To Dwell with God #1

(Feast of Tabernacles 2020—Day 1)

Learn from the faith of our forefathers to become a Holy people so that God may live within you

Fred R. Coulter—October 3, 2020

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to the Feast of Tabernacles! Time goes on and on and here we are again. Yet, though the end is closer, it hasn't yet arrived.

All the Holy Days are listed is Lev. 23, as we know. Why did God put them there? This is the only place in the entire Bible where they are listed in sequence according to the Calculated Hebrew Calendar. Yet, even though they are all listed here, the meaning is found scattered throughout the rest of the Bible!

It's an amazing thing that God has done in doing it in such a way. That fulfills Prov. 25, let's see what that says. God hides things, but reveals things. To whom does He reveal the knowledge to?

Proverbs 25:2: "The glory of God is to conceal a thing…"

For all of those who don't read the Old Testament, or who think that is the old Law, they'll never understand, though it's hidden in plain sight!

"…but the honor of kings… [that's what we're going to be] …is to search out a matter" (v 2). That's why we are told to live by every word of God; that the Bible is put together a little here and a little there, precept upon precept and line upon line

• IF you have the understanding of God, you will understand
• IF you don't have the understanding of God, you will be taken, snared and fall and not understand

Here we are in Lev. 23, and it's time for the Feast of Tabernacles. Those who do not follow the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, when they read this they don't have a clue as to what it's saying.

Jesus said, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,' and He's got it written down! None of the Bible—anywhere from Genesis to Revelation is of the wisdom or origination of human beings. It comes from God by direct command, as in this case, or by inspiration with the New Testament!

Leviticus 23:33: "And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying, "The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. On the first day shall be a Holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein"'" (vs 33-35). That's today, the first day!

Verse 36: "Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD…." That's when they had all the sacrifices! Today we just take up the offerings on the Holy Day because we don't have animals to sacrifice.

All of those sacrifices were to be done by the priests and the Levites, and the people would bring their sacrifices there. When there were more and more people, it ended up being more and more of turning it into real money and bringing that and depositing it at the temple.

Here's another little phrase, which [of the Holy Days] is the least spoken of in the Bible; however, it has one of the greatest meanings of all in its prophetic fulfillment:

"…On the eighth day shall be a Holy convocation to you. And you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly. And you shall do no servile work therein." (v 36).

The eighth day is the day after the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, and it has the greatest meaning of all! That's how God does things! Sometimes the least little thing becomes the greatest of all!

Verse 37: "These are the Feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations…"

Verse 1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations, even these are My appointed Feasts"'" (vs 1-2).

Appointed for what? So, we can come to God and learn of God! The first one is the Sabbath Day! That's the only commandment of the ten that says to remember! But most people forget! The Sabbath sanctifies all the Holy Days, and they are all owned by God!

God has a secret in understanding, which is a good understanding have all those who keep His commandments! God is not going to reveal anything to sinful men unless they repent and yield to God and come to Him in meekness and humble adoration to love with all their heart, mind, soul and being!

• that's why we're here
• that's why God has called us

This Feast of Tabernacles that we're having this year is a great Feast, indeed, especially concerning the times in which we are living! It's important that we keep it!

Verse 37: "These are the Feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations…" He sums it up like He began it; the first and the last, the beginning and the ending!

"…to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything on its day; besides the Sabbaths of the LORD…" (vs 37-38).

God wants you totally with Him! That's what it means to love Him with your whole heart, totally!

"…and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD" (v 38).

(pause for the offering)

The Tabernacle of God or to live with God! That's the whole important thing concerning our relationship with God, and God's relationship with men and women, and it's carried out throughout the whole Bible.

We're going to see that as we go through this message today. Where we're going to begin is at the beginning. It's very interesting all the things that are here, the basic information that we need to know. God doesn't tell us every detail, and doesn't tell us how long Adam and Eve were with Him, being instructed by Him, living with Him in paradise: The Garden of Eden!

But God made us in such a way that He's given us independent free moral agency—IFMA—and we are to choose! Why did God do that? Because He doesn't want robots!

Men today are trying to make robots as human-like as they can. But a robot can only parrot back what's put in there:

• no thought
• no emotion
• no love
• no consideration
• no ability to create, design and make

We're made in the likeness of God, so we can build, do and make, because God wants us to be His active children trusting in Him!

That's why He made us the way that He did! He knew that Adam and Eve would fail. Rev. 13 says that Jesus was 'slain from the foundation of the world.' That's going many, many eons in eternity!

The important thing about Adam and Eve is that God personally created them with His own hands! Everything else God spoke and they came into being.

There's that special connection with man/woman and God. He made us in a way that is absolutely spectacular! Not only we thinking independent free moral agents, but also we have the capacity:

• to love
• to cry
• of understanding
• of coming to know God

All of those things God intrinsically created in us! The one thing that He wanted them to do is obey His voice, because you prove your love by obeying God! But He gave them choice. He put them in the Garden of Eden, the paradise of God. Adam was to till it, care for it, to keep it—guard it—and God would bless them. But like anything else, when you have free moral agency you have to know. How Adam and Eve is going to apply that free moral agency?

• Will it be toward God?
• Will it be toward themselves?
• Will it be toward Satan?

That's a choice! Satan is the great liar and counterfeiter!

Genesis 3:1: "Now, the serpent was more cunning than any creature of the field, which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Is it true that God has said, "You shall not eat of any tree of the garden"?'"

Of course, understanding what God said, she had to correct him; v 2: "And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may freely eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has indeed said, "You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die"'" (vs 2-3).

Well, Adam and Eve didn't know what dying meant. God said, 'in dying you shall surely die.' We know from history that they lives to be over 900-years-old. I wonder what they were thinking about year 700? I wonder if were going to die, Adam? Well, they did!

The serpent—Satan—is cunning, lying, slick and takes Truth and twists it! Look at the 'Christianity' of this world today, and you get a good example of that. They have long, long ago left living by every word of God!

Verse 4: "And the serpent said to the woman, 'In dying, you shall not surely die! For God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like God, deciding good and evil'" (vs 4-5).

That's the only way that they would be like God. They obviously weren't going to inherit eternal life and live forever.

How did God appear to Adam and Eve? He appeared in a form that was much like a human being! No man or woman can be in the presence of God in His glory and live. They will die, because God is so inherently powerful that in His glorified form nothing can stand in the physical sense without being damaged or dying!

When the serpent said that "... you shall be like God…" They probably thought: We're made in His likeness, He told us that, and if we eat of this tree we will be like Him and can decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, and good and evil!

Verse 6: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise..."

That's true Satan's way, but not God's way, because it's wise:

• to evil
• to lies
• to conniving
• to twisting
• to turning
• to selfishness and human nature

Their eyes would be opened to that, but closed to the Truth of God!

Just like today, the reason why so many do not understand the Bible—though they are supposedly Christians—is because their eyes are closed to the Word of God. They think they are wise to the lies of Satan with a false Christianity! Quite an amazing thing when you understand it.

"…she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate" (v 6).

What was Adam doing sitting there watching her do this? He knew that God said, 'Don't eat it, don't touch it!' A lot of people like to say that 'don't touch it' was added by the woman. NO! That's probably added instruction that God gave a little later.

• Why did Adam do it?
• Was he wondering  if she's going to die if she eats it?

She takes a bite of it and she's still walking around and comes over and says, 'Adam, just taste this, it's really good.' So, he ate it! Then Satan had the upper hand on them, right then!

Satan tells lies to gain control of people! If you don't believe that, look at the political world today: filled with lies everywhere to control people! For what purpose? That they can't come to God!

Verse 7: "And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Then Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?'" (vs 7-9).

One man said, 'If God didn't know where they were, what kind of God was He?' Well, the truth is that God wanted Adam to come out; He knew where they were! No question about it!

You know the rest of the story, and because they went against God, sinned against God, they couldn't dwell with God! This is what has happened to all mankind!

Verse 10: "And he [Adam] said, 'I heard You walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, and so I hid myself.' And He [God] said, 'Who told you that you were naked?….'" (vs 10-11).

That may give us a clue to some of the things that Adam and Eve did. We don't know how long they were with the serpent doing all that they did, and we don't know what they did. It wasn't just a quick one-day event, I am sure of that! I'm sure that Satan was indoctrinating them with his way, his means, with his talking… we don't know how long! To make a guess we would be incorrect because we don't know.

"…Have you eaten of the tree, which I commanded you that you should not eat?" (v 11).

It's typical human nature that when you're caught it's never your fault. I don't care how young you are or how hold you are, that's human nature!

Verse 12: "And the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.'" God, it's Your fault, because You gave me this woman! But when God gave the woman to Adam, he said, 'Whoooo!

Verse 13: "And the LORD God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' And the woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.' And the LORD God said to the serpent… [here is the judgment, and it's carried out clear down to this day]: …'Because you have done this you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You shall go upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel'" (vs 13-15).

That is a prophecy of the coming Messiah to save mankind. The very first prophecy, with the very first sin! Amazing!

Verse 16: "To the woman He said, 'I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception…'"

This is true because in the eyes of every mother their children are still their babies!They are emotionally attached to their children because of conception, carrying them, nursing them, taking care of them, and so forth. That sorrow continues all through life, coming and going at different intervals depending on the conduct of their children.

"…in sorrow shall you bring forth children. Your desire shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you" (v 16).

Verse 17: "And to Adam He said, 'Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife…'"—instead of My voice!

It doesn't matter what someone may come and tell you, if it is contrary to the Word of God do not do it! Every one of us has to make that choice. That's our responsibility as free moral agents. If we choose God and love God—now with the Spirit of God to grow in grace and knowledge and prepare for the first resurrection—we are going to have as pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles the greatest, most wonderful things that we can do! All of that is based upon the three words: Obey My voice!

Think about that! All you young people out there, remember that! All you children out there, obey the voice of your father and mother, because that is a blessing from God!

Let's understand that the whole reason I'm going through this is to show the lesson that you cannot dwell with God or you cannot be in the eventual Tabernacle of God unless you love and obey God, by your own free moral agency in everything that you do! That's what God wants! The blessing is going to come partly in this life, but only the greatest portion at the resurrection.

So the woman is going to have sorrow. Women say that God is going to give us sorrow. Hold on! Let's see what God told Adam:

Verse 17: "And to Adam He said, 'Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree—of which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat of it!"—the ground is cursed for your sake. In sorrow… [men will have sorrow as well as women] …shall you eat of it all the days of your life. It shall also bring forth thorns and thistles to you, and thus you shall eat the herbs of the field; in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return'" (vs 17-19).

Why do I go through all of that? To show one of the greatest lessons of all! You cannot live with God unless you love and obey Him, and follow Him! That's why He's given His whole Word. Here they had personal contact with God.

{Note sermon: What Would the World Have Been Like if Adam & Eve Had Not Sinned?}

Verse 22: "And the LORD God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to decide good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever—'"

How would you like to live forever in the current way that you live, good and evil? NO! God doesn't want that!

Verse 23: "Therefore, the LORD God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken. And He drove out the man, and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword, which turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life" (vs 23-24).

Now let's do a survey and see something very important that carries right on down through the rest of the entire Bible. We know that Abel was righteous.

• Why was Abel righteous? Because he did what God said!
• Why was Cain unrighteous? Because he didn't do what God commanded!

Jealousy, greed an hatred caused Cain to kill Abel!

Then we have the two lines of genealogy:

• the line of Cain the wicked generation
• the line of Seth, who replace Abel

Out of all of that, only the ones of the line of Seth were righteous. Only two are mentioned [in the book of Hebrews].It doesn't say that these other men in the line of Seth were unrighteous, but Enoch was outstanding.

• Enoch:

Genesis 5:21: "And Enoch lived sixty-five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he begat Methuselah. And he begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years" (vs 22-23). He was so righteous that they were out to kill him!

• Noah:

At this time the earth was so wicked, and we've covered that. What I want to cover here concerning Noah is important to understand.

Genesis 6:8: "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." That's quite a thing!

You hear fake Christianity talk about grace in the New Testament, but there was also grace in the Old Testament. But so few took advantage of it by loving God.

Verse 9: "These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations, for Noah walked with God."

Is that not what we're supposed to do? Think about it with God's Spirit in us: Walk with God!

Then you know what happened, the Flood came and God started all over again (Gen. 9).

• Abraham

Gen. 12—Abraham not only walked with God, he believed God! What I want to do is look at the explanation of Abraham in Heb. 11, because that's quite something how that came all the way down. Remember what it says in the New Testament: If you are Christ's, you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise!

Let's see what it says concerning Noah and then we'll get to Abraham. Heb. 11:1 gives us a good summary of salvational faith in the Old Testament.

Hebrews 11:1: "Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen."

The faith that we have comes as a gift of God. When we first start it is our faith. Then when we are converted and grow in grace and knowledge, God adds to us His Spirit and the very faith of Jesus Christ! That's an important thing to understand, and why it's so important that we continue daily in prayer and study, and living in the way that God has said that He wants us to live.

We want to live with God, but He wants to know how we are going to prepare for it!

Verse 2: "For by this kind of faith the elders obtained a good report. By faith we understand that the worlds were created by the Word of God, so that the things that are seen were made from things that are invisible" (vs 2-3). True!

Even the smallest particle that men can even find, does not really define the smallest particle.

Verse 4: "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it, though he died, he is yet speaking."

In other words, the Word of God is so true that it's always in the present tense; keep that in mind.

Verse 5: "By faith Enoch was transported so that he would not look upon death…"—men were after him to kill him, so God took him and transported him someplace else. He didn't go to heaven, because later it says, 'These all died in faith.'

"…and was not found because God had transported him; for before his departure it was testified of him that he pleased God."

• What does it mean to please God?
• How do you please God?

Verse 6: "Now, without faith it is impossible to please God…." You can't come along and be as James said, and be double-minded, having half your mind on God's way and half your mind on the world's way! That's double-minded and you can't have faith that's required, because then you're unstable.

I'm going to read the stats on what happened to the Ambassador College graduates, astonishing and unbelievable, because many were double-minded and didn't please God.

"…For it is mandatory for the one who comes to God to believe that He exists…" (v 6)—everything that God says that He is and does, and you can have full confidence in that, because God cannot lie!

"..and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (v 6). Think about that!

Verse 7: "By faith Noah, after being Divinely instructed by God about the things he could not yet see, was moved with fear and prepared an ark for the salvation of his house; through which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith."

Quite an important thing, the faith of God! That's what Jesus told the disciples they had to have in Mark 11, faith from God! The Greek is faith of God, or God's faith!

(Break)

There's quite a bit in here about Abraham, which is tremendously important for us to understand.

Verse 8: "By faith Abraham, being called of God to go out into the place, which he would later receive for an inheritance, obeyed and went, not knowing where he was going." Stop and think about your life:

• how long you've been baptized
• how long you've been in the Church'
• how long you've studied the Word of God

• Are you where you thought you would be when you were first baptized? I dare say that none of us could say yes!
• Why? Because we walk by faith!

We all have different trials to come along, and all of that is to prepare us for the fulfilling of God's plan for us, that we can rule the world with Christ! That's what it's all about. Everything that there is circles around that place.

Verse 9: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, like a foreigner… [he didn't own it; he just lived in it] …dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob…"

Abraham lived long enough to see Jacob born and he died when Jacob was two-years-old! Think about that! That's quite a thing!

"…dwelling [living] in tabernacles…"—that's what this temporary body for us is also, a tabernacle, a temporary dwelling.

"…the joint heirs of the same promise; for he was waiting for the city with the foundations of which God is the Architect and Builder" (vs 9-10).

How much of God's plan did Abraham really, really know? Think about when he took Isaac out to offer him as the burnt offering! He must have known an awful lot about the plan of God, though it's not written in the Old Testament. That's why I'm reading this account in the book of Hebrews, because this tells us more about it.

He lived in tabernacles, v 10: "For he was waiting for the city with the foundations of which God is the Architect and Builder."

Isn't it interesting that when Jesus was here in the flesh that it says that He was a carpenter, but really it should say that He was a Builder/Contractor!

Verse 11: "By faith also Sarah herself received power to conceive seed, and gave birth when she was well beyond the childbearing age because she esteemed Him faithful Who had personally promised her a son." Even though she laughed!

Verse 12: Because of this faith, there came into being from one man—and moreover, one who was reproductively dead—descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and as countless as the sand on the seashore"—which today is expanded way beyond that!

Just count that as all the generations down through time, of all the physical 12 tribes, those are the sand of the seashore, and the stars of heaven are all of those who are converted!

Think about what it's going to be in the finality of God's plan. Jesus said to remember that those of us who are faithful will enter into the Kingdom of God and shine like the sun. so, to dwell and live with God has much more to do with a complete new existence, and that's why there's a resurrection from the dead.

Verse 13: "All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar, and having been persuaded of them, and having embraced them, and having confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth." Take this verse and apply it to yourself!

• "…having been persuaded of them…"

• Are you persuaded of them?
• Do you have doubts in your mind?

You might as well get rid of them and have absolute confidence that what God has said is going to happen?

•  "…having embraced them…"

Not just look at them from arms length, but embrace them, take them into:

• your bosom
• your heart
• your mind

"…having confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth"—saying of themselves they had nothing!

• Who are we?
• What are we?

As we all know, no one has taken anything to the grave!

But the promises of God are sure, and will happen, because to be in the tabernacle with God—or as we're going to see, it's going to be greater than a tabernacle—it's going be New Jerusalem, because that's where we end up with the 8th Day! Isn't that true? Yes, indeed!

Verse 14: "For those who say such things make it manifest that they seek their own country, as promised by God"—which is the Kingdom of God!

That's where we're headed!That's what Christ is going to bring, and this what we're going to do. We will see how that's going to be. God is going to make human existence elevated to such a high level it's going to be a marvelous thing, indeed!

Verse 15: "And if…"—IFMA—independent free moral agency:

• we all have it
• we all need to exercise it
• we all need to make the right choices

When we don't make the right choices, we all need to repent and yield to God! He is there to forgive!

"…on the one hand, they had let their minds dwell fondly on the place where they came from, they might have had opportunity to return" (v 15).

Who would be giving that opportunity to return? Think about it in your life! Let me tell you this: too many who have been in the Church of God, when the opportunity given by Satan the devil to leave and go their own way, they left! Let's hope that whatever measure of repentance they may have that God may give them, and that's up to their choices and God… No one is going to:

• dwell with God
• tabernacle with God
• be in the house of God
• be in the temple of God
• be in the New Jerusalem of God

unless you love and obey God, regardless of what the command is! That's what Abraham did with Isaac!

Verse 16: "But now, on the other hand, they are aspiring to a more excellent country—that is, a heavenly one…." We're waiting for the Kingdom of God, not something on this earth:

• that men do
• that men have built up
• that men align themselves with

but from God!

"…Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God because He has prepared a city for them" (v 16).

Remember what Jesus said on that Passover night, 'You believe in God, believe also in Me; I'm going to prepare a place for you, so that you may be where I am'—to live with God!

• that's why we're here
• that's why our bodies are temporary

This tabernacle that we have today is temporary!

Verse 17: "By faith Abraham, when he was being tried, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said, 'In Isaac shall your Seed be called'" (vs 17-18).

Let's go back and see that promise! Let's see how great that the obedience, the love and the devotion of Abraham to God was, and it came to Isaac, the promised seed.

Abraham was 100-years-old and Sarah was 90. God did it that way to show the viability of His promise, that in spite of how men would look at it, and even God ordinarily makes it happen, that they can no longer have children when they get old. But God did the impossible with Abraham and Sarah to have Isaac. Now the promise went to Isaac, and from Isaac comes the dual seed:

• to Israel
• to the Church

Genesis 26:2: "And the LORD appeared to him [Isaac] and said, 'Do not go down into Egypt…. [because there was a famine] …Live in the land, which I shall tell you of. Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your seed, I will give all these lands; and I will establish the oath, which I swore to Abraham your father'" (vs 2-3).

God cannot lie, never ever, ever, ever lie! His word is true, and He will keep His word!

• that's why we have Jesus Christ
• that's why we have the Bible
• that's why we have the promises given to us

So that we can have the hope of living with God!

Verse 4:"And I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens …" That's the spiritual seed that Paul writes of: If you are Christ's then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.'So, to the Church first!

"…and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (v 4)—right on down through the Last Great Day!

We need to understand how great God's plan is! Notice why this went to Isaac. God didn't say because Isaac was a good boy all his life. But because God keeps His word, and Isaac was the promised seed:

Verse 5: "Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

Think about that! Remember that you cannot dwell with God unless you:

• obey God
• believe God
• love God

Hebrews 11:20: "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things that were to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped God, leaning on the top of his staff" (vs 20-21). He was 147 years old at that time! That's when he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the sons.

Verse 22: "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, spoke of the coming exodus of the children of Israel, and gave a command concerning his bones."

Let's look through this. All of this is by those who:

• believed God
• trusted God
• obeyed God
• loved God

They were there and walked with God!

Verse 23: "By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because they saw that he was a beautiful little child; and they did not fear the king's decree. By faith Moses, after becoming a great leader, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the temporary pleasure of sin" (vs 23-25)—free moral agency!

In all of this we see that the blessings come by choosing God's way!

Verse 26: "For he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking intently to the reward."

We're going to go back and look at the situation with Moses and Israel in just a bit.

Verse 27: "By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he persevered, as if he were seeing the One Who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not slay them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea…" (vs 27-29).

God has given all of these men up to this point an opportunity to dwell, tabernacle or live with God! We're going to see that He gave this opportunity to the children of Israel, and that's why he used Moses, quite an interesting thing when you go through it all. God really intended to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, but it all depended on the free moral agency of the people combined; the IFMA: Independent Free Moral Agency!

• Do you choose to love God and obey Him?
• Do you choose to obey His Law or not?

God had a great plan for Israel, and they have carried it out to a certain extent down through history, because God chose Israel to be the leading nations of the world. Even in spite of their sins, they ruled the world, and they were given opportunity to love God and carry out a great mission for God, and He chose to do it through them.

Moses was the one who led them out of Egypt, across the Red Sea and to Mt. Sinai. When they got to Mt. Sinai we will see what it was that God intended the people of Israel to do. It would have changed the world if they would have done it.

Exodus 19:3: "And Moses went up to God… [on Mt. Sinai] …and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel.'"

When God does something, He gives you a simple overall perspective. Remember when you were baptized. Simple proposition: repent of your sins and be baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!Was there a whole lot more for you to learn and understand? Yes, there was! A great deal! But the proposition is simple.

Just like when a man proposes to a woman to be his wife, and he to be her husband, it's a simple proposition: Will you marry me? Yes! Now then, everything after that comes. Remember, marriage is binding unto death! There are a couple of exceptions. So, God chose Israel. Why? Because He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

The children of Israel were going to represent God to whole world, to show the world the way of God.

Verse 4—God says: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself…. [notice the command]: …Now, therefore, if… [conditional] …you will obey My voice indeed…" (vs 4-5).

That's the whole thing with everything. It the same way IF you want to enter into the Kingdom of God:

• you've got to obey God, love Him and keep His commandments!
• you've got to have faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as He said
• you've got to live by every word of God

So, here it is to them!

"…and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine" (v 5).

That didn't make them superior, because they were there for a mission. It's the same way today with the Church. The Church is here for a mission, and all the people that God has called belong to God! All of us who are elders and ministers are merely stewards to teach you the Word of God so that you can grow in grace and knowledge, and faith and understanding so you can attain to the Kingdom of God and be a spirit son or daughter of God!

With the children of Israel, they were to be the emissaries of all the nations of the world.

Verse 6: "And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation…." You can't ask for anything better; you can't ask for anything more at this particular time!

"'…These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.' And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words, which the LORD commanded him" (vs 6-7). They heard the proposition, and it sounded good! Was anybody going to turn that down? Of course not!

But there's a whole lot more to it than meets the eye, because the proposition has a lot of detail that had to be fulfilled and filled in order to make it work. In order to be a Holy nation, they had to have the laws and commandments of God coming from the Holy God:

• for the Holy Word of God
• for the Holy Ten Commandments
• for the Holy statutes and judgments of God

to carryout what they were to carry out!

Verse 8: "And all the people answered together and said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do.' And Moses returned the words of the people to the LORD."

Then the Lord told Moses to prepare the people, and in three days 'I'm coming down on the top of the mountain' and the greatest thing to happen up to that point on earth to the greatest number of people, all those who had come out of the land of Egypt—the young, the old, the children, well over a million to 1.5 million, some even say 2-million. It doesn't matter the number to be exact, because the historical thing was done.

They were to be a special people to God, to serve God for the rest of the nations of the world. Does that sound like something we're going to do? Yes, indeed! We are called a Holy nation (1-Peter). Think on that!

Verse 16: "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain. And the sound of the trumpet was exceedingly loud so that all the people in the camp trembled…. [awesome indeed] …And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the base of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was smoking, all of it because the LORD came down upon it in fire. And the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly" (vs 16-18).

Think about what it would be like if you were standing there and this happened!

Verse 19: "And when the sound of the trumpet sounded long, and became very strong, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Go down. Command the people…'" (vs 19-21)—not to come up any closer!

Verse 24: "And the LORD said to him, 'Away! Get you down, and only you shall come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break forth upon them.' And Moses went down to the people, and spoke to them" (vs 24-25).

Why? Because they were not sanctified nor called to do it! Very interesting principle.

You know what happened, all the Ten Commandments were given! This is quite a thing that took place. They had been in Egypt, living like all of the pagans around them. Yet, God brought them out and spared their firstborn. He brought them to the mountain so they could be dedicated and consecrated, to be a people Holy to God! But they had to start out with the right foundation! And that right foundation was the Ten Commandments!

When the Millennium starts, what do you think is going to be the first thing we are going to introduce all the people of the world to? Right here, the Ten Commandments of God:

• spoken by God
• carried out by the kings and priests and Family of God
• to bring to the whole world

Israel failed!

We are spiritual Israel! All the commandments are important! So, let's go through them, because this is what God told them, and this is how we're going to run the Kingdom of God, with:

• the love of God
• the Truth of God
• the commandments of God

There will be only one God to worship: God the Father and Jesus Christ. We are His servants to the people, to bring them the knowledge of Truth, love and salvation. But they have to do what God always requires: Obey My voice!

Exodus 20:1: "And God spoke all these words, saying, 'I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage'" (vs 1-2).

That may be changed just a little bit: 'I am the LORD your God, Who came from heaven to setup the Kingdom of God and:

Verse 3: "You shall have no other gods before Me.

Then no idols, no bowing down to them (vs 4-5). We'll make sure they don't do it. They won't take the name of the Lord God in vain (v 7).

They will all remember the Sabbath Day and keep it (v 8) as we find in Isa. 66. Then they shall love their neighbor as themselves with all the rest of the commandments:

• honor your mother and father (v 12)
• no murder (v 13)
• no adultery (v 14)
• no stealing (v 15)
• no lying (v 16)
• no coveting (v 17)

Those are all the law of love to God and to neighbor, and the foundation for the coming Kingdom of God!

This is quite a thing, indeed. This is what God is going to do, because then the whole world will be living with God and His Family!

Scriptural References:

• Proverbs 25:2
• Leviticus 23:33-37, 1-2, 37-38

• Genesis 3:1-19, 22-24
• Genesis 5:21-23
• Genesis 6:8
• Hebrews 11:1-18
• Genesis 26:2-5
• Hebrews 11:20-29
• Exodus 19:3-8, 16-21, 24-25
• Exodus 20:1-5

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 13
• Genesis 9; 12
• Mark 11
• Exodus 20:4-5, 7-8
• Isaiah 66
• Exodus 20:12-17

Also referenced: Sermon:
What Would the World Have Been Like if Adam & Eve Had Not Sinned?

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 7/27/20

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