The last few weeks (I do not think so much last week), we have been looking into some of the things dealing with eternity past from before the foundation of the world, and we are learning. We are learning a lot of new things, and yet some things we are gaining a better knowledge of. As we are approaching the end of time and we are getting ready to enter into eternity future, God in His wisdom is showing us some information about eternity past.
So we have recently learned that Jesus is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” from before the world began, when there was God, the Triune God: the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. And then Christ died as the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” He died for His people, and so, of course, since He died for His people, His people had to be named, they had to be known, their names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That is when God selected and chose everyone out of the human race, at that point in time.
Right there, we know that salvation is of the Lord, that it is all accomplished by the Lord Himself, by Christ’s work. It is His faith that saves, and we definitely did not do a thing because it was all worked out. Hebrews 4 tells us that “the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”
So Christ died and all of the works necessary for salvation, the full payment for sin, were made at that point in time. As far as this world and this universe was concerned, there was not anything. Then prior to this world’s beginning, Jesus rose. He died as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” and then He was resurrected. God raised Him up because Hebrews tells us that the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, created the world.
What do we learn from that? Well, the Bible tells us in Romans 1 that in order for Jesus to be “declared to be the Son of God,” it was “by the resurrection from the dead.” In other words, He could not be the Son, He could not be called the Son of God, unless He had risen.
And so, very plainly, God says in Revelation 13:8 that He was slain, and it does not say “in principle.” It is a matter-of-fact statement: He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” And since He did enter into the world, if He was killed, if He was dead, He had to come to life again, and that happened before the world began. He was resurrected as the Son of God, “His only begotten Son,” and God uses that language in Revelation 1 and elsewhere, “the first begotten of the dead.” That is how Christ became the Son. But way before He ever went to the Cross in the Gospel accounts, He is called the Son, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
He did not go to the Cross in time, yet, in this world’s existence, prior to the Cross, He is identified as the Son of God. And that means that He had died and resurrected before the world began.
So we are learning about that, and that is a lot to learn. As Mr. Camping has been saying, we are seeing that the Gospel accounts record a tableau. What God did is He just sent the Lord Jesus Christ to suffer a second time, in order to make manifest and put on display all that had happened before the world began. So that shows even greater love, does it not? That shows an even greater mercy of God, that He would do it twice.
He did not make payment a second time because the Law was satisfied, as Jesus died for the sins of His people. “The wages of sin is death.” He had died. He had already made the payment; but now, to reveal, to show, to put on display to all the world of this creation and to all of the other worlds, if I can say that, or all of the other creations that are out there that God has been creating from eternity past, and the Bible speaks of them as “principalities and powers” in Ephesians 3.
In Ephesians 3, I will begin in verse 9. It says in Ephesians 3:9-11:
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent…
The word “intent” is the Greek word hina, which is translated sometimes as “because.” This is the reason, in other words.
To the intent (or because) that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places…
“Heavenly” is a plural word, and that is why the translators put in the word “places” in italics. It was to let us know that it is referring to more than one. It is not “heaven”; it is “heavenlies.” And so God has created all things by Christ for the purpose:
…that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenlies might be known by the church…
Or through the church, who are all the elect of God, the eternal body of Christ. And how did they come to be the church, the Bride of Jesus? As God saved them through His whole salvation plan.
So it is through the salvation plan of God that is being put on display:
…the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Again, going back to eternity past, an “eternal purpose” that God would create this world and Jesus would redeem a people for Himself.
The principalities and powers is language that is talking about judges, governors, presidents, kings, rulers. That is what principalities and powers means.
In Ephesians 6, remember, as God is speaking about the “armour of God” (it is just the next page), it says in Ephesians 6:11-12:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
That is Satan. That is the emissaries of Satan in the churches and in the congregations. They are rulers of this world: the leaders and the governors. And that is why “we wrestle not against flesh and blood,” because there is a spiritual realm behind everything and Satan stirs up trouble against the child of God.
So there are these principalities and powers, but that has nothing to do with Ephesians 3 because those “principalities and powers” are in the heavenlies. They are in the Kingdom of God. They are not evil. We do not wrestle against them. We are not fighting those “principalities and powers.”
So God is telling us, He is identifying what principalities and powers are. We would say that it is the Senate. It is Congress. It is the White House. They are the leaders: the kings of the earth or the rulers of the world. And God is putting on display to these “principalities and powers” that are not a part of this world, they are in the heavenlies, and He is making the glorious Gospel of the Bible manifest.
Like we have mentioned before: it is one thing for God to be love, for God to have His wonderful attributes of mercy and grace and goodness, and He is all of those things, and for Him to speak and create a creation. And that is God’s work, as we read the account in Genesis, when He created this world and then He rested the seventh day from His work.
So when God creates a world, and He did it in six days, could He have done it in six seconds or less? Yes; we do not see Him breaking a sweat when He speaks and says “Let there be light,” or let there be waters and earth and all of these things. God works easily. He creates very easily, as far as we can see, and that is part of His work.
So God created this world, and what has He been doing from eternity past? Well, He is not lazy. If we know anything from the Bible, as God speaks to us, we are lazy. We are sloths. We are sluggards. We have to stir ourselves up to go to work. But God who gives the commandments, He is not lazy. He is not lazy at all. He works and He commands us to work “heartily, as to the Lord,” to do our jobs very fervently and diligently. And believers do learn to work much better than they ever did, after they become Christians. But still, we have to rouse ourselves out of bed and we do not go about it maybe too eagerly sometimes.
But God, He works and He creates worlds, and that is His work, and since we know that is part of His characteristic and since these other worlds or creations that God has been creating from eternity past—there is no sin in those other creations, it is pure; it is holy—they have always known, yes, God is good, God is love, God is merciful. But it is one thing to know that and it is another to see it put on display, to see it acted out, as God is demonstrating it in this world through the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation plan of saving a people for Himself.
So that is a big reason why God allowed sin to enter into this world, so these things could be made manifest, experientially. That is what preachers of the 19th century always loved to say. It always annoyed me when I would read their writings and, again and again, “Experientially; you have to experience the Holy Ghost.” I mean, they would overuse that word, but that is exactly what God has in mind of experiencing the truth that He is a God of love, of seeing it in action. And so, He has worked out His salvation plan.
If we go over to Colossians 2:9-10, it says:
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
And, of course, that is the Lord Jesus.
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
So Jesus is the Supreme Ruler of all principality and power, in this world and, we read, “in the world to come.” Or in this age and “in the ages to come,” Jesus is the Head.
Or go to Ephesians 1:19-23, where it says:
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenlies…
Again, that is the same plural word.
…far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body…
And, again, that is the elect. That is the elect people of God.
So, again, Christ is “set,” and that word is related to “sit,” or it is the word “sit.” So He is seated “at His own right hand.” “At His own right hand”; notice that Christ is set “at His own right hand,” because He and the Father are One, “in the heavenlies” and it is “far above all principality, and power.”
It is kind of like King Ahasuerus who is over 127 provinces, but there is one King of kings. There are other rulers out there who have jurisdiction over this province and that province, “from India even unto Ethiopia.” They rule over these places, but Ahasuerus was the ruler over all. That is how the Lord Jesus Christ is, and the Bible tells us He is “King of kings, and Lord of lords.”
And so God has created, but He is the Supreme, the Great Ruler over everything that He has created. In this world and in all the other creations, Jesus is that Potentate. He is that Lord who does govern, not only this whole universe, but everything that is in the Kingdom of God, which is far greater than we ever thought.
We tend to be more self-centered. We are focused on our little lot in this world. Even though God has worked out a wonderful salvation plan for man, yet still, there is much more to God and His being than we were ever aware of. And I think God is filling us in. He is informing us a little bit more about that, that He is a greater God than we even thought.
Actually, this word “powers,” let me see, is it here? No. No. I just want to go over to Ephesians 2, because Christ, it said in Ephesians 1:20, was seated “at His own right hand in the heavenlies.” If we go over to Ephesians 2, we find a few verses that relate to that, beginning in verse 4 [Note: the speaker inadvertently said “verse 2” here when he intended to say “verse 4”]. Ephesians 2:4-7:
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us…
That is, made us alive.
…together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places…
Where that is, again, “in heavenlies.”
…in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
So Jesus in chapter 1 is seated “at His own right hand.” And then in Ephesians 2, it says that every one of God’s people, every one whom God saves, is seated together with Him in the heavenlies.
That is…well, that is a big statement. That is a big statement, because to be seated means to rule. It means to govern. It means, we see it easily with Jesus, He is seated “at His own right hand” because He is ruling over all. But then He says that we are saved by grace and then the moment that we are saved, spiritually, we are in Christ, seated along with Christ in those same heavenly places.
Let us turn over to Luke 19. I am going to read a parable that the Lord Jesus gave, beginning in verse 12, and I think you will see how it relates to what we have been looking at in the Bible so far. In Luke 19:12-20:
He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou power over ten cities.
Or authority; that is the same word as “power,” as when we are reading about “principalities and powers.” It is the same Greek word exousia.
…have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
And then we know the story, that he did not occupy, he did not do what was right with his lord’s money. And so, this servant, the pound was taken from him and given “to him that hath ten pounds.”
The significance of this is, and we never really understood it (and I do not know how much we are going to understand it now), but the significance of it is that God is using an analogy or a picture of the Gospel and that is what these “pounds” represent—in another case, it is “talents”—that He gives to man.
He gives to His people the Word of God. And as they are faithful in sharing the Word or in going forth with the Gospel, well, God says, “You are a good servant. You are a good servant. And as a result” (this is at the end of the world and at the new heavens and the new earth), “you are over ten cities, you are over five cities,” and I think in the parable of the talents, well, I will not get into that…we are not there. “So you are over these cities. You have authority. You are a power.” The same word translated here “authority” is also translated as “power” or “jurisdiction.” “You have jurisdiction over ten cities, over five cities.”
For instance, if we go to Matthew 8:9, it says:
For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
So, you see, he is under authority and he also is a man of authority.
Go to Matthew 28:18:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power…
That is the same Greek word exousia, translated as “authority” in Luke 19.
…All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Or if we go to Luke 20:20, it says:
And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
The word “authority” is that same Greek word. You see, the governor had authority over the province of the Jews, because it was under Roman rule.
Or go to Romans 13. I think this same word is found there three or four times in Romans 13:1:
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers…
That is exousia or “authority.”
…For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
In every case, and it is also a little further, it is the Greek word “authority.”
So God, very definitely, has spelled it out to us, what the word means. It means “to rule,” “to have authority over.” When we think that God is telling us that we are seated—and to be seated means “to rule”—in heavenly places or in the heavenlies in Christ, that means that Christ, of course, is ruling, but we are ruling with Him. We are ruling with Him.
Normally, this kind of idea, we do not get into too often. And, actually, the way God wrote the Bible, He knows our nature. He knows that we are power hungry. We like the idea of having authority, even true believers.
Remember the apostles? They were arguing which one of them would be the greatest. The mother of Zebedee’s children, James and John, went to Jesus, as we see in Matthew 20, and said, “When You come into Your Kingdom, can my sons be seated?”
Let us look at that, because that relates. In Matthew 20:21-22:
And he said unto her, What wilt thou? Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup…
And so forth. But the response is in the end of Matthew 20:23:
…but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
Believers are very capable of desiring authority so that we could rule.
So God has not really made it a point to stress these facts, and He has used language in the Bible to really humble us and to show us that, first of all, we are nothing because we are saved by grace. We are desperately wicked sinners; we are vile; we are filthy—all that language where God shows us who we are and that when it comes to salvation, we cannot do anything. God does all of the work. He gets all the glory.
And so God pictures those whom He is going to save as “poor” and “beggars” and “thieves,” like the thief on the Cross or like Barabbas who was a murderer set free. That is the language that God uses to describe us. “Do not think too much of yourself. Do not get a big head and think that you are really anything. Look, you are like these publicans and sinners or harlots, like Rahab the harlot who represents believers.” All that is contrary to truth, contrary to the Word of God, and those who live that way, God uses as examples to teach us that this is what we are like.
Then He also emphasizes that when we become saved, we become His servants. We are a slave. We are a bondservant. Remember 1 Corinthians 6, we are “bought with a price,” “ye are not your own”? You are a slave.
It is like you are on a trading block and I bought you; I purchased you; now you are mine, just as Joseph was sold to the Midianite traders who then sold him into Egypt, into Potiphar’s house. Just a servant, a household servant—God uses that kind of language.
He tells us also, for instance, in Romans 12:1:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Just serve God. Serve the Lord. As He bids, do it. Because who are you? Who am I? Who are we, but sinners who have been redeemed by the Blood of God.
God uses this same idea in Luke 17, where there was a servant plowing and feeding cattle, and then it says in Luke 17:7-10:
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
Or, I think not.
So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
That is the right mindset for us to have. That is the proper mindset for each one of us to have, to be humble and recognize that God gets all the praise and glory. Whatever He wants, we desire to do.
So God has placed these verses there to make sure that we understand our place and that we do not get a big head, that we do not think too much of ourselves, that we do not think that we are somebody.
For instance, in Psalm 84:10, it says:
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
A doorkeeper. In the big cities, like New York, even in Philadelphia in some places, they have big fancy hotels, and the doorkeeper is the one in the uniform standing at the door. He does not have on a suit and a tie, normally. He does not have on a tux. None of that. But everybody arriving in limos, they may, and they get out. He opens the door of their limousine. He helps with the luggage—well, helps?—he takes it all. He carries all the luggage into the hotel, up to the room, or gives it to someone else who maybe takes it up. That is a doorkeeper: opening the door, closing the door.
We share the Gospel, and Jesus is the Door, the entryway into eternal life. So, humbly, we hand somebody a tract. “This is the Door, the words of eternal life. Here you go.” And some people treat us like doorkeepers, do they not? We are nothing. We are nothing! We are nobody. You are despised. It is a shame to the world to bring up the Name of Christ on its street corners. It is not something the world loves or will praise. It is very lowly. If there happens to be a beggar on that street, you know, with his hand out, well, we are beneath the beggar. We are beneath the beggar if you also are there with the Gospel.
And that is how God has arranged it. Actually, it is a wonderful thing that we are afflicted, that we experience tribulation, in order that we do not get a big head and that we do recognize that we are really nothing, that God has saved us to serve, to minister, to share the Word with other people.
We are like the runner in the battle when there would be tidings of something in the battle, and Joab would write a note and fold it up and give it to Ahimaaz who would run the way of the plain to David.
Joab is somebody. David is somebody. Who is Ahimaaz? I hope I got his name right, but who is he? He is a messenger. He is a carrier, and that is what we are. We are messengers of the Gospel.
So we go and we do whatever God wants, whatever He wants, whatever He desires, because that is our lot, that is our position in this world, and we do not want to ever exalt ourselves and lift ourselves up to think we are somebody, because God resists the proud; He gives grace to the humble.
What is He going to do with the humble at the end? Exalt, well, actually, we are exalted in salvation into the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, but there is also a very real exaltation at the end of the world when He gives us new bodies to match the new soul, and we are lifted up to the Kingdom of God. Then we will understand what “principalities and powers” means, and we will have a task to do. We will have a job to do. We will have work to do.
What is it? Is it to have authority over five cities, ten cities? And who can say that it is, you know, God uses that language of someone who had ten pounds and made more money and someone with five, but we all have eternal life, we all have that gift of salvation, and there is not going to be any jealousy, there is not going to be any envy, there is not going to be any of the things that are common amongst men in this world when it comes to authority and ruling over “principalities and powers.” Everyone will have a perfect mind and perfect heart and give all the glory where it belongs, to God. That is what it is going to be and how it is going to be.
But let us go to Galatians 4, and we see how God does identify us as servants, but then He also wants us to know something else. In Galatians 4:1-7:
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
You see, our role in the new heavens and the new earth, in the Kingdom of God, which we know is fast approaching, is as a son, an heir of God, inheriting the new heavens and the new earth. But just think of the language that God uses to describe us: once filthy, but we are washed, we are cleansed, we are sanctified. As a result, God likens us to brethren. He speaks of the believers as being His “mother.” He speaks of the believers as being His “friend,” as being His “son.” It is very intimate language, as the Bride of Christ, the wife of the husband who is God Himself. All this intimate language, because He is bringing us into the family of God, unlike anything that He has ever created before.
He has created these other creations. They are out there. We do not know what they are. Just like God can make an insect different from an elephant, different from a dinosaur, man different from an angel. All creations but all different, varied.
And so God has created this creation here with whatever type of creatures, and over here, whatever type of creatures—all perfect, all holy, all just—and He has also now created man and redeemed man and brought him into glory to be seated in the heavenlies in Christ, and that is from which God rules; He reigns Supreme.
For instance, if we go to Revelation 5:9-10:
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Not on this earth. Not on this earth. Well, some believers reign, like Solomon, like David, over a certain dominion on this earth, but that is not what God has in mind. He is referring to the new heavens and the new earth, and believers will reign or rule or have authority. If you reign, you have to reign over something. You have to rule some thing or some one. If there is authority, there must be those who are subject to authority.
So God is, I think, letting us know that the elect people of God, maybe totaling 200 million, total, I do not know, 200 million that He redeems out of the human race, that could be a possibility, and who knows how many creations God has made and what is out there for us to labor in forevermore, or God could continue to create into the future. We do not know what God is going to do in that area, but we do know that He has made us kings. We are a “royal priesthood.” We are of the family of God. We are an adopted son of God. We are heirs. Now, yes, we are in servitude. We are serving God. But He says, “Thou art no more a servant, but a son.”
It is just something is just maybe giving us a little glimpse into the glory of Heaven that we know awaits us. We always knew that it is super glorious, but this could give us an idea, a little bit an idea, of what the people of God might be doing.
For instance, in Revelation 20:4, it says:
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God…
And that is the elect.
…and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
How long is God going to reign? In Exodus 15:18:
JEHOVAH shall reign for ever and ever.
Ever and ever, the Lord will reign. We reign with Him. And that “thousand” we always knew was the completeness of whatever was in view, the completeness of time, because it is a time reference. That is the only thing that you can use to describe eternity. For ever and ever and ever, the believers reign with Christ.
In Revelation 22:3-5:
And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Notice it is plural. “They shall reign for ever and ever,” because we will be ruling with the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, you know, it is just like God to have the weak and beggarly and foolish of this world, despised, disdained, like Lazarus the beggar or the poor widow women we read about in the Bible—nothing, to be nothing in this world, not desired, not cared for, not wanted, they die and nobody notices—and to take those, to confound the wise and mighty, but also to highly exalt them. And I think we are getting a better idea of what God means when He says that He will put down the proud and mighty and exalt the lowly and exalt the humble. He is going to lift His people up into the heavenlies.
One last verse, and this is again, we are still here, we are still here, still on this earth, we still have time, so let us get the proper mindset back to being who we actually are, nobodies, back to being just people who want to serve God, and, actually, even in glory.
If we go to Revelation 4, it is a wonderful scene there as God gives us a glimpse into Heaven, and it says in Revelation 4:9-11:
And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne…
And that would be twelve for the tribes of Israel and twelve for the apostles, indicating the fullness of God’s people, Old Testament and New. These “four and twenty elders” represent us. They represent all of us.
The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
So as God makes us kings and sets us over cities or as we rule with Christ, we know our place. We know our place, “Here is our crown, at Your feet O Lord, because Thou art the Great One and You have done it all.” So God will continue to get all the glory into eternity future.
Let us stop here and close with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for our expectation and our expectation is what we read in the Bible, Your promises, because they are true and faithful and trustworthy. You tell us that we should not envy sinners, “Let not thine heart envy sinners…for surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.” We know that man who does not want to wait on You, they do not want to do things according to Your timing and Your plan and to be in subjection to You, that people, and we have done it and are guilty of it, exalt themselves all the time, trying to lift themselves up. People spend their lives trying to obtain a place of prominence or of power or of authority or to be famous, “men of renown.” That is the nature of this world, everywhere in every society in every nation of the earth, and yet You tell us to not be like that and to not go after these things like the Gentiles or like the people of the world, to just be humble, to be humble and to be servants and minister. And, Father, we pray that You would help us to keep that mindset, that we are not doing anything great if we hand out a tract and we are not doing anything wonderful if we tell a friend or a family member about the Gospel and we are not doing something above and beyond if we go on a tract trip. These are all our reasonable duty. It is our responsibility. And, Father, we pray that we would say, after having done all, that we are just unprofitable servants. So we do ask that You would help us to look to You, to give You all the praise and glory and honor, now as well as in eternity future. We pray this in Christ’s Name. Amen.
Chris: Okay. If anybody has a question or comment or a verse that you would like to look at related to what we just talked about or anything else, you are welcome. You can raise your hand, and please come to the mic so that everyone on Paltalk can hear you also. And if you are listening on Paltalk, you can raise your hand there and Bob will relay your question to us.
1st Question: I have two questions. The first has to do with your teaching on power, when you started talking about power. Along the line of the references that you took us to was Luke 20:20. There, at the end of that verse:
…so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
You said the word “authority” is the same Greek word that means “power.” So that makes this verse then “power and power.”
My understanding in the English…
Chris: I did not look up the other Greek word that is translated “power.” There is another word, which is dunamis, that is translated as “power” oftentimes in the Bible. But I did not look that particular word up.
1st Question (continued): In the law, which is a good example for me to cite, “authority” means “a legal power.” It is a ruler who has given permission and delegated his power, in some respects, to someone (an underling), who now has legal power to exercise that power.
Someone who has a gun and comes and says, “Give me your money,” he has power, but that is illegal, that is outlawed.
So there is a difference between “power” and “authority.” Satan has “power,” but he has no power except what God has delegated to him.
Chris: Yes. That particular word, exousia, is translated as “authority,” “power,” “right,” and “jurisdiction,” which I think goes along with what you are saying about a legal definition.
In Luke 23:7, it says, and this is referring to Pilate:
And as soon as he knew that he belonged…
And that is referring to Christ.
…that he belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod…
So it is a word that means…it is very similar to our understanding of jurisdiction today where the police and the judges have jurisdiction in the state of Pennsylvania, but once they cross the state line, they do not have jurisdiction in Delaware.
So that is what God is getting at with this idea of “authority.” And I only went to Luke 20:20 (that is an easy one to remember, huh?) to show that the governor…well, the word is translated as “authority” there.
1st Question (continued): Yes, but the word before it is “power.”
Chris: Right. It is “power and authority.” The word “authority” is the word that we are looking at.
1st Question (continued): Yes, you said that it is the Greek word “power.”
Chris: Oh. Well, I could have made a misstatement about that. I do not know. But it is the word “authority” that is exousia that we found in Luke 19, about having authority over ten cities.
2nd Question: Okay. Thank you. Now the other question is I was told to ask you to repeat the program for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, because it seems like there has been some addition to what was said about Sunday since last week.
Chris: Friday night at 7:00, we will probably start with some hymns, maybe a little Scripture reading, and then we will begin with the first study about 7:30. The first study will finish and then we will take a little break, like we do here between studies, with coffee and refreshments. And then following that, whatever time, maybe 8:30-9:00, sometime in there, the second study will begin. And that will be it for Friday night. Well, after that, there will be refreshments.
Saturday morning will begin at 9:00 A.M., and that is going to be a hymn sing and some Scripture, 9:00-10:00. And then, one study, the first study in the morning, and then the second study in the morning. Lunch break on Saturday will be from 12:00-3:00, 3 hours, which gives us all time to eat. And also, since it is Saturday, the children can go out. There is a park behind the building here. There is a school and a playground, so the kids can play sports or whatever they want to do for that time. Also, we will have tracts on the table, if anyone, the adults, or if any children want to do, we can hand out tracts.
Then at 3:00, we will pick up with the first study of the afternoon, followed by the second study. There will be two studies, so I am figuring about 5:30. We have all night, so how ever long it goes. But two studies in the afternoon, after 3:00.
And the Sunday, normal starting, 10:00 A.M., just like we have been doing. 10:00-10:30, hymn sing. 10:30, a study, followed by 11:30, a study. Lunch, 12:00-2:00. We do not want to give kids time to play on Sunday, so 12:00-2:00, and then we will have one afternoon study, followed by a fellowship time after that.
After the fellowship time, that will be the close of the conference.
3rd Question: I have here Romans 5:6 and 8.
Chris: Okay. I will read it. Speaker reads Romans 6:6-9:
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Do you have a question about that?
3rd Question (continued): I was wondering about the tie-in with Ephesians 2, where it says, “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.”
Chris: Before salvation, we are dead in sin. When we committed sin, we spiritually died. So there is no spiritual life in us at all. We have a spirit. We have a mind. We have a body. We have physical life. But as far as spiritual life, it is dead.
I like the illustration that Mr. Camping uses of the city, the electricity, the power, where if you cut off the electricity, the city becomes dark. It is a dead city, for all intents and purposes.
When we become saved, we are energized. And now, we are rejoined to the power of God. So we can obey Him. We can keep His commandments. We can do His will. We can please Him, where we never could before.
And God has to do that. We cannot energize our self. We are dead. And when you are dead, you cannot make yourself alive. God has to give us life, and that is why He has to do all the work in salvation, and He does when He blesses His Word to His people’s hearts and saves them.
3rd Question (continued): I was looking at Roman 5:6-8.
Chris: Romans 5? Romans 5:6-8:
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Well, you see, God placed our sins on the Lord Jesus Christ from before the foundation of the world. That is when He died for us, as He was “the Lamb slain.” So it is there that our names were recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life, which is just figurative language in saying that God knows all of His elect people whom He is going to save.
Notice that it says:
For when we were yet without strength…
And that is what we were just mentioning, that energy, that source of energy. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Do you ever notice how many times God refers to power and strength, “That He would grant you…to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
And with the “armour of God” in Ephesians 6, it says in Ephesians 6:10:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Because we are weak. How weak are we? Well, we are led around by the nose to this sin and that sin and this sin.
Maybe we gather our strength and we stop that sin, yet we cannot stop the sin that flows out of our heart because we have no strength. We need the power of God to repent, to turn from sin, and to turn to God. Remember Mr. Camping’s message in Joshua, “Be strong and of a good courage,” as God lays that out in the book of Joshua. Meaning, to keep His commandments, we need the power of God.
If we are failing to obey God and we are sinning, do we not always say, “Oh, I was weak. I was weak, that is why I drank. I was weak, that is why I smoked. I was weak, that is why I did drugs. I was weak, that is why I got angry.”
Well, that is a true statement. We are weak. We are without strength. No strength. And we need God’s strength.
So if we keep sinning, we keep falling…and remember the man who was lame until God saved him, and then He gave his ankle bones strength and then he went leaping? That is a picture of walking in the commandments of God. Otherwise, we are lame and we cannot walk in the truth. So if anyone is continuing in sin and you have tried, I mean, you have really tried, you have put forth effort to stop it, to turn from it, and you cannot, then you need to go to God and keep praying for His power and His strength, that He would have mercy.
And then when we see the strength of God and we do put that sin behind us, then there is a little bit of evidence that maybe God is saving us, maybe God is having mercy.
4th Question: I heard on the radio about Elijah, when the boys said, “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” So Elijah cursed those kids, and tore about 84 children to pieces. I was wondering where that 84 came from.
Chris: That is one of my favorite passages, and I am starting to like it more and more as I go on (laughter). I know that it is in 2 Kings, towards the end of one of the chapters. 2 Kings 2:23-24:
And he went up from thence unto Bethel…
And remember, Bethel is “house of God.”
…and as he was going up by the way…
And “the way,” who is “the way”? Jesus.
…there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him…
Do people mock believers who are going “the way”? They do. It is ridiculous to them.
…and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
I do not know what the bald head represents, but we know that anything that is failing in our body is as a result of the corruption of sin.
And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of JEHOVAH. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
4th Question (continued): Could that mean judgment right there?
Chris: Yes. Satan is typified as a lion and a bear. David slew a lion and a bear, and a bear is likened to a wicked ruler in Proverbs.
So it is referring to Satan’s rule over the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation, that is why there are 42 children. And I think that is all that we can probably get from that.
5th Question: This is, actually, I guess, more of a comment on something that I saw. The current teaching that we are doing now has me in a bit of a whirlwind.
Chris: A bit of a what?
5th Question (continued): A whirlwind.
Chris: Oh, whirlwind. Oh, okay. Yes, there is a lot of information.
5th Question (continued): But I was reading in Ephesians 1:3, where it starts:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings…
And we are interpreting that:
…in heavenlies in Christ:
And if you go down to Ephesians 1:9-10, it says:
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
I read that previously and made a note based on what we were reading before. Just kind of looking at what this seems is that in the end, all things which are in heaven and in earth will come together in Christ. So there is that joining of us with whatever is going on in the heavenlies, right?
And then reading on further, it says in Ephesians 1:11-12:
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
So even looking at this, it is, just to me, we are an example of whatever it is that God is trying to show.
Chris: Yes that is, I think, correct. God, we know, created these creations, and we do not know what they are. We do not know how to describe them or what kind of creatures are there. But He created the world differently than any other creation, because God is not the author of sin. But He created man and He tested man with “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” And in all these other worlds, in all these other creations, none of them ever fell into sin. It is only in this world. And also, it was at the very beginning, so that we would all be in the loins of Adam and we would all come forth sinful, because you cannot bring a clean out of an unclean.
And God did that, or He permitted it, He allowed it to take place in order to set up the whole plan of salvation throughout history that we have seen unfold, up until our present day and as we near the end, to give Him the glory and praise and to demonstrate, as those verses say that Jesus was “made manifest.” Everything was put on display to the “principalities and powers” and also to all of mankind, to all of creation, to all of what God has created, in order to greatly enhance His glory, to bring glory to Himself.
And now that is another reason why there is no “hell,” why there will be no eternal damnation and suffering forevermore. Because once God completes His salvation plan, then at that point, after that five-month period, on October 21st, He already gathered His believers on May 21st, He will wipe out the world, the universe, because it has seen corruption, and He will wipe out man that remains upon it once and for all.
We were way off when we were thinking that Hell is a place, another creation of God, another world. God is going to create this place, He is going to throw billions of people into it, and He is going to make them suffer and torment them, and they would be in an agony, on and on and on and on into eternity future. And people who support that idea of Hell would say that the verses dealing with “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is describing Hell, rather than the five-month period as we have come to know.
Well, if that is so, then “weeping,” we could understand. But “gnashing of teeth” has everything to do with shaking your fist at God. They gnashed on Stephen with their teeth. Gnashing the teeth is an expression of anger.
So here are these rebels. They have rebelled against the King of kings, and they are judged, we thought, and thrown into Hell, and now they are blaspheming God and gnashing on Him with their teeth forever and ever and ever?
You know, God’s Law is eternal, and the Law of God would be broken on a continual basis, into eternity. Every time they called God a name, every time they were angry at Him, it is fresh sin, into eternity.
That does not glorify God. No. What glorifies God is just like a king. If there were rebels in his dominion, within his kingdom, under his realm, and then he gathered up the 10,000 of them and he threw them into prison. Okay. They are there. They are suffering in prison. But in prison, they keep railing on the king. They keep gnashing their teeth on the king.
What would any earthly king do? He would gather them all together, either, “Off with their heads!” or “Hang them on the gallows!” or whatever method of execution, and he would silence that rebellion once and for all.
Well, they would not continue to exist. They would not continue to call him names, even if he had them placed on Devil’s Island or something like that. No; not if he got a report that they were continuing their rebellion.
So what glorifies God is that He allowed sin to enter into the world. As a result, the world has seen corruption. And now at the end, He accomplished His purposes. Everything has been made manifest and put on display by the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, it is all gone.
And that is why 2 Peter 3 says “the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 1n Corinthians, the Apostle Paul said, “Are not ye my work in the Lord?” It is the same word, and 2 Peter 3 says that the works are burned up. And in many other places, that word “works” represents people, like in 1 Corinthians 3.
Well, anyway, I do not want to get into that too much, but we are learning the truth. Finally at the end, we are learning the truth, and this will glorify God like our other ideas never could.
You cannot have a false doctrine, no matter how exciting and dramatic it sounds, like Jonathan Edwards would teach, “This very day, your life is held by a thread over the pit of Hell, and if you die this night, and it is an angry God who is holding that thread, you are going right into Hell.”
Well, that is dynamic preaching, but it is not true. It is not true. Things that are true glorify God. Things that are true “convince the gainsayers,” sound doctrine. We do not have to try to make the Bible say something that it is not.
Okay, well why do we not have a quick word of prayer. Should I pray for the lunch? Well, why do we not also pray for the food.
Dear Father, we thank You, once again, for Your mercy, and we thank You that You are revealing things to us. And it is necessary that You do so because we could never figure out Your Word. It is a mystery to us. It is beyond us. You must open our understanding, and we thank You that, now at the end, it is Your plan to open up that which has been hidden and kept sealed. And, Father, we pray that You would give us a humble spirit of a servant, in service to You. And, also, when we come to the Bible, that we would be humble, as we realize that Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts and Your ways than our ways, as the heaven is higher than the earth. And help us to turn to You first and beseech You for guidance, for the Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth. We pray that we would not rush on and try to lead the way, but that we would wait upon You in all that You decree. In all that You will, help us to be conformed, not to the world but to Your will. Father, we thank You for this day and for the food that You have provided and for all of the blessings of the Bible that You have given us. And we thank You for these things in Christ’s Name. Amen.