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Has God Indeed Said - Part 5

Oct 03, 2021 by: John Herbert | Series: Has God Indeed Said

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2Pe 3:5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water

We will continue to look at what the 'scoffers' willfully forgot.

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Sunday October 3rd 2021
Has God Indeed Said
Part 5

1). Ge 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

We have seen through Satan’s actions in the Garden that the focus for his deception was the Woman, and to bring this over into the antitype of the Woman we will find those who have the potential to become the Bride of Christ, Christians from this dispensation. Satan knows full well that the Christ is beyond his reach, but he also knows, that if he can disqualify those called to the Kingdom of the heavens, those pictured through the Woman, then the Head of the Church, Christ, cannot rule. Replaying the events of the Garden.
	a). God’s purpose though, revealed from the beginning, cannot be stopped but on an individual level, each one of us has the choice to make to wholeheartedly believe and act upon God’s Word and put to death the old man in doing so, or else embrace the lie. There is no middle ground to tread.
	b). And with a view to deception the same question asked in the Garden, only in a slightly different form, has continued to be asked within the Church - 2Pe 3:1 ¶ Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 ¶ knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

To question the promise of the Lord’s coming, is a part of the corruption of the Word of the Kingdom, pictured for us by the woman who placed leaven in three measures of meal in the parable of the leaven in Matthew 13:33.
c). And we have seen that this is a deliberate attack on the central message of Scripture and strikes at the very heart of God’s foundational revelation to Man, seeking to destroy it.

2). As we saw last time the heavens and the earth were created perfectly, as recorded in Genesis 1:1 and that it was the result of the judgment of Satan’s rebellion that the heavens and the earth became formless and void, enswathed in darkness with the earth covered with raging waters, recorded in Genesis 1:2a.  
a). This ruin of the material creation was then followed by a subsequent restoration process that lasted for six days, followed by a seventh day of rest, providing an unchangeable process within an unalterable pattern, creation, ruin, restoration, rest. 
b). We had also seen last time, that God had restored the earth for the specific purpose of having His new creation, Man, rule over it  in the place of Satan - Ge 1:26 ¶ Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Adam, however, through the Woman’s deception, became disqualified to rule before ever taking the scepter of rulership, leaving the incumbent, Satan, as the ‘ruler of this world’.
c). But all of this had been willfully forgotten by the ‘scoffers’ –
2Pe 3:5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

The ‘scoffers’ had chosen to willfully forget God’s intervention that brought judgment upon Satan’s sin, leaving the creation ruined. And they had chosen to willfully forget God’s restorative intervention, claiming that ‘all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation’. The evidence of Scripture is that all things have clearly not continued as they were – nor will they continue as they are. But the question continues to be asked ‘Has God indeed said?’
	 d). And in asking this question the scoffers had willfully forgotten that God has set about the process of restoring His ruined creation, both Mankind and the material creation, a restoration that must follow the process of six days of work followed by a seventh day of rest -
2Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 ¶ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

There will be six thousand years of work, bringing about the restoration of that which was ruined in Genesis Chapter 3,  followed by a Seventh Day of Rest, the Millennial Kingdom of Christ - Heb 4:1 ¶ Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it……………………9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

Biblical prophecy also takes us beyond the Seventh Day to show God’s final intervention with respect to the heavens and earth which now are - 1Co 15:24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

At the conclusion of the Seventh Day, God the Son will deliver the Kingdom to God the Father, having put an end to all rule and all authority and power - Ps 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.'

And at this point, death and the place of death are to be destroyed – 
Re 20:14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.

Death is always the consequence of sin - Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death,

And so, the destruction of death denotes the total eradication of sin.
e). The heavens and the earth that are now, which have come out of the restoration in Genesis Chapter 1:2b onwards, are reserved for fire at the end of the Seventh Day - 2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.11 ¶ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening [to await eagerly] the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

At this point there will be a new beginning marking the start of ‘the day of God’, the first of the endless ages of what we call eternity – 
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Re 21:1 ¶ Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

Not only do the ‘scoffers’ willfully forget God’s interventions recorded in Biblical history in relation to the heavens and earth ‘of old’, but they also willfully forget Biblical prophecy concerning ‘the heavens and the earth which are now’. Both Biblical history and Biblical prophecy are certain.
f). So why is the present world destined for fire? The simple answer is found at the beginning of the foundation – Ge 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

At the beginning of the foundation God had established that there is a specific timeframe in which He would complete His dealings with the restored earth and Man. There would be six days followed by a seventh Day. And it is only in relation to these days that time exists as we know it. At the end of these seven days, God will have completed His dealings with Mankind and with the material creation. And all things will have been brought to conclusion with all human beings, both saved and unsaved, having been judged, allowing for sin to be eradicated for all time – Re 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

All things having been brought to their conclusion, with God’s dealings with the earth and its occupants complete, we will enter a totally new era, the Day of God, the first of the endless ages of eternity, the ages of the ages. This marks a new beginning separate from what has gone before - Isa 65:17 ¶ "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.

And it is because of this completely new beginning, with God the Father and God the Son residing on the new earth with all the eternally redeemed, with universal rule now in view, that there is a complete separation from that which has gone before, with the events of the seven days and the places, the heavens and the earth, where they were enacted no longer being remembered or coming to mind.

3). Ge 5:1 ¶ This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. 3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

The fifth chapter of Genesis begins with a genealogy covering ten generations from Adam through the lineage of Seth. And within this genealogy only two persons are singled out for additional commentary -Ge 5:21 ¶ Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

The name, Enoch is derived from a Hebrew word meaning to discipline, to train up, and because of the antitype, this might bring to our mind the child training of the Lord.

Ge 5:28 ¶ Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed."

The name, Noah is the Hebrew word for rest, which will inevitably draw us to the seventh Day, the day of rest, that which is to follow that pictured through the flood, the tribulation.
a). We know that it is not an insignificant fact that Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam and Noah the tenth, as seven and ten are numbers of completion.
	b). So, we can see through this that after a complete period of time, one man, Enoch, was removed from the earth alive and taken into heaven, and after another complete period of time, one man and his family, Noah, remaining on the earth, were kept safely through a worldwide destruction caused by a flood similar to that described in Genesis 1:2.
c). With these things in mind let’s look at - Lu 17:26 "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:

As it was in the days of Noah, preceding the flood, where one man was taken alive into heaven, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man, preceding the tribulation, where one man – the one new man in Christ, both those alive at the time and the resurrected will be taken into heaven for judgment.
	d). As it was in the days of Noah, where one man and his family were preserved safely through a time of worldwide destruction by Divine intervention, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man, where the creation in Jacob and his family, the nation of Israel, will be preserved safely through the great tribulation, through Divine intervention.
	e). It is the seventh generation, Enoch, who provides the type for the one new man in Christ being taken from the earth into the Lord’s Day in the heavens, 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

And it is interesting to note that there is just one prophecy recorded for Enoch, which is found in Jude, the Book that deals with apostate Christians, the very ones who deny the event for which Enoch provides the foundational type - Jude 1:14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 ¶ "to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

And that which these ungodly sinners have spoken against Him we can find represented in the questions, ‘Has God indeed said?’ and ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’
	f). There is one other thing we should note from Scripture with regards to Enoch - Heb 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

We can see here that Enoch acted by faith to the saving of the soul, which pleased God.  And the faith he exercised was in believing that God is God and therefore to be taken at His Word, and that God is a rewarder, the reward of the inheritance, of those who diligently seek Him. And such must be the testimony for all who would find themselves in the antitype of Enoch.

And then for Noah - Ge 7:6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.

Noah was six hundred years old, a number corresponding to the 6000th year of Man’s Day, when he passed through the flood, providing the type for Israel passing through the tribulation during the final seven years of Man’s Day.
g). And that seen through Enoch and Noah corresponds exactly with the six days of work and the seventh day of rest presented in Genesis Chapter 1. The foundational framework on which all of Scripture rests.  The very thing that the ‘scoffers’ willfully forget.

4). And what we have seen through Enoch being ‘taken’ before the worldwide flood of Noah’s day is the foundational type for the timing of the resurrection/rapture of the Church. And if we then compare Scripture with Scripture, here a little, there a little, we can begin to build the complete picture that comes from this.
	a). We will remember that Joseph, as a type of Christ, had his name changed - Ge 41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-Paaneah. (savior of the world) And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On.

Joseph then, having become the ‘savior of the world’, then took a Gentile bride before the years of famine, during which he dealt with his brothers.
	b). We will remember that Moses, as a type of Christ, was rejected by his brethren when he first made himself known to them. And before he returned a second time to deliver them from bondage in Egypt, he took a Gentile bride.
	c). Isaac, as a type of Christ, married Rebekah, from his family, before Abraham married Keturah, who became fruitful.
	d). Lot, as a type of the unfaithful Christian, was taken out of the cities of the plain prior to their destruction.
	e). And Ruth, a type of the faithful Christian, was revealed on Boaz’s threshing floor before Boaz redeemed the inheritance for her, as she had previously requested of him.
	f). And in the Book of the Revelation, the Bride of Christ is revealed through judgment in Chapters 2-3, following the resurrection/rapture of the church seen in Chapter 1, before the scroll is opened at the beginning of Chapter 6, which begins the Tribulation, the redemption of the inheritance.
g). The ‘scoffers’ have willfully forgotten all of this.

5). In the same way, Noah and his family passing safely through a worldwide flood, provides the foundational type for Israel being delivered from the hands of Antichrist out of the Great Tribulation.
	a). And if we again compare Scripture with Scripture, here a little, there a little, we can begin to build the complete picture that comes from this foundation. We see that Joseph’s brothers were delivered from the time of famine by Joseph’s intervention and were then blessed.
	b). Israel was delivered from the brickyards of Egypt when Moses, sent by God returned a second time, to be taken to the land of promise.
	c). And Jonah, another type for Israel, following repentance, was delivered from the sea to take God’s Word to Nineveh.
	d). And Esther through Mordecai’s intervention, delivered the Jewish people from annihilation at the hands of Haman and his ten sons.
	e). And in conjunction with this typology, we can add this – 
Ex 31:13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 14 'You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 'Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 'Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 'It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"

The Sabbath was a ‘sign’ established between God and the Children of Israel ‘forever’.  It was a sign which drew from the six days of work and the seventh day of rest in Genesis Chapter 2 and prophetically pointed forward to the day of rest yet future, the seventh Day, the Millennial Kingdom.
	f). As Israel kept the Sabbath, they acknowledged God’s established pattern for restoring a ruined creation, six days of work followed by a Seventh Day of Rest, the pattern established in Genesis 1 and 2 and now applied to God’s present restoration work and future rest.
	g). Any individual Jew’s failure to keep the Sabbath could only be looked upon as a rejection of this truth, with dire consequences for those who did so – Nu 15:32 Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34 They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. 35 Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 So, as the LORD commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.

And if we bring the type surrounding the individual Jew failing to keep the Sabbath, and thereby rejecting that which God has said concerning the six days of work followed by the seventh day of rest into a Christian context, we will come to those Christians who rejected that which Scripture has to say about the coming day of rest, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’ We come to the ‘scoffers’ and the ‘mockers’ who claim that all things have continued without interruption from the creation of the heavens and the earth, with the same dire consequences awaiting them and those who have followed their destructive doctrine.

6).  We know with absolute certainty that the present six days of work will be brought to completion and that these days will be followed by a seventh day of rest.  A day when the promises made to Abraham, who was the tenth generation from Noah through the line of Shem, will be realized in their entirety, both through his physical and his spiritual descendants, through Isaac and Jacob.
	a). And we may also be certain of an absolute ‘new beginning’, signified by the eighth day, the Day of God, when there will be a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell –
Re 21:1 ¶ Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." 5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."

In the verse we read from 2 Peter Chapter 3, from earlier, Peter asked a question in relation to all that we have been studying, Peter asked, ‘Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening [to await eagerly] the coming of the day of God, [?]’

And it is this question we shall end by asking ourselves this morning. Does what we have believed and the way we have organized our lives demonstrate that we have taken God at His Word or do our actions suggest we have already begun to forget the promise of His coming?

If we remain and the Lord is willing and we have prayed, we will continue next time.

Has God Indeed Said - Part 5

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Has God Indeed Said - Part 5

Oct 03, 2021

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: Has God Indeed Said

Category: Sunday Morning

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A Recap from the Sermon