words, it's going to be laid bare. And when this country and what it is built upon, this Babylonian financial system, is really laid bare, there will be a lot of people who will be terribly shocked at what is going on. That the foundations be discovered. Well, if you have to discover it, it's covered up right now.

And it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed and missed thereof, and ye shall know that I am the eternal. Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall and upon them that have dobbed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto them, The wall is no more, neither they that dobbed it. To know the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the eternal God. And you can read the whole chapter with regard to all the things that are going on there. Today we see the signs of spiritual and moral corruption all around us. The latest warning seems especially shocking, because the children are so young. Only eight to ten years old, many of them. Yet they've already learned to despise authority, to trust their own feelings, and shamelessly follow their own destructive ways with their peers. And in a sense, this loss way, way sooner than it should be. The archdeceiver now has at his disposal the behavioral technology to transform and desensitize our youth into pots of death, and is basically done through electronic media and peer pressure. How many hours do many of them spend with their video games, in which the basic thrust of it is? How many of the enemy can we destroy? Or whatever it is, can we destroy? Before television and video games, when the hearts of children, real life was learned by experiencing, observing, being out in nature, and in the real world. When I was ten years old, my father took a job in town, and I was left on the farm, and every morning I would go into the stall with this big old mule. Ten years old. Some of you out there may be ten years old. You wouldn't dare think of this now. I mean, the barn was like 300 yards from the house, and only my mother and little brother were there. He was six. I was ten. You go into the stall, and you put this bridle on the mule. Of course, the mule could whirl around and pin you against the wall, or do all kinds of things. You have to make sure you stay face up. You bring them out of the stall, you put on the harness, hook them up to the plow, and you get with it. I mean, does that sound incredible? Yeah, it may sound incredible. But I did that for eight years, from the early spring to the early fall. Of course, in the fall you're gathering the crops. Children discovered the basics of physics and of life. They climbed trees, they jumped off rocks, they built mud castles, they built bridges over streams, they made kites, and you could go on and on. But today, everything is tightly controlled and supervised, and we have all kinds of nurses at school. I mean, a nurse at school.

I never saw a nurse at school in twelve years. And none of us died. They would read stories and hear some fables, but they knew enough about real life to separate fact from fiction. But now, through contemporary entertainment, life and learning have been turned upside down. The emphasis is now on feelings and fantasy, not on factual reality. So, the Harry Potter series becomes perhaps the gross, the most income of any literary event in history. In comparison, the latter may seem downright boring. That is, back on the farm. I mean, who would want to be there? Who would want to be there with the wind blowing in the face and the sun beaming down, the Bob White whistling, and the metal arcs singing? Who would want to be there?

So that might seem very boring. Children learn to identify with magical creatures instead of down-to-earth heroes. They imagine mythical powers that prompt them to distort, either inflate or deflate their own strength. So they shut their eyes to an unwanted reality, choosing instead the virtual experiences that feel better than the truth. And through group dialogue that begins in preschool and kindergarten, children learn to measure good and evil by group senses. Well, what do you think about this? And what about that? Would it be all right to lie if this was that? And would it be all right to cover this up if this was that? And that consensus is often based on a level of excitement, not on moral values, and God's Word summarizes the result, You love evil more than good. That's Psalm 52, verse 3. A journalist after the Jonesboro shootings, this is several years back, Jonesboro, Arkansas, recalled how one of the high school teachers told how her students reacted when they told them about the shootings at the middle school. What did they do? They laughed. A similar reaction happens in movie theaters when there is bloody violence. The young people laugh and cheer and keep right on eating popcorn and drinking Coke. And, of course, it might happen in the dinner living room of the homes. We've raised a generation of barbarians who have learned to associate violence with pleasure, like the Romans cheering while the Christians are slaughtered in the Colosseum. But thankfully, there are a few people, young people, I believe we have some here, who are standing in the gap. To me, the highlight of the family weekend was the Bible baseball.

And the goal of that, of course, is not... Of course, it's nice to be on the winning team, I guess. But the goal, and I think we succeeded, was to get our youth their ears and eyes and brains and spirit and motion in the book of Revelation. And they did. This is the young people standing in the gap. It reminds me... Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 3. It ties in with what we're facing in the Church of God in selecting a new president. We see what some might call the old guard passing off the scene. The people who had their roots in the Church 50 and 60 years ago, who grew up at the feet of Herbert Armstrong, an ambassador of college in the 50s and 60s. And basically now most of them are gone. Or if they are not, if they're still alive, they basically have no position of leadership or influence to that much degree. Paul wrote to Timothy... This is 2 Timothy 3.1. This is a true saying, if any man desires the office... I don't want 2 Timothy. In 2 Timothy chapter 2. That's what I want. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1. You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commits you to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. And so that is one of the great goals that those of us who are older and have been in the Church 40, 50 years are committed to doing while we yet have breath. And I believe we are committed to it. And it is encouraging to see some of our youth coming along. It is encouraging to go to home office and ABC and look into the faces of the young people there. There is a glow. There is excitement and energy in their faces. So that within itself is very encouraging. Is the next generation ready to wear the mantle of leadership? If not them, who will? And even today in the Church with the situation that we are in, even those who are in their 60s are to some degree considered young.

If the next generation is not ready to wear the mantle of leadership, who else will? Who else will make a difference? Will the politicians of the land make a difference? All they know how to do is preach political correctness, lower the moral standards, pass laws, lock them up, and throw away the key. The news articles in this week's Bulletin reflect a microcosm of today's society and the events in this world. The President urges the Supreme Court to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage. As you look at the world today, you shake your head in amazement and disbelief when you see the hocus-pocus and the rituals of the so-called Catholic Church and other religions, forcing it off on the people as the truth of God. Catholicism has over one million adherents and is growing as the population of the third world countries continue to explode. That's where it's really growing, is in third world countries. Islam, with a theology of bow down to Allah or be killed, has over one billion believers. Buddhism claims over a billion worshippers. Hinduism is not far behind. The New Age movement is growing, one of the most influential women in the world. She's lost some of her influence now. She's gone off network television. Oprah Winfrey is preaching deceptive doctrines of demons. Call it what it is. That's what it is. Now, Michelle Obama is probably the most influential woman in the world, especially in the realm of pop culture, presenting awards at the Oscars and all of that. Every religion except the true religion has a demon behind their altars. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Brethren, it is time that we, cry aloud, spare not, lift up our voices like a trumpet, show Jacob his sins and Israel their transgressions. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 18, Behold, Israel, after the flesh are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar.

What say, then, that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles, the nations, sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils. Demons. And not to God, and I would not, that you should have fellowship with demons.

You cannot drink the cup of the eternal and the cup of demons. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things don't edify. Of course, all things are lawful that are lawful. So Satan is surely having his way today as he blinds the minds of people to the true and living God. Only the true God can take death out of the sin pots of the world. Pharaoh was, in essence, in the role of the devil during the times leading up to Israel's departure out of Egypt. His heart, the devil's heart, is so hardened it will never be softened. The devil will never be converted, and neither will the demons. Remember the contrast. Egypt is the promised land and the church and the kingdom of God. For those physical Israelites, they had the promised land before them, the land that flows with milk and honey. Today we have the promise of the kingdom of God.

Let's notice Deuteronomy 6, 6, verse 1.

Deuteronomy 6, verse 1. Deuteronomy 6, verse 1. Deuteronomy 6, verse 1. Now these are the commandments, the statues, and the judgments. So many things are restated in Deuteronomy that are in the first four books, which the Eternal, your God, commanded to teach you that you might do them in the land where you're going to possess it. That you might fear the Eternal, your God, to keep all his statues and his commandments, which I command you, you and your son and your son-son, all the days of your life, and that their days may be prolonged. Here, therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily as the Eternal God of your fathers has promised you in the land that flows with milk and honey. So there we're on a quest of a land, a physical land, but have great physical blessings and promises. Now, in contrast, you look at Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 verse 9. This is the journey that we're on. Abraham had a glimpse of this. In Hebrews 11 verse 9, speaking of Abraham, Hebrews 11 verse 9, By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. This is spiritual. The kingdom of God, the New Jerusalem.

Through faith also, Sarah herself received strength to conceive, seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful, who had promise. So we see here in Hebrews that the land of promise is equated with the New Jerusalem, the Church of God. You look at Revelation 21 verse 9. Revelation 21. Revelation 21 verse 9.

Yes, we're leading up to the Passover, the time in which the blood of Jesus Christ, the body of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, he gave his body and blood, that we may have our sins remitted, that we may come out of spiritual Egypt, and be delivered into the land of promise, not just the land that flows physically with milk and honey, but to that kingdom of God, to the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21.9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked to me, saying, Come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God in her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

Come here, verse 9, last part, come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife, the Church of God. Satan wants to keep you dipping into the death pot, so that you will never see the Promised Land, that you will never be in the New Jerusalem. So you will not be prepared to participate in the marriage supper of the Lamb. Never set foot in the New Jerusalem. How did Elijah take death out of the pot? Let's go back now to Ezekiel, not Ezekiel, but 2 Kings 4. 2 Kings 4, we saw that Elijah told them, Elisha told them, to pour meal into the pot. 2 Kings 4, verse 41, but he said, Then bring meal, and he cast it into the pot, and he said, Pour out for the people that they may eat, and there was no harm in the pot. He said, Put meal in the pot. Kaimak. Kaimak is a Hebrew word. There's no place that I know of in the Bible that directly identifies exactly what meal represents in the Scripture, but we know that meal is used for making bread. Note further in 2 Kings 42-44, there's more to this story. Verse 42, And there came a man from Beotchilasha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and full ears of corn in the husk thereof, and he said, Give unto the people that they may eat. And his servitors said, What should I set this before a hundred men? He said again, Give the people that they may eat, for thus says the Eternal, They shall eat, and they shall leave thereof. In other words, they will have plenty. So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof according to the word of the Eternal. Sort of like God when he blessed the loaves and the fishes.

The Israelites were sustained for forty years on a manna that reigned from heaven. Let's go now to John 6, the bread of life chapter, the Gospel of John 6.

In John 6 and verse 31, John 6.31, Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. So they were sustained for forty years on a manna that reigned from heaven.

A pot of manna was placed in the Ark of the Covenant, showing that man does not live by bread alone. The manna apparently symbolized the bread of life that was to come. The Israelites had to gather manna every day. They had to go out every day, specified time and all that, and gather the manna. We're coming back here later, but I don't know how much later, but go to Deuteronomy 8. In Deuteronomy 8, we'll get down to the very crux of the pot of life versus the pot of death.

In Deuteronomy 8 and verse 3, He humbled you and permitted you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know. There had never been anything like it. There was something very new. That He might make you to know. Listen to that. That He might make you to know. The reason for giving the manna. That He might make you to know. That man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the eternal, does man live? You see, that concept goes way back to there. It wasn't a new thing when Christ repeated these words in Matthew 4. Now, you look at Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9.

And you might wonder, if you wondered, why did God place the things that He did in the Ark of the Covenant? In the Ark of the Covenant. In Hebrews 9, then verily the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. Where there was a tabernacle made, the first wherein was the candlestick and the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. After the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, or the holy of holies, which had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid around about with gold. Wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's rod that budded, showing the resurrected life and the tables of the Covenant. In other words, the Ten Commandments. So you have the manna showing that man shall not live by bread alone. And Christ says in John 6, 63, the words I speak. They are spirit and they are life.

Aaron's rod that budded, the tables of the Covenant, Ten Commandments, the spiritual law of God, and over it the caribim of glory, shadowing the mercy seat, of which we cannot now speak particularly.

Now we go back to John 6.

Jesus Christ has brought us life and light. He says that he is the life of the world. He is the light of the world. So we read John 6, 31. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread for heaven. That was just a type. It showed them, as I read from Deuteronomy 8.3, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. For the bread of God is he which comes down from heaven and gives life unto the world. Then they said unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst.

Now we pick it up again in verse 49.

As I told you last week that the Gospel of John, and especially John 6, should be studied. Verse 49, Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven, if any man eat of this bread. He shall live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, struggled among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Of course, the Jews were familiar with figures of speech and cry. We'd already read Deuteronomy 8.3, that man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Who so eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live in the Father, so he that eats me even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your Father's did eat manna and her dead. He that eats of this bread shall live forever. And how do you do it? It is through realizing that you eat of the word of God, verse 63. It is a spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing, the words that I speak unto you. They are spirit, and they are life. So you have to dip out of this pot of life if you want to have eternal life. Today a great test is before us whether we will eat of the true bread from heaven, or whether we will return to the flesh pots of Egypt, symbolic of the sin pots of this world. Israel wanted to turn back, and God reigned manna from heaven. He also gave them coil to eat. We ever face the test of living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

We must be careful not to make God over in our own image by using human reasoning to justify our rebellion or our sin against God. Just as manna rotted that was gathered at the wrong time, so will all things of this world rot and spoil, making it a pot of death.

Look at 1 John, in this case, 1 John 2.15. 1 John 2.15.

Once again, just as manna rotted that was gathered at the wrong time, so will all the things of this world rot and spoil, making it the pot of death.

You want to eat out of the rotten pot, the pot that has the wild vine and the wild gourds. The things that have never been in the pot in the first place.

1 John 2.15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 2.15. He who does the will of God abides forever, he lives forever, he eats and drinks the pot of life. 3.19. We bring it to a conclusion and a challenge in 2.19.

3.19. Which pot? I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, I have set two pots, blessing and cursing. 4.20. Therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live, that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey his voice, that you may cleave unto him, clean, cleave like superglue. 5.20. Therefore you can't shake it off, for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the eternal sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them. Let's eat out of the pot of life.