Participants:
Series Code: SSOS
Program Code: SSOS190011B
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00:01 Welcome back...
00:02 before the break, we were talking about the Law of God... 00:04 the Ten Commandments which were written by stone... 00:08 written by God 00:09 and were placed Moses inside of the Ark of the Covenant 00:14 and we talked about how love is the fulfilling of the Law. 00:18 The Law of God is a transcript of God's character. 00:22 On the screen, we have a comparison 00:24 of God and His Law 00:26 and you will notice that every element... 00:29 every aspect of God's character 00:31 is mentioned also about the Law of God. 00:35 Here are a few examples, 00:36 God is spiritual... His Law is spiritual. 00:39 God is love... His Law is Love. 00:41 God is truth... His Law is truth. 00:43 God is righteous... His Law is righteous. 00:46 God is holy... His Law is holy. 00:49 God is perfect... His Law is perfect. 00:51 God stands forever... His Law stands forever. 00:54 God is good... His Law is good. 00:57 God is just... His Law is just. 00:59 God is pure... His Law is pure. 01:02 God is unchangeable... His Law is unchangeable. 01:05 In other words, every characteristic of the Law of God 01:11 is also a characteristic of God Himself. 01:14 The Law of God is a transcript of His character 01:20 and the fulfilling of the Law is love. 01:23 Every aspect... every characteristic 01:27 of the Law of God 01:28 is... is also a characteristic of Who He is. 01:31 It's a transcript of His character 01:33 and no wonder the Law of God was written in stone 01:37 because this is Who God is. 01:40 He's perfect... He's loving... He stands forever... 01:43 He's holy... just... and pure. 01:45 Now, we're talking about the Ark of the Covenant, 01:48 and whenever the Ark of the Covenant 01:51 was transported from place to place, 01:54 incidentally, the Ark of the Covenant 01:57 was never seen by the Israelites. 02:00 Only the High Priest was able to see the... the cherubim, 02:05 and the Shekinah glory 02:07 and he was only able to do that once a year. 02:08 When the Ark of the Covenant was being transported... 02:12 they were not able to see inside... to see the chest... 02:16 all they saw was this covering 02:19 and here in Numbers chapter 4 verses 5 and 6, 02:22 the Bible tells us, "When the camp prepares to journey, 02:26 Aaron and his son shall come, 02:28 and they shall take down the covering veil, 02:32 and cover the Ark of the Testimony with it: 02:35 they shall put on it a covering of badgers' skins 02:39 and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue, 02:43 and they shall insert its pole. 02:46 So, when the children of Israel would go from place to place, 02:49 remember the tabernacle of Moses was a makeshift... 02:52 I should say, a portable tabernacle, 02:54 it was able to be pulled up for travel, 02:57 and when the Ark of the Covenant was being transported, 03:00 it would be covered 03:02 and all the children of Israel would see 03:05 was this blue covering over the Ark of the Covenant. 03:10 I have an artist's depiction here, 03:11 this is all that the Israelites would see. 03:13 The priest would be holding the Ark of the Covenant 03:16 and this blue cloth would be over the top 03:20 of the Ark of the Covenant. 03:22 So, as they went from place to place, 03:25 the Israelites would see the color blue. 03:29 What did the color blue symbolize? 03:32 We have another text in Numbers chapter 15 verses 38 and 39, 03:36 "Speak to the children of Israel, 03:38 tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments 03:40 throughout their generations, 03:42 and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. " 03:46 So, the children of Israel were told to make this clothing 03:50 and in the clothing, they would have these tassels 03:53 and in the tassels, they were to use a particular color... 03:57 it was the color blue. 03:59 Now, why were they to put the color blue in their tassels? 04:03 The Bible goes on and says, "And you shall have the tassels 04:07 that you may look upon it 04:09 and remember all the commandments of the Lord 04:14 and do them. " 04:15 Very interesting. 04:17 So, as the children of Israel were going through their day, 04:20 and they saw in their tassels that blue cloth... 04:24 the color blue what was it to remind them of? 04:28 It was to remind them of the Ten Commandments. 04:32 It was to remind them of the Law of God 04:35 so, as they went through their day, 04:37 and even as they looked at their clothes, 04:40 the color blue represented 04:44 the Ten Commandments 04:46 and the Ark of the Covenant was colored in blue... 04:49 covered in blue 04:50 signifying also the Ten Commandments as well. 04:53 There's another place in which the color blue arises 04:57 and this is from Exodus chapter 24, verses 9 through 12, 05:01 "Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, 05:03 and seventy of the elders of Israel went up 05:05 and they saw the God of Israel, 05:07 and there was under His feet as it were, 05:10 a pavement of sapphire stone, 05:12 like the very heaven for clearness. 05:15 And the Lord said to Moses, 05:16 'Come up to the mountain and wait here 05:19 and I will give you the tables of stone 05:21 with the law and the commandments 05:23 which I have written for their instruction. '" 05:26 Here they see God 05:28 and notice that God is standing on something, 05:31 they see God and He's standing on a sapphire stone. 05:35 What a picture that must have been 05:39 that God is standing on this sapphire stone. 05:42 What color is sapphire? 05:44 Sapphire is the color blue. 05:46 In other words, the very foundation 05:48 of what God is standing on is the color blue 05:52 and then God says to Moses, 05:54 "Come up here and I will give you tables of stone. " 05:59 Now, let's back up here, God is standing on a stone 06:03 and the stone is the color blue 06:05 and God says, "Come up here and I will give you 06:08 tables of stone. " 06:10 Now, there's something here in the richness of the Hebrew 06:14 because when you study the Hebrew here... 06:17 the richness of the Hebrew brings out... 06:20 when it says, "Tables of stone... " 06:22 it should actually say, "The tables of THE stone. " 06:27 Now, there's a difference. 06:29 The tables of THE stone 06:31 and when you look at the literary context of this, 06:35 scholars believe that the tables of THE stone 06:39 that Moses was given on Mount Sinai 06:41 came from the sapphire stone that God was standing on. 06:46 In other words, when God was going to find the material 06:51 to give Moses the Ten Commandments, 06:54 He wanted to portray the significance 06:57 of the Ten Commandments 06:59 and what better significance of the Ten Commandments 07:03 than the very foundation of what God is standing on 07:07 and what His throne is founded upon. 07:10 He took it from the sapphire stone 07:13 and so, scholars believe that the Ten Commandments 07:17 the tables of THE stone 07:19 which God took from the very foundation 07:22 on which He was standing on. 07:24 In the Hebrew, the nuance... the evidence is there 07:26 that God took the tables of the sapphire stone 07:28 and gave it to Moses 07:30 that when Moses took it down from the mountain 07:32 and placed it inside the Ark, 07:34 that the Ten Commandment stones were sapphire... 07:37 in other words, they were the color blue. 07:40 There's another place in Scripture 07:43 where the color blue arises 07:44 and it's 2nd Chronicles chapter 5 verse 10. 07:46 There was nothing in the Ark 07:48 save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, 07:51 when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, 07:55 when they came out of Egypt... " 07:56 now, Horeb is another name for Sinai. 07:58 Now, in the transition period 08:00 between the tabernacle of Moses and Solomon, 08:03 there was only the tables of THE stone 08:06 that were left in the Ark of the Covenant. 08:09 Remember there were a couple of other articles 08:11 that were placed inside the chest... 08:14 the Ark of the Covenant, 08:15 it was Aaron's rod that budded and a pot of manna 08:18 and the Ten Commandments... 08:20 but when they transitioned from Moses' tabernacle 08:24 to Solomon's temple, 08:26 only the tables of these stones were left there. 08:31 In other words, the Ten Commandments 08:32 were the only things that were left 08:34 inside of Solomon's temple... this is important. 08:37 In Ezekiel chapter 10 verse 1 08:39 "Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament 08:41 that was above the head of the cherubim's, 08:43 there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, 08:47 as the appearance and likeness of a throne. " 08:50 Notice that in Ezekiel chapter 10 verse 1, 08:53 here Ezekiel is not seeing the Ark of the Covenant, 08:57 he's seeing actually what the Ark of the Covenant 09:00 pointed toward and that was the throne of God, 09:03 here Ezekiel is seeing a throne or the throne of God 09:08 and notice that this entity... the sapphire stone appears 09:13 and notice, there are cherubim 09:16 that are above the sapphire stone 09:18 just like it's depicted by the Ark of the Covenant. 09:21 The Ark of the Covenant had the cherubim 09:25 and inside the Ark of the Covenant, 09:27 was the sapphire stone 09:29 and here Ezekiel is seeing the real thing... 09:34 he's seeing this vision of heaven in Ezekiel 1 verse 26. 09:37 "Above the firmament over their heads 09:40 there was the likeness of a throne, 09:43 in appearance like sapphire; 09:46 and seated above the likeness of a throne, 09:50 was as it were the likeness of a human form. " 09:53 Let's look at this, Ezekiel sees a vision of God 09:58 sitting on His throne 10:00 and the very throne of God is made of sapphire. 10:05 This has special significance, Friends, 10:08 because it indicates 10:10 that the very foundation of God's government... 10:13 the very principles on which God governs the universe... 10:18 the very throne room of God is made of sapphire 10:21 indicating that the Ten Commandments 10:23 and the principles found therein 10:25 the Law of Love and Liberty 10:28 is the very undergirding and the foundation 10:31 of the Government of God... 10:34 the King of kings and the Lord of lords. 10:37 It's no wonder that Lucifer in the great controversy 10:42 made an attack against the Law of God 10:45 because if he can strike at the foundation of God's government, 10:49 you can undermine all of the principles 10:53 of which God and His kingdom stand for. 10:57 "In these verses, 10:58 Ezekiel identifies the blue sapphire stone 11:00 that God is standing on as the throne of God, 11:02 that means that the sapphire stone God is standing on 11:05 in Exodus chapter 24 represented God's throne 11:08 and the Ten Commandments were taken directly 11:11 out of God's throne. " 11:14 In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 8, the Bible says, 11:17 "But unto the Son he said, 11:19 "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; 11:24 a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. " 11:28 If God's throne is eternal, 11:30 then it also means that God's Law is eternal as well. 11:34 The Bible says that God's throne will last forever, 11:38 and by implication, 11:40 if the Law of God... the sapphire stone is God's throne 11:43 then the Law of God is forever as well 11:46 and God wants to write the Law of God 11:49 in our own hearts... in our own minds... 11:52 Romans chapter 13 verses 8 through 13, 11:54 The commandments: "You shall not commit adultery, 11:57 You shall not murder, You shall not steal, 11:59 You shall not covet 12:00 and whatever other command there may be, 12:03 are summed up in this one command: 12:05 'Love your neighbor as yourself. ' 12:08 Love does no harm to a neighbor, 12:10 therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. " 12:14 Back in Eden... in Edenic perfection 12:18 Adam and Eve did not have to wake up every day 12:21 and go to this Law that was there, and say, 12:23 and say, "Oh, I got to remember today 12:26 not to lie, cheat and steal. " 12:27 No, the Law of God in Eden 12:30 was written not on tables of stone 12:34 but it was written on the hearts of Adam and Eve. 12:38 They were converted, 12:39 they were sanctified, 12:40 they were naturally loving, 12:43 the Law of God was written in their hearts 12:46 and the sanctuary message 12:48 is the message of how God wants to bring us 12:51 into the Courtyard... 12:52 into the Holy Place... 12:53 into the Most-Holy-Place experience 12:56 where the Law of God is 12:57 and He wants to bring us all the way back to Eden 13:00 were Adam and Eve were, 13:01 He wants to write the Law of God today 13:04 not on tables of stone 13:07 but on the tablets of your heart. 13:10 He wants to write it on your mind... on your heart... 13:14 on your consciousness 13:16 so that you will, by the grace of God, 13:19 respond by loving your neighbor as yourself 13:22 and loving God with all your heart. 13:25 Stay with us as we continue our study 13:27 of the sanctuary, salvation and our Savior. |
Revised 2019-10-22