Anchors of Truth

Final Revolution - Part 3

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ty Gibson

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000083


00:13 Welcome to Anchors of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 The Final Revolution with Ty Gibson.
00:22 The Anchors Of Truth series is one of the most popular series
00:26 that we have ever had here at 3ABN.
00:29 We have people asking already,
00:31 "Who's going to be on next time?"
00:33 And we have one nearly every month.
00:35 There are some months that we have other special "lives"
00:39 that prohibit us from actually having an Anchors Of Truth.
00:44 So there will be sometimes when we are off for like an
00:48 ASI weekend, or something of that nature.
00:51 And of course, GYC.
00:54 We're always looking forward to any and all these
00:57 live performances of ministry.
01:01 And each time, they're a blessing to each one of us.
01:06 And this Anchors Of Truth is no exception.
01:10 Ty Gibson has been with us before.
01:13 And over and over again, we have people requesting that
01:17 he come back and that he continue to teach.
01:20 Because he teaches the Bible very clearly.
01:24 And it's very easy to receive a great blessing
01:28 from his teaching.
01:30 After our service each night, those of us that are here,
01:34 we have a little after glow.
01:37 And we have Ty come down and ask him questions.
01:42 We have a little prayer time together.
01:45 And it's a real blessing.
01:46 Those of you that are at home, you have the message
01:51 and you have the music, but you are not able to enjoy
01:56 that particular blessing that we have.
02:00 We call it, the after glow.
02:03 But we're so happy that you can join us by radio
02:06 and by television.
02:07 And tonight, we have Pastor C.A. Murray with us.
02:12 Pastor Murray is going to be singing for us.
02:15 He's going to sing, When We All Get To Heaven.
02:18 But I've invited him to come and to lead us to the
02:22 throne of grace in prayer.
02:25 And shall we bow our heads together.
02:28 Shall we pray.
02:30 Father God, we do praise You and thank You for this
02:32 another opportunity to assemble ourselves in the
02:36 house of prayer and praise.
02:38 We thank You for the sacred Sabbath hours.
02:42 We thank You for the word that has been preached with power.
02:45 We thank You for the presence of the Holy Spirit.
02:49 We thank You for the power in the Word of God.
02:51 We ask, Lord, that You would be the honored Guest.
02:54 That You would speak to and through our speaker.
02:58 That You would use him tonight as You have
03:00 so many times in the past.
03:03 But more than that, Lord, would You please give us
03:07 open and receptive hearts and ears that we may hear this word,
03:13 and then become doers of the word, so that we can be
03:17 more like Christ Jesus.
03:20 We surrender ourselves and this broadcast to You
03:23 and ask that You would bless us one and all.
03:26 And we thank You in Jesus' name, amen.
03:39 Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
03:46 sing His mercy and His grace.
03:53 In the mansions so bright and blessed,
04:00 He'll prepare for us a place,
04:06 a place.
04:11 While we walk the pilgrim's pathway,
04:18 clouds will over spread the sky.
04:25 But when traveling days are over,
04:32 not a shadow, not a sigh.
04:41 When we all get to Heaven,
04:49 what a day of rejoicing that will be.
04:56 When we all see Jesus,
05:03 we'll sing and shout the victory.
05:14 Let us then be true and faithful,
05:21 trusting Jesus, serving Jesus, every day.
05:28 Just one glimpse of Jesus in glory
05:35 will the toils of life repay,
05:41 repay.
05:46 Onward to the prize before us,
05:53 soon His beauty we'll behold.
06:00 Soon the Pearly Gates will open
06:06 and we shall tread the streets of gold,
06:13 of gold.
06:16 When we all get to Heaven,
06:24 what a day of rejoicing that will be.
06:30 For when we all see Jesus,
06:38 we'll sing and shout the victory.
06:44 When we all get to Heaven,
06:53 what a day of rejoicing that will be.
06:58 For when we all see Jesus,
07:07 we'll sing and shout, sing and shout,
07:13 we'll sing and shout the victory.
07:38 Thanks, brother.
07:39 Well good evening, everybody.
07:41 I am thoroughly enjoying our time together in this
07:45 Final Revolution series.
07:47 And we're about midway through.
07:48 This is number three in the five part series.
07:51 If I had to give a title to tonight's presentation,
07:55 well actually I came up with about five different
07:57 options for the title.
07:59 But I think the best title for this message tonight
08:03 would be, Translation Generation.
08:08 So I want you to be thinking in terms of
08:11 the translation generation and what that language might mean
08:15 and how it might apply to you and me.
08:18 But first of all, I just want to draw your attention
08:21 to the fact again, as I mentioned on an
08:23 earlier evening, that children say some crazy stuff.
08:27 Any parents here?
08:29 Raise your hand if you've had children.
08:31 Was it an education?
08:33 Did they say some crazy things when they were little?
08:35 Some of them may still be little in your homes.
08:38 When our children were small, we at one point were trying
08:43 to explain to them where they came from.
08:47 And I was, during one of our little family worship times,
08:50 launching into the explanation and saying,
08:53 "Well, you were procreated."
08:56 And Sue looked at me, "Bring the language down a little bit.
09:01 Procreated? What does that mean?"
09:02 I said, "Oh, mommy had you."
09:05 So we wrapped that kind of language around the phenomenon
09:10 of their births; Amber, Jason, and Leah.
09:13 We have three children; two daughters, one son.
09:15 Leah is the youngest of the three.
09:18 And her wheels were turning.
09:20 I could just see, "Okay, mommy had me."
09:23 Then later on in the day, we were sitting at the
09:25 table having lunch and the subject came up again.
09:29 "Yeah, yeah, you were at one point in mommy's tummy."
09:34 And Amber, the oldest of the three, said, "Yeah, Leah.
09:38 I remember when you were in mommy's tummy.
09:41 You were big.
09:43 And you were causing pain in mommy's back.
09:46 I remember that.
09:47 And then you came out and here you are.
09:50 You were in mommy's tummy."
09:51 And Leah is still thinking, taking bites of her food.
09:55 She looks across the table at Amber.
09:58 She looks at me.
09:59 She looks at Jason, her older brother.
10:02 She looks at me again. She looks at mommy.
10:05 She looks at me.
10:07 And she says, "Daddy, when did mommy have you?"
10:14 And I thought, "Okay, we need some clarification here."
10:18 We need to make a distinction in her mind.
10:22 She had the idea, I guess, that daddy was my name.
10:27 Like her name is Leah, and there's Amber and there's Jason.
10:31 And mommy had me and I was probably the oldest,
10:34 or maybe just the biggest, of the kids.
10:37 That's what she was thinking.
10:38 And I'm hoping that was no reflection on my
10:41 maturity level at the time.
10:42 We will not consult my wife about that.
10:44 But there we were trying to just explain to them who they are.
10:49 And now we had to go into making a distinction,
10:54 "No, I'm your daddy, Leah.
10:56 This is your mom, I'm your dad.
10:58 Together, we had you.
11:01 Although you just came out of mommy's tummy."
11:04 And I just didn't want to get into the details.
11:07 And so we pretty much just left it at that.
11:11 And I said, "Leah, have you noticed that I tell you
11:14 what to do sometimes?"
11:16 And she said, "Well yeah, Amber tells me what to do.
11:19 Everybody in this house tells me what to do."
11:21 She was the youngest and she was right.
11:23 But here's the thing.
11:24 Sometimes it's important and it's helpful
11:27 to make distinctions, to draw a distinction between
11:32 categories or kinds or types.
11:35 And so I began to make this distinction in Leah's mind,
11:39 "There's a difference between you and I.
11:42 There are some ways in which we are alike,
11:45 some ways in which we're the same.
11:46 You're human, I'm human.
11:49 But there are some ways in which we're different.
11:50 I'm your dad and I precede you in the chronology
11:55 of our existence."
11:57 And again Sue looked at me and said,
11:58 "Quit trying to explain it to her."
12:02 And we just left it at that.
12:04 God finds it necessary sometimes to also use
12:10 categorical language; language of kinds and types,
12:14 in order to distinguish for us so that we can comprehend
12:19 the differences between things.
12:21 Although, those same things may be alike in some ways.
12:24 Let me give you an example.
12:27 There was a point in history when God found it necessary
12:31 to communicate with us in such a way as to create
12:36 categories or phases of salvation history
12:41 so that we could wrap our minds around it.
12:43 And so He created a sandbox illustration
12:46 called, the sanctuary.
12:48 He said in Exodus 25:8 to Moses, "Let them,"
12:52 the children of Israel, "make Me a sanctuary that I may
12:55 dwell among them."
12:58 And so they went to work and they made the sanctuary.
13:00 And that sanctuary, as God's illustration
13:03 of salvation history, involved a series of phases.
13:09 Three historic phases.
13:11 And we might even say, three experiential phases.
13:17 Phases of salvation history, but also phases of personal
13:21 interaction with God.
13:24 So the Lord instructed Moses and the children of Israel,
13:27 and they built the sanctuary.
13:29 And there was what was called, the Courtyard.
13:32 And in the Courtyard, we have the altar of sacrifice
13:35 made of brass, which would symbolize Calvary
13:39 and the sacrifice of Jesus for our salvation.
13:43 Then you have the laver also in the Courtyard.
13:46 But that was just phase one, because that's not the
13:49 end of the story, according to the illustration.
13:51 Then God said, through the sanctuary service,
13:55 that there would be another phase of salvation history
13:59 that will follow the Calvary phase.
14:03 And it will be represented by piercing or penetrating
14:06 a veil into an apartment, into a room.
14:09 And that's the Holy Place.
14:11 And in the Holy Place, there are three articles of furniture.
14:15 There's the table of showbread, which has symbolism
14:18 pointing forward to Jesus and the fact that He would be
14:21 the bread of life and our spiritual sustenance.
14:24 There would be the altar of incense, which would represent
14:28 the prayer life of the believer and the fact that the incense
14:32 mingles with the prayers of the saints, mingling the
14:36 righteousness of Christ with our prayers as they ascend.
14:39 And then there would be the seven branch candlestick
14:43 that would indicate the illuminating ministry of the
14:46 Holy Spirit in Christian experience and in history.
14:50 And then the story needed to continue.
14:54 That was the Holy Place phase of history
14:59 and of personal experience.
15:02 That Holy Place was, by the ancient Israelites, called
15:06 the Trysting Place.
15:08 Do you know what a tryst is?
15:09 Have any of you had a tryst?
15:12 A tryst is a romantic engagement.
15:15 Anybody here in love?
15:16 Raise your hand if you're in love.
15:18 Oh, a few of you are in love.
15:20 And the ones who are in love have had a tryst.
15:23 They've had a romantic engagement.
15:25 The ancient Hebrews called the Holy Place, the Trysting Place.
15:29 The place where the people would begin to have
15:34 a matrimonial relationship with God.
15:37 They would enter into the courtship phase
15:39 and they would begin to experience God reaching into
15:43 their hearts and minds through the various symbols that
15:46 were indicated there in order to prepare them for marriage.
15:50 So there was another phase, obviously.
15:52 There was another veil to be penetrated.
15:55 And that veil would lead into the Most Holy Place.
16:00 And the Most Holy Place had one article of furniture;
16:04 the ark of the testament, the ark of the covenant,
16:07 with the gold lid; the mercy seat.
16:09 That if you were to lift it, at least in your imagination
16:12 and through Scripture, you would find the Ten Commandment
16:14 law in that ark.
16:16 And then upon that ark were the two covering cherubs,
16:20 representing the two angels that hold the highest ranking
16:25 positions in God's governmental structure.
16:27 Looking with intent interest upon the issues of the
16:31 great controversy dealing with the mercy of God,
16:35 represented by the mercy seat, and the justice of God,
16:37 represented by the Law, and how there would be
16:40 a process of reconciling these two in the salvation of mankind.
16:44 So the angels are looking on.
16:46 This is the Most Holy Place phase of the sanctuary service.
16:51 Now here's the remarkable thing.
16:53 While the sanctuary does and can represent in our study
16:58 the various phases of our personal journey with God;
17:02 encountering Calvary for myself, experiencing the forgiveness
17:08 of my sins at the foot of the cross, and then moving into
17:11 the second phase of my development as an individual
17:14 in the Holy Place.
17:17 Partaking of the bread, being illuminated by the light of
17:20 the candelabra; the Holy Spirit's work in a prayer life.
17:24 And then finally, having been wooed and romanticized
17:29 by God in my experience in the Trysting Place,
17:33 having fallen deeper and yet deeper in love with Him
17:36 through this experience in the Holy Place,
17:39 then God finally invites me as an individual
17:42 to move into the marriage phase and the consummation of the
17:46 marriage where my individual soul and God's heart
17:51 become one in what is called, the final atonement,
17:55 or the final at-one-ment.
17:57 The marriage, the wedding, has now occurred.
18:00 And that's my personal journey.
18:02 All of us are somewhere in the sanctuary,
18:05 at any given time, in our development spiritually.
18:09 You and I, each of us, we're somewhere along the way
18:13 in that sanctuary right now tonight, each of us.
18:17 But here's the remarkable thing.
18:18 The sanctuary, on a whole different level,
18:22 represented not merely my personal journey in its phases,
18:26 but phases of history and what God is doing
18:30 in real time in human affairs down through the ages.
18:37 And you and I, everyone sitting here this evening,
18:39 myself included and everybody on the planet, get this,
18:42 we live, listen carefully, at the Most Holy phase
18:49 of human history.
18:50 We live at the climactic phase of what God is doing
18:56 in redemption history.
18:58 And we are right at that point where He's going to bring
19:02 closure, as we say, to this whole ordeal called
19:07 the great controversy.
19:08 And then we launch into eternity future with no more sin
19:12 or suffering or pain or tears.
19:15 We live there.
19:17 We're the Most Holy Place generation, if you will.
19:21 God is seeking right now at this juncture of history
19:26 to bring closure to the great controversy.
19:29 But more than that.
19:31 To bring a corporate body of people, multiple individuals
19:36 who together compose one people, one living organism
19:41 that Paul calls, the body of Christ,
19:43 a corporate body of people made up of men and women and children
19:49 collectively as a corporate body, to enter into
19:53 matrimonial union and deepest intimacy with the heart of God
19:58 at this phase of history.
20:00 God is inviting you and me into that experience.
20:04 As a group, as a people, we live at the crescendo point
20:09 of human history.
20:10 Now there's another set of categories that come
20:12 into play at this point.
20:14 Not only the categories that are represented by
20:17 Courtyard, Holy Place, Most Holy Place,
20:20 but we live at a time when we need to understand
20:25 that there are two, listen carefully now, two categories
20:30 of redeemed people in history.
20:33 Turn in your Bible now with me to the Gospel of Matthew
20:36 to chapter 16.
20:38 And begin to study this passage with me.
20:41 You're going to find this very fascinating and instructive.
20:45 And defining, I might add, for who you and I are
20:49 at this phase of human history.
20:52 Jesus, in chapter 16 of the Gospel of Matthew,
20:57 the last two verses, is speaking of His second advent and the
21:01 full and final establishment of His kingdom.
21:04 In verse 27, "The Son of Man will come," note the language,
21:08 second coming language, "in the glory of His Father
21:11 and with His angels, and then He will reward
21:14 each one according to their works."
21:16 Now notice verse 28 carefully.
21:18 "Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here
21:23 who shall," notice carefully, "not taste..." something.
21:28 What won't they taste? "...death..."
21:30 "There are some standing here right now with Me,"
21:33 Jesus is saying, "who will not taste death until they see
21:38 the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."
21:41 Now lots of scholars down through history have stumbled
21:46 over this text.
21:47 And liberal scholars have jumped on this and said,
21:51 "It's very clear here that Jesus was simply wrong.
21:55 Jesus Himself, as a local historic figure, thought that
22:00 the eschatological events of His second advent would occur
22:03 in His own lifetime.
22:05 That Jesus Himself would perhaps die, as He prophesied,
22:09 be resurrected, and immediately in the lifetime of the apostles
22:14 that the second advent would come and the
22:16 kingdom would be established."
22:17 And they point to this passage and say, "But all this time
22:20 has gone by, it has never happened.
22:22 Jesus prophesied wrongly.
22:25 He was wrong.
22:26 He was a good Man, He was not the Messiah.
22:29 Jesus said, some standing there would see
22:34 the kingdom fully established.
22:35 They didn't.
22:36 Therefore..."
22:38 And they draw their conclusions.
22:39 But listen.
22:41 Jesus had something different in mind.
22:43 If you didn't have the chapter division between 16 and 17,
22:48 you would simply read on and you would see that
22:51 something else is in play here.
22:53 Jesus was teaching them something very specific.
22:57 Look at verse 1 of chapter 17 now.
23:00 The story just picks up and goes on.
23:02 "Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James,
23:07 and John his brother, and led them up on a
23:10 high mountain by themselves."
23:12 So you got the picture so far?
23:14 Jesus says, "Hey John, James, Peter, come with Me."
23:17 And He takes them to a mountain.
23:19 And once there, what happens?
23:21 Verse 2, "And He was..." What's the word?
23:25 "... transfigured before them.
23:28 And His face shone like the sun," notice this,
23:32 "and His clothes became as white as light.
23:36 And behold..."
23:38 Can you see it?
23:39 There's James, Peter, and John.
23:41 They're on their faces.
23:43 Jesus is just transfigured before them.
23:45 He's radiating glory and light like the sun.
23:50 And as they look up, they see, verse 3,
23:54 "Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,
23:58 talking with Him."
23:59 So as they look over, they see the Savior and they see
24:02 two individuals now having a conversation with
24:04 Jesus in the distance.
24:06 This is astounding.
24:08 Question.
24:10 What did Jesus earlier prophesy to them?
24:13 "There are some standing here who will not taste death
24:19 until you see the Son of Man and the second advent,
24:24 and the kingdom of God.
24:27 You're going to see it."
24:29 Question, did they see it?
24:31 Yes, they saw it in the transfiguration.
24:35 Jesus, as the glorified Christ.
24:39 And then two individuals.
24:40 Why these two individuals?
24:42 Let's visit for a moment the history of these two people.
24:45 Moses and Elijah.
24:48 They're both human beings but they had
24:51 two distinct experiences.
24:53 What was the experience of Moses?
24:56 Why is he there?
24:58 Moses died on the mountain and then was resurrected.
25:04 You remember the story, don't you?
25:06 He had struck the rock in anger.
25:09 He became frustrated with the stiff-necked and rebellious
25:13 children of Israel.
25:15 And he lost his cool.
25:17 They saw this, the children of Israel witnessed their leader
25:21 have this fall, in their eyes, which compromised
25:25 the larger mission that God was trying to accomplish
25:28 in salvation history.
25:30 But Moses and God were tight.
25:32 In fact, Moses was the friend of God
25:36 and had deep communion and intimacy with the Lord.
25:40 But he blew it.
25:41 And the Lord has a meeting with Moses on mountain and says,
25:44 "Moses, Moses, Moses.
25:47 I can't let you enter earthly Canaan.
25:51 Nope, can't let it happen.
25:54 Somebody else is going to have to lead them in.
25:56 I need to make a point here."
25:59 And it's so touching because the Scripture indicates that
26:02 God Himself, on the mountain, performed the burial service,
26:06 dug the grave, laid the body of Moses in the grave,
26:09 and buried His friend Moses.
26:12 "Moses, you can't enter earthly Canaan.
26:15 You're going to have to die."
26:16 Moses submits, no doubt.
26:18 What's the last thing Moses is thinking before he dies?
26:21 No doubt, tears forming in his eyes.
26:24 "Yeah, You're right, Lord. And I'm so sorry.
26:27 You're right, I can't enter earthly Canaan.
26:31 I want to."
26:33 There was nothing he wanted more than to enter
26:36 into the land of Canaan and to lead the people there.
26:40 "No Moses, that's not going to happen at this point."
26:44 And the last thing Moses is thinking is, "Okay."
26:47 And he submits.
26:48 And what do we know about the state of the dead?
26:50 "The dead know not anything."
26:53 It's an unconscious sleep.
26:54 So Moses closes his eyes, he dies, the Lord buries him.
26:58 And then what happens next?
27:00 I don't know, a few moments later?
27:02 A few hours later? A few days later? A few weeks later?
27:04 We don't know exactly the time frame.
27:07 But Moses is resurrected.
27:09 And the Lord says something like, "Hi, Moses.
27:14 Yes, I had to lay you to rest.
27:17 You couldn't enter earthly Canaan.
27:19 But I really like you.
27:21 And so I'm going to resurrect you and take you into the
27:26 heavenly Canaan a little bit early."
27:30 Moses had to be elated.
27:32 Although, no doubt, he would have loved to have lead the
27:36 children of Israel into earthly Canaan.
27:39 Isn't God good?
27:40 What an amazing heart our Lord has for people.
27:46 But here's the thing.
27:47 It wasn't an easy matter to resurrect Moses.
27:50 The book of Jude verse 9 tells us that when Michael,
27:54 the pre-incarnate Christ...
27:56 By the way, parenthetical statement,
27:57 the fastest and easiest way to know that Michael is Jesus
28:02 before His incarnation is by virtue of the fact that in
28:05 two Scriptures, in Daniel chapter 12 and Jude verse 9,
28:11 Jesus represented as Michael...
28:14 Whoever this Michael is.
28:15 Let's say we don't know who He is.
28:16 He possesses resurrection power.
28:18 He resurrects Moses.
28:20 And He resurrects the saints, all of them,
28:23 in chapter 12 of Daniel.
28:25 So this is not just an angel.
28:30 Whoever Michael is, Michael possesses the power to
28:32 resurrect the dead.
28:34 Okay?
28:36 So this is the divine Son of God.
28:38 He's not an angel, but He is designated.
28:41 He is named Michael before His incarnation.
28:46 But Jesus, as Michael, under the name Michael,
28:49 comes to resurrect the body of Moses.
28:52 And Jude says that there was a dispute over his body.
28:57 The devil shows up and says, "No way."
28:59 You need to understand, I need to understand,
29:02 that there is a legal dimension to the great controversy
29:05 between good and evil.
29:06 Now the legal dimension in the great controversy is
29:09 premised on the reality of human freewill.
29:13 God basically is orienting Himself in the
29:18 great controversy according to rules of engagement
29:22 that honor freewill.
29:24 So while God wants access to every life and every heart
29:29 at every moment, and is not willing that any should perish
29:32 but that all should come to repentance...
29:33 Revelation 3 verse 20 represents Him as standing on the outside
29:38 knocking trying to get in.
29:39 Not barging the door down, not kicking it down,
29:41 but knocking wanting entrance.
29:44 This is the courtesy of the divine plan.
29:48 This is God not using manipulation or coercion,
29:51 but wanting access by each of us exercising our freewill.
29:56 Now when we in the great controversy sin,
30:00 sin constitutes moral and judicial leverage for the devil
30:06 in the great controversy.
30:07 This is a hard reality of our freewill.
30:11 Moses, by sinning, had given some degree of legal leverage
30:19 to Satan to claim his body.
30:21 So he comes to the grave of Moses upon the effort of Michael
30:25 to resurrect him and says, "No, Moses is mine."
30:28 Based on what?
30:29 The great controversy ensues in the form of
30:32 argument and dispute.
30:34 The devil doesn't challenge Christ to a duel.
30:37 He doesn't challenge Him to a sword fight.
30:39 They're not throwing grenades.
30:41 They're speaking words.
30:43 It's a legal dispute.
30:45 And the legal dispute, again, is premised on human freewill.
30:49 And Moses had exercised his freewill
30:51 by entering into a rage over the children of Israel's failures.
30:59 And by his sin, the devil then had material to say,
31:05 "He spoke his mind. He's mine.
31:07 You cannot take him."
31:09 And Michael, Jesus, simply says, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan."
31:13 And goes ahead and resurrects Moses.
31:17 But here's the incredible thing.
31:19 Jesus resurrected Moses on the premise of the future victory
31:26 He knew He was intending to gain over the devil and
31:29 his kingdom at Calvary.
31:32 Jesus is basically thinking, when He's resurrecting Moses,
31:36 He's thinking, "Satan, you don't know what's coming your way.
31:40 But I am about to engage you in battle at some future time.
31:44 And according to the prophecy of chapter 3 verse 15 of Genesis,
31:48 I am going to crush your head under My heal.
31:51 That would be you under My heal in the future at the cross.
31:56 You don't know what's coming your way.
31:57 But I'm going to resurrect Moses banking on that future victory
32:02 over the kingdom of darkness."
32:04 So that the victory of Jesus at Calvary is retroactive
32:09 for Moses and all believers down through time
32:12 who have died in faith.
32:14 Are you with me?
32:15 Do you understand what I'm saying?
32:17 So the legal dimension of the great controversy
32:22 is very important and real.
32:25 And this is crucial for us to understand that Moses
32:28 here in the transfiguration vision represents the
32:33 resurrected saints of all the ages.
32:37 Jesus said, "Some of you standing here are going to
32:38 see My kingdom."
32:40 At the transfiguration they saw Jesus, the King of the kingdom,
32:44 and two human beings.
32:45 Moses to represent the resurrected saints of all ages.
32:50 Are you with me so far?
32:52 So who might Elijah represent then in this
32:56 microcosm of the kingdom?
32:59 Well, what was his experience?
33:00 Moses died and entered the kingdom through resurrection.
33:04 Right?
33:06 But how did Elijah enter the kingdom?
33:09 He was translated without tasting death.
33:13 Elijah was levitated from the earth in the sight of
33:17 Elisha, his protégé.
33:19 You remember the story, right?
33:20 There's Elisha and there's Elijah.
33:23 I hope you hear the distinction there.
33:24 And Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire.
33:30 Transported straight into the kingdom.
33:32 That had to be glorious for him, just soaring through space
33:38 and arriving in the New Jerusalem.
33:40 Certainly, he met Moses there.
33:42 Because Moses was already there, right?
33:45 He also met Enoch there.
33:46 These are the three individuals we have by name that
33:48 we know are already in the kingdom;
33:52 Enoch, Elijah, and Moses.
33:56 So Elijah arrives in the kingdom and has been there ever sense.
34:03 And now when Jesus shows the kingdom, in microcosm,
34:08 in prototype if you will, when He shows what the kingdom
34:11 will be composed of, He shows the kingdom as being
34:14 composed of Himself as the King, Moses representing the
34:18 resurrected saints of all ages who will be resurrected
34:22 on the premise of a future victory that Jesus will gain
34:25 at Calvary, and the translated saints,
34:29 the translation generation, who will literally enter into
34:32 the heavenly kingdom and never pass through the
34:34 valley of the shadow of death.
34:37 And you and I, we just happen to live in the final segment
34:44 of salvation history.
34:46 We just happen to live at the Most Holy Place phase
34:50 of the plan of salvation
34:51 And it is entirely within God's plan and His will
34:55 and His desire, and His passion even, that the second advent
35:00 would occur in your lifetime and mine.
35:03 And that the great controversy would be brought to closure.
35:07 And that you and I by name would, like Elijah, like Enoch,
35:12 feel our feet leave the ground and be joined by the
35:16 resurrected saints to meet them in the air,
35:19 and forever be with the Lord.
35:21 We live in that time.
35:23 And it is a glorious realization.
35:26 It lies within the power of God's translation generation,
35:30 it lies within the great controversy authority,
35:34 the legal ramifications of the exercise of our freewill,
35:38 not only to hope for, not only to look for,
35:40 but to hasten the second coming.
35:43 We have within our freewill capacity the ability
35:47 by God's grace to push, as it were, to use a metaphor,
35:51 to push the eschatological buttons of the end time events
35:57 in order to hurry up, to bring on, the second advent
36:01 and closure to the great controversy.
36:03 I long for, I know you long for, more than anything else
36:07 that the second advent would occur within our lifetime.
36:12 Now these two individuals, Moses and Elijah representing
36:18 the two categories of the redeemed,
36:21 the resurrected saints and the translated saints...
36:23 Very much like I had to communicate to Leah,
36:26 there's a difference between us.
36:28 "Leah, you're the child of your mom and mine, our procreation.
36:35 You're the incarnation of our love and union, Leah.
36:39 That's who you are.
36:40 And then I'm your dad.
36:41 There's a distinction between us.
36:43 There are ways in which we're the same
36:45 and there are ways in which we're different."
36:46 The same with the translation generation,
36:49 the final generation, and the saved of all ages.
36:51 There are ways in which we're the same.
36:53 For example, it doesn't matter when you live in history
36:57 and whether you die and are resurrected or translated,
37:00 all who are saved are saved by grace through
37:04 faith alone in Christ.
37:06 And their works contribute nothing by way of merit
37:11 to salvation.
37:14 All who are saved are saved by the sheer loving mercy
37:20 of a compassionate God who simply loves us
37:23 more than His own existence.
37:25 There is nothing anybody ever contributes
37:29 to salvation beyond the grace of God.
37:35 Saved by grace through faith alone in Christ.
37:36 But here's the distinction.
37:39 While we're the same in that regard, and the final generation
37:42 won't be saved because of some kind of different method
37:48 or mechanism of salvation, they do live at that phase of history
37:53 where the, listen carefully now, maturation process
37:58 will go exponential.
38:00 Listen very carefully.
38:02 God will have a people who move through the entire
38:08 Courtyard, Holy Place, Most Holy Place developmental phases,
38:12 God will have a corporate people whose spiritual development
38:16 will go, as it were, exponential.
38:20 And Revelation 14 describes a point in which
38:24 the harvest, that is, the harvest of human souls,
38:29 is now ripe.
38:31 You and I, right now, we're undergoing a ripening process.
38:36 Everyone in the world, by the way, according to Revelation 14,
38:39 is going through a ripening process.
38:41 There will be the ripening of the wicked.
38:44 They will become, as Paul says, that wicked men will wax
38:49 worse and worse.
38:50 Just pay attention, or don't, to the world around you.
38:54 And you will notice, or prefer not to notice,
38:57 that wickedness is going exponential, off the charts.
39:02 Men will become lovers of themselves
39:06 in the last phase of human history
39:08 on a whole new level, Paul says.
39:10 Lovers of money, lovers of things and material goods.
39:14 People at the final phase in the last days, Paul says,
39:18 they will be narcissistic to the max.
39:23 Self-centeredness will go literally off the charts
39:27 in human history.
39:28 "The love of many," Jesus commented in Matthew 24,
39:32 "will grow cold and sin will abound."
39:36 That is, it will go exponential.
39:38 People will find more and new and different and better ways
39:43 to act out the evil of their natures.
39:47 Technology itself has been employed to make wickedness
39:53 a lot easier to access and to take people to the degradation
39:57 of the depths of immorality faster than any other
40:00 time in human history.
40:02 Just the easy access to moral filth is off the charts
40:08 in our world.
40:09 And at the end time phase of human history, the wicked will
40:14 mature rapidly in their wickedness,
40:17 according to Scripture.
40:18 But simultaneously, and this is the good news,
40:22 God will have a people who will also, to use Paul's language,
40:27 will grow up into Christ in all things.
40:33 They will grow up into, again Paul's language,
40:36 the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ.
40:41 Do you see the symbolism there, the metaphor?
40:43 Jesus is the pattern man.
40:46 Jesus is the new man.
40:47 Jesus is the man that God always intended
40:52 every man and woman to be.
40:55 Every human being is represented in Christ.
40:59 And He formed a relationship and intimacy with God
41:04 in His earthly life that represents the fullness of
41:08 what God intends for all of us.
41:10 And so we're babes in Christ.
41:12 And you can picture, as it were, the full stature of Jesus,
41:17 the spiritual stature of Jesus.
41:19 And now we as babes in Christ are gradually growing up
41:22 until we become, as it were, the spiritual peers of Jesus.
41:26 Growing up, in Paul's language, to the full stature of men and
41:29 women in Christ, Paul says.
41:32 In other words, God's people at the end of time are going to
41:35 move through a rapid maturation process.
41:38 And the Bible pictures them moving from the
41:41 Courtyard phase into the Holy Place phase,
41:44 into deeper and deeper love relationship
41:47 and tryst with the Lord.
41:50 And then finally entering into final and full matrimonial
41:55 union in the Most Holy Place phase.
41:58 Elijah represented that group.
42:01 Enoch represents that group in salvation history.
42:05 And you and I just happen to be at that juncture in history
42:09 where God is seeking to cultivate in His people
42:14 to bring together a corporate body who will become
42:17 that living organism of faith that will bring closure
42:23 to the great controversy.
42:24 Now the apostle Paul, in chapter 11 of Hebrews,
42:30 gives us additional insight into these two
42:33 categories of redeemed.
42:35 Look in your Bible with me at Hebrews chapter 11.
42:38 Now as you're going there, so we don't have to read
42:40 all the verses, I will remind you that Hebrews chapter 11
42:44 is a kind of hall of faith for the redeemed of all ages.
42:49 Right?
42:50 In chapter 11 of Hebrews, we have this delineation
42:56 of stories, individuals, down through history
42:58 who have done monumental acts of faith.
43:00 Right?
43:02 And as the apostle Paul describes their various
43:06 experiences, he comes to the last two verses of
43:10 Hebrews chapter 11.
43:11 And I want you to see what he says here in verses 39 and 40.
43:14 He has just told us about all these individuals
43:17 down through history.
43:18 And then he says this, verse 39, "And all these,
43:23 having obtained a good testimony," or a good report,
43:28 "through faith..."
43:30 "All of these, having obtained a good report through faith,
43:33 did not receive..." What?
43:35 "...the promise."
43:37 What Paul means here is that they, though they lived in faith
43:41 and received a good report, they did not receive
43:43 the full intent and ramifications of
43:47 the covenant promise.
43:50 According to verse 40, watch this,
43:53 they had an experience that was of good report.
43:58 But notice this, verse 40, "God having provided something..."
44:01 What's the word in your version?
44:03 "...something better for us, that they should not be
44:08 made perfect apart from us."
44:11 So you have here, in Paul's language, two categories.
44:14 You have "they" and "us."
44:16 He does this in another place in Thessalonians.
44:19 You remember this passage where he says,
44:21 "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
44:24 together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air
44:27 with those who have died and they've now been resurrected."
44:30 You remember that passage?
44:31 He says "we," not "they."
44:33 "We which are alive and remain..."
44:35 You find this throughout the Bible.
44:36 Prophets sometimes, in order to be affective in their
44:41 communications, project themselves into the events
44:45 of which they're prophesying.
44:47 Let me say that again.
44:48 Prophets sometimes project themselves
44:51 into the experiences in the future that they will not
44:54 be a part of, but they project themselves into the experience.
44:59 So when Paul says, "Then we which are alive and remain,"
45:02 he's including himself, but of course he will not be
45:05 among those who are alive when Jesus comes
45:08 without tasting death.
45:09 He'll be alive by resurrection.
45:11 And here, he speaks of "they" and "us."
45:14 Who are "they" contextually in the passage?
45:17 Who are "they?"
45:19 "They" are the saints of all ages going back in history
45:24 that Paul's just talked about.
45:25 Right?
45:26 "They" without "us."
45:28 Who's "us" then?
45:29 This is the final generation.
45:31 This is the translation generation.
45:33 This is the group who will be alive and remain
45:37 until the coming of Jesus.
45:38 And I want you to notice here what Paul says.
45:42 They obtained a good report, a good testimony through faith.
45:46 There's no other way to be saved except through
45:49 faith in Christ.
45:50 Their faith, in ages past, was projecting which way?
45:54 Forward to the promises regarding the Messiah, right?
45:59 Our faith, at this juncture in history, projects which way?
46:03 Back to Calvary and the Christ event.
46:07 Everything that pertains to the person and work of Christ.
46:11 Our faith looks back, their faith looked forward.
46:14 But in both cases, salvation is by grace through faith alone.
46:20 They died in faith having received a good report.
46:23 But God had provided something better for us.
46:29 Not better as in different in substance,
46:35 but different in degree.
46:37 Do you grasp the difference between the two?
46:39 Those who are alive and remain, the "us" of the second advent
46:44 who are alive and remain and never taste death,
46:46 they're not saved by a different means or mechanism.
46:48 But they do move forward with Christ, spiritually,
46:52 to experience the full ramifications of their faith.
46:56 Whereas those who died in faith in ages past
46:59 didn't run the salvation course all the way through
47:03 to the conclusion.
47:05 And the concept that Paul has here is like a race that is run
47:11 that is a group race, or a team sport, excuse me.
47:16 A baton is passed in a relay race.
47:20 So you've got people like Moses in ages past
47:24 who is running forward, spiritually.
47:27 He's giving a certain amount of information in salvation history
47:32 in the books that he wrote, for example.
47:35 And Moses is moving forward spiritually and he's bringing
47:38 the children of Israel as far as they can go.
47:41 And then you have Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel,
47:43 and they're running, the baton is passed.
47:46 And then passed and then passed.
47:48 And then notice this.
47:51 Jesus then passed the baton in this race to the apostles,
47:56 who passed it to the next generation of believers,
47:59 who passed it to the next generation,
48:01 until the church went underground.
48:02 As Revelation 12 says, the church went into the wilderness.
48:06 And then the baton was passed to the Protestant Reformers,
48:10 who then passed it to future reformers
48:12 like the Wesley brothers, who then passed it
48:15 to the Advent Movement, who then prepare a people
48:21 to be the final group with the baton in hand
48:24 that cross the finish line.
48:25 Are you with me?
48:27 So who wins the race?
48:28 Just the final generation?
48:30 No, this is a team event.
48:32 The believers of all ages, those who are resurrected
48:36 as well as the translated saints, are all one
48:39 composite body.
48:41 And when the final generation comes across the finish line
48:45 at the end, they simply win the race as the final
48:51 representatives of the whole group who have been
48:53 running all along.
48:55 Are you with me?
48:56 So that's the phase of history that we live in.
48:58 So it's not, when he says, "God having provided
49:02 something better for us," that is, the final generation,
49:06 it's not better in substance, but better in degree.
49:11 God is leading His people in the final generation
49:15 to cross the finish line.
49:18 In another Bible version, this text is translated as follows.
49:21 Listen, just a little bit more modern vernacular to help us
49:25 understand what's happening here.
49:27 "All of these people," this version says,
49:31 "All of these people we have mentioned received
49:34 God's approval because of their faith.
49:37 Yet none of them received what God had promised in full.
49:44 For God had something better in mind for those
49:50 who would also benefit them.
49:55 For they," in the past, "can't receive the prize at the end
50:04 of the race until we finish the race."
50:08 You get the idea there of what's happening as I just described
50:12 with the race metaphor.
50:14 So God has a people at the end of time who
50:17 cross the finish line.
50:19 To use the words of Revelation 14,
50:21 which I hope we'll have time to explore in greater
50:23 detail tomorrow, they follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
50:28 Or I think the King James language is really nice here.
50:31 "They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth."
50:34 Doesn't that sound nice?
50:36 These people follow the Lamb through the entire course
50:42 of the salvation experience.
50:44 Jesus, as the Lamb who was crucified at Calvary,
50:48 then His blood was taken by the priests into the
50:52 Holy Place, sprinkled on the veil of the Most Holy Place
50:59 seven times, right?
51:01 And then came the day of atonement.
51:04 Yom Kippur.
51:06 The day of final reckoning and judgment.
51:09 The day of closure.
51:10 The day of final at-one-ment.
51:12 The day of wedding and marriage.
51:14 The day when everything comes to a conclusion, right?
51:17 So the blood of the Lamb, or the Lamb Himself
51:21 by virtue of His shed blood, is represented
51:25 at how many phases of salvation history in the sanctuary?
51:29 Every phase, right?
51:31 The Lamb is slain.
51:33 His blood then is sprinkled throughout the sanctuary.
51:38 So what would it mean, in the language of Revelation 14,
51:41 for a group of believers at the end of time to follow
51:43 the Lamb wherever He goes?
51:46 What would it mean to follow Him wherever He goes?
51:49 Well He did go to Calvary, and we need to follow Him there.
51:53 And then He was resurrected and He ascended into the
51:56 Holy Place, and by faith we need to follow Him there.
52:00 And then finally at a certain juncture of salvation history,
52:04 the end time segment of history, He moved into the
52:06 Most Holy phase to make final atonement, as we said.
52:13 And those people need to follow Him there.
52:16 The question is, are we following Him there?
52:21 Are you and I, are we discerning the times
52:26 in which we live?
52:28 Not just discerning the times in the sense of the world around us
52:35 spinning wildly out of control, but are we noticing,
52:41 are we discerning the times in God's plan
52:45 for the experience of His people in these last days?
52:50 The signs of the times aren't merely happening all around us
52:52 in political affairs, in the upheavals of nature,
52:56 in the moral affairs of the world,
52:58 and the ecclesiastical affairs of the world.
53:00 The signs of the times aren't merely happening all around us.
53:04 The sign of greatest significance is what's
53:07 going on in your heart and mine.
53:10 The sign of greatest significant, I repeat, is;
53:15 where are you, where am I, in following the Lamb
53:19 all the way through to the conclusion
53:22 of the great controversy between good and evil?
53:26 And that probing question that each of us needs to entertain,
53:31 I believe, with sobriety of mind, that penetrating
53:36 question, "Where am I?
53:38 Am I in the Courtyard?
53:40 Am I in the Holy Place?
53:43 Am I in the Most Holy Place?
53:46 Am I, by God's grace, standing before that final
53:49 veil, eager, by the blood of Christ, that is by virtue
53:57 of the self giving love that He displayed at Calvary,
54:01 giving His life for you and me, am I prepared by virtue of that
54:06 sacrifice and that love to take one more step
54:09 through the veil into the Most Holy Place
54:13 into final and full atonement, fully and forever reconciled
54:20 and irrevocably sealed in my loyalty to Christ?
54:26 So that, at least in my experience
54:29 and your experience and all of as a body,
54:32 that we would experience closure for the great controversy.
54:39 The Bible goes so far as to indicate that the intimacy
54:44 that God's people will share for all eternity future in that
54:48 Most Holy Place, if you will, is represented by the whole city.
54:52 It's astounding to realize that in Scripture, there are only two
54:56 perfect cubes.
54:59 Just two geometric shapes that are a perfect cube.
55:03 One is the Most Holy Place.
55:06 The Bible tells us that its length was equal to its width,
55:10 and was equal to its height.
55:13 The Most Holy Place was a perfect cube.
55:16 And it was the place of deepest intimacy with God.
55:22 There's another cube in Scripture, and it is
55:24 described in Revelation as the New Jerusalem.
55:29 And we are told that on a grander scale that its height
55:34 is equal to its width, equal to its depth.
55:38 That it is a perfect cube.
55:40 And God Himself, we're told, will dwell with His people
55:45 forever in the New Jerusalem.
55:48 That is to say, forever and ever into the future,
55:51 you and I and the saved of all ages will take our place
55:54 in the Most Holy Place of the universe in perfect
55:59 and eternal intimacy with our God.
56:03 I invite you, I invite my own heart, tonight
56:08 to follow the Lamb wherever He goes,
56:10 all the way through to the close of salvation history.
56:15 You and I have within our privilege and power,
56:19 by the grace of God, to not only look for, but to hasten
56:23 the second coming of Jesus.
56:26 And so I ask you, I ask myself, let's take that final step
56:32 through the veil into the Most Holy Place, and be that people
56:38 who never taste death, and witness the second advent
56:42 in our very lifetime.
56:44 Would you pray with me.
56:46 Father in heaven, we have discovered incredible things
56:50 in Your Word tonight.
56:53 We are deeply impressed that You have special plans
56:58 for us at this phase of human history.
57:02 Father, please take us by the hand, take us by the heart,
57:07 and move us out of all of our self-centered concerns.
57:14 Lord, please woo our hearts, call us and draw us
57:19 into the Most Holy Place.
57:21 May we find our place with You there
57:24 as the translation generation.
57:28 Lord, keep us in Your care.


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Revised 2014-12-17