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From Time To Time - Part One

Aug 20, 2023 by: John Herbert | Series: From Time to Time

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Heb 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets......

That which God has spoken in time past by the prophets provides the context for where we find ourselves today.

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Sunday August 20th 2023
From Time to Time – Part 1

1). Heb 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds…….. [set the ages in an orderly arrangement]

The Book of Hebrews begins by revealing that in time past God had spoken to ‘the fathers’ by, or in the person of the prophets. Different Jewish individuals, beginning with Moses and ending with Malachi, who wrote different types of prophetic ‘Books’, but each individual and each ‘Book’ always revealed precisely that which God had spoken through them. And by comparing Scripture with Scripture, we can see that this is confirmed for us in – 2 Pe 1:21 for not by the desire of man did prophecy come aforetime, but being carried along by the Holy Spirit men spoke words from God who is the ultimate source [of what they spoke]. [Wuest]

Am 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

The Prophets didn’t prophecy out of their own resources, but it was God Himself who spoke through them and inspired them to write that which He had said to them. And following on from God’s account of speaking to ‘the fathers’, the Jewish people, in time past, by the prophets, we are then told that in these last days, God has now spoken to us in the person of Son. That which had previously been recorded in the entirety of the OT Scriptures, spoken by the prophets, became flesh in the person of Son. And through the physical embodiment of the OT Scriptures God has spoken. Therefore, that which has been said through the manifestation of God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that which was then spoken by Christ Himself is in complete accord with that which God had previously spoken by the prophets – Lk 1:69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, 70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began…….

Jn 12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is life for the age. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

And this established order of speaking first by the prophets and then by the Son, Jesus Himself drew attention to, although from a somewhat different perspective, in the parable of the vinedressers in Matthew Chapter 21 – Mt 21:34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’

Jer 25:4 And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.

And we can find further clarification of this in Matthew Chapter 23 –
Mt 23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of Gehenna? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

And a good example of how God has spoken to us through the One who is the Word made flesh, the same One whom God has appointed ‘heir of all things’, can be seen in v35. The death of Abel at the hands of his brother Cain, was recorded through Moses, one of the prophets, providing the type for the Christ being put to death by His brother, national Israel. Something the Lord had made plain to the religious rulers at the conclusion of the parable of the vinedressers. That which was recorded by Moses concerning Cain killing Abel, became flesh in the Lord Jesus, with the antitype fulfilled in the person of Son at Calvary at the hands of the Jews, the same Jesus by whom, the ages past, present and future, have been set in a predetermined and perfectly organized arrangement.
	a). And the ages have been Divinely ordered in this way to bring about the fulfillment of God’s plans and purposes for His Son, Man, angels, the earth, and the universe at large.
	b). And to understand how the ages came to be arranged in this way we can go to Genesis Chapter 1 as a point of reference. It is in this Chapter of Genesis where we see how the process of restoring the ruined material creation was brought about – Ge 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

As God spoke, so that which had been ruined was perfectly restored, and it could only have been by this same means, ‘God said’, that the One who is the Word made flesh brought the perfectly structured ages, past, present, and future into being. As God spoke during the process of the restoration of the material creation, so perfection was achieved in readiness for Man to rule. There could be nothing but perfection coming from the One in whom there cannot be any imperfection – Jn 7:18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.

Jn 14:30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

1 Jn 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

And so, we see the Divinely ordered and perfectly structured ages; we see the Divinely ordered and perfectly structured, restoration of the ruined material creation. Both brought to pass through that which God had spoken. And with this process in mind, let’s now consider this – 
2 Ti 3:16 All Scripture is God breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

All Scripture is God’s ‘breath’, it is that which God has spoken, just as we saw in Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets…..

All Scripture is Divinely spoken, Divinely breathed, and therefore we can know that all Scripture is also Divinely designed and perfectly structured, to bring about the perfect restoration of fallen Man by providing a complete revelation to show to Man God’s plans and purposes for the Divinely ordered and perfectly structured ages with respect to His Son, Man, the angels, the earth and the universe at large. And that which God had spoken in time past concerning these things by the prophets, He has spoken in these last days in the person of Son – Isa 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

And as we might continue reading in Hebrews Chapter 1, so we will find those seven Messianic, OT, quotations that reveal Christ’s Deity, His rulership, and the Seventh Day, the Age which is to come.
	d). The Scriptures then, are not to be taken lightly nor seen as a casual gathering together of sacred texts, but God’s perfect revelation of His perfect plans and purposes, Divinely and perfectly designed to lead those who will have eyes to see and ears to hear into a mature understanding of the same for the purpose of their restoration. And to be led into that mature knowledge requires that we start where God’s perfect design began, in Genesis, and allow the Scriptures to build on the first thirty-four verses found there. Being careful as we go to place John’s Gospel as the first of the Gospel accounts, the gateway to the NT. And then to follow God’s perfectly organized Word to the conclusion of the whole matter, found in the final Book, the Revelation of Jesus the Christ, where the Christ of the Scriptures, the One who is the embodiment of the Scriptures, is revealed in His glory with the endless ages to follow.

2). And so, as we take our journey through the Scriptures we will come to Hebrews Chapter 11, the Chapter often seen as the great Chapter on faith and here we find a return to the subject introduced at the beginning of the Book, that which we began with this morning, providing us with additional commentary on what we found there - Heb 11:3 By faith [to the saving of the soul] we understand that the worlds [ages] were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen [with our natural eyes] were not made of things which are visible [only by having faith to the saving of the soul].

Out of having faith to the saving of the soul, we have come to understand that through the One who is the Word of God, God has arranged the ages, past, present, and future within a Divinely perfect framework, or structure, for the purpose of bringing to pass His plans and His purposes for His Son, Man, angels, the earth, and the universe at large. And these plans and purposes have to do with rulership with respect to the earth and ultimately, God’s universal Kingdom.
	a). Out of having faith to the saving of the soul, we have come to understand that through the One who is the Word of God, God brought about a Divinely perfect restoration of the ruined material creation over a period of six days, resting on the Seventh Day from His work of the previous six days. And out of having faith to the saving of the soul, we have come to understand that the written Word of God in our possession has been embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ, a Divinely designed and perfect Word that reveals to us God’s plans and purposes for His Son, Man, Angels, the earth, and the universe at large.
	b). And to say again, that which has made this possible for us is having faith, faith to the saving of the soul – Ro 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

These are things that can only be understood and seen, by faith. They cannot be seen and understood through natural observation or by searching the wisdom of men. This is wisdom that can only be brought forth from above and that which God has brought forth, that which He has spoken, simply has to be believed, not proven. And that which God has spoken in these last days, which we are to believe, He has said in the person of Son. And only by believing is it possible to see these things with our spiritual eyes, according to Hebrews 11:3, only by having faith to the saving of the soul can that which we see with our spiritual eyes become reality in our understanding.
	c). And also, according to Hebrews 11:3, there are things which we can observe with our natural eyes that are not a part of that which is Divinely perfect. So, what do our natural eyes see outside of the realm of faith? We see the world in which we live in a state of chaos. A chaos that seems to be spiraling more and more out of control with each passing day. And it is no wonder that it is like this because man remains in a fallen state, the material creation also remains ruined, the whole continues to be governed by fallen angels, and the Jewish people remain disobedient and have returned to the land apart from repentance, and apart from God’s direction – Ge 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake…….

Ro 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Mt 12:43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Jon 1:4 But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

The further we get from the Garden in time, and the closer we get to the ‘mighty tempest’, the greater the chaos becomes. Financial instability, political polarization, culture wars, social unrest, wars, famine, the effects of ‘climate change’, are all symptomatic of the ever-increasing chaos, and in the juxtaposition of the two elements presented to us in Hebrews Chapter 3, we can clearly identify the realms of faith and sight – 
2 Co 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

And we will either be walking by one or the other.
	d). By faith we know why the world is as it presently is, we know what is to come next, and we know the ultimate conclusion of the matter. Consequently, we should be neither dismayed nor perturbed by that which we see, by sight, with our natural eyes. In this respect we should have a similar mindset towards that which our natural eyes reveal as Paul had on his way to Jerusalem, recorded in – Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Nothing that we see with our natural eyes should move us away from the hope set before us - Col 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

In fact, that which we see with our natural eyes in the midst of the chaos that surrounds us, should encourage us to finish our race with joy, by remaining faithfully obedient to the Scriptures, to distance ourselves from the part that Satan has in us – Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Mankind has no way of resolving the chaos in which we live, despite all the efforts made to do so, rather the chaos can only get worse as we approach the resurrection/rapture and the time of Jacob’s trouble that will follow. Nor can Mankind understand the reason for the chaos because he cannot see except with the natural eye. The chaos can and will only be dealt with by Divine intervention and to restore order out of that chaos will be the work of Christ and His co-heirs during the thousand years of the Millennial Kingdom – Re 2:26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels’—as I also have received from My Father;28 and I will give him the morning star.

1 Co 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.

All this remains yet future. During this present time though, with respect to the rulership of the earth, the Lord is out of place, Israel is out of place, the Church is out of place, Satan and his angels are out of place, and the Gentile nations are out of place. And, as we have seen, that which is out of place can only be set in order through Divine intervention. The intervention that we are presently waiting for – 1 Co 1:4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

3). Needless to say, the root cause of the chaos around us is sin. And sin is revealed in Scripture only in relation to this one province in God’s Universal Kingdom, the earth and the heavens associated with it, that which is the focus of Scripture, not the universe at large.
	a). God cannot countenance sin and therefore He must deal with it. And dealing with it is the subject of the seven thousand years of time on which He is presently focused, providing through the written Word, an extraordinary amount of detail concerning it, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
b). And within the Divinely perfect order of the ages, God has revealed just enough about the past ages, before He said, ‘Let there be light’, for us to see the origin and the originator of sin – Ge 1:1 In  beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth became without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.

Isa 14:12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

Eze 28:18 “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading…….

Lucifer/Satan is just one of an unspecified number of provincial rulers throughout the Universe whom we glimpse in the Book of Job – 
Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

But because of his rebellion, bringing sin into his province, two things happened. He was disqualified to rule and the province over which he had jurisdiction became ruined. And it may be an intriguing question to ask why rebellion took place in this particular province of God’s universal Kingdom and not another? And perhaps our answer can be found in the purpose behind Satan’s rebellion, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Satan’s desire to be like the Most High, was to desire to replace God as the ruler of the Universe, his ungodly ambition was not confined just to the province he was given.
	c). And let’s also keep in mind that God’s purpose for Man with respect to rulership did not come about in response to Satan’s rebellion, it can only have been a part of God’s plans and purposes as the Son brought the ages into being in a perfect structure to bring those plans and purposes to fruition.
	d). And perhaps, knowing that Man is destined to rule not only over the earth during the Seventh Day, but also to rule in the universe at large throughout the endless ages, the very thing that Satan desired, will account not only for his attempted rebellion, to preempt God’s purpose for Man, but also for his positioning at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden and his continuing attempts to remove Man from the picture ever since.
	e). And as with the ages that preceded God saying, ‘Let there be light’, so there is hardly anything said in the Scripture concerning the endless ages that will follow the Millennial Kingdom. The Apostle John was shown, and recorded, just enough for us to be able to see, again only with the eyes of faith, how the endless ages will begin – Isa 65:17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.

2 Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

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. 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.”…..22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 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. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

But in between these two momentous events, God saying, ‘let there be light’, and the new heavens and new earth, where Father and Son will reside, sitting on the throne of God and of the Lamb with universal rule in view, there are seven thousand intricately detailed years of time in which we see the restoration of that which was ruined and the eradication of sin. And it is on these seven thousand years that God requires our undivided attention. And it is these seven thousand years, and particularly the seventh and final one thousand years that is the subject of the Word of the Kingdom, the gospel of the glory of Christ. Seven thousand years that have been set in place in the foundation in Genesis, a septenary template that pervades all of God’s Divinely designed Word.

We will continue with this next time, if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.

From Time To Time - Part One

Refresh A Recap from the Sermon

From Time To Time - Part One

Aug 20, 2023

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: From Time to Time

Category: Sunday Morning

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A Recap from the Sermon