Sermons - Cornerstone Christian Fellowship

From Time To Time - Part Two

Aug 27, 2023 by: John Herbert | Series: From Time to Time

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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].

We will continue to look at what God is doing during this time of chaos.

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Sunday August 27th 2023
From Time to Time – Part 2

1). 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].

We had seen in our previous study, that through having faith to the saving of the soul, we have been able to see with the eyes of faith and therefore to have the spiritual understanding and certainty that God through His Son has perfectly organized an unspecified and presumably infinite number of ages, in such a way as to bring about the fulfillment of His plans and purposes for His Son, Man, the earth, angels and the Universe at large. And we had realized that this is the context in which we are to see ourselves as we run our race of the faith and engage in the spiritual warfare.
	a). And we had also seen, that these perfectly organized and arranged ages were not responsible for what can be seen purely with the natural eye. In other words, the increasingly chaotic and dysfunctional world under the rule of the god of this age, has entered into that which has been perfectly arranged, it is not the product of it.
	b). But nonetheless, although the chaos is not a part of that which has been Divinely organized, God has worked and is working, during this chaotic time, with a view to accomplishing His predetermined purpose. It is in the midst of the chaos that He called the nation of Israel into being and adopted that nation as His firstborn son. And it is during this time of chaos that God has been calling out from the Gentiles a people for His name as the Holy Spirit searches among the saved for a bride for the Christ in the antitype of Genesis Chapter 24 – Acts 15:14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.

Ge 24:1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 4 but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

And that which God is doing during this time of chaos can only be in line with that which has been perfectly organized, and arranged to accomplish His Divine purpose -  Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ 11Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it. 12 “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, Who are far from righteousness: 13 I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, For Israel My glory.

Ps 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.

We will come to realize then, that out from the midst of the infinite number of ages that God has set in place, He has identified this age and the Age to come, establishing a precise timeframe for both, six thousand years, and a seventh one thousand years, as the object of His present attention and the subject of His revelation to His creation, Man, for a specifically revealed purpose.
	c). And although this age and particularly the Age to come, are to remain our focus, we will understand that both remain within the Divine plan for the perfectly arranged ages as a whole. And both ages, this age, and the Age to come, are for the purpose of redeeming that which was ruined through sin and the eradication of sin itself - 1 Co 15:25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

This age and the Age to come are seen solely in relation to this present earth and the heavens associated with it, nothing else. And these two ages are also identified as Man’s Day and the Lord’s Day. Man’s Day, consisting of six-thousand years of time, beginning with Adam, will come to an end at the precise conclusion of the time allotted to it, and when it does, the Lord’s Day on the earth, consisting of one thousand years will begin. And through the timeframe for these two ages, irrevocably established in the foundation, we can assign six as the number of Man and seven as the number of God.
	d). And as the names would suggest, Man’s Day, covers that period of time, six thousand years, foreshadowed in the six days in Genesis, in which God is working to restore His ruined creation, Man, to the condition in which he was first created, to fulfill the purpose for his redemption -  
2 Pe 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……………….. 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand………

1 Ti 2:4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

And the Lord’s Day, covers that period of time, one thousand years, with respect to the present earth, when Christ as the great King/Priest, with restored Man, consisting of redeemed Israel upon the earth and His co-heirs and certain OT saints in the heavens, will bring order out of the chaos that has preceded it – Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

The times of the restoration of all things will deal with both the chaos among the Gentile nations and the chaos wrought upon the material creation – 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…

Re 12:5 She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

Ps 2:8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.’ ”

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. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Heb 2:6 But one testified in a certain place, saying: "What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? 7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet."

Beyond the confines of the earth and the heavens associated with it however, it has always been the Lord’s Day. This is why Abraham could rejoice to see this Day - Jn 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

Ps 118:24 This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.

And this is why John found himself in the Lord’s Day, as recorded in the Revelation – Re 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet…..

All Christians at the resurrection/rapture of the church will inevitably find themselves instantly removed from Man’s Day into the Lord’s Day. Upon the earth though, Man’s Day will continue for another seven years, as it must complete the full six thousand years allotted to it. But following the end of the Tribulation and Christ’s return, the end of Man’s Day, the Lord’s Day will be manifest in both the heavens and the earth as the new order of rulers take the scepter of regality in the place of Satan and his angels – Mt 6:9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

And then within the six thousand years of Man’s Day we can find time further divided into dispensations, each of which we see to be two days, thousand years, in length. The word dispensation though speaks of the management of a household, by household servants and does not of itself have anything to do with a specific period of time.
	e). A dispensation is not a dispensation because it lasts two thousand years, but because in that time, whatever length of time it may be, God works with separate groups of household servants with respect to the administration of His household – Lk 19:13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.

There is the dispensation, the two days, two thousand years, that take us from Adam to Abraham, where God dealt with individual household servants. And then the dispensation, the two days, two thousand years that take us from Abraham to Christ, during which God dealt with His household servants, Abraham and his descendants, the nation of Israel. A dispensation that was put on hold, seven years short of the full two thousand years. A dispensation that will be completed following the resurrection/rapture of the church – Da 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city……….. There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself….

And between Daniel’s sixty-ninth and seventieth week is where we find the dispensation, the two days, two thousand years, when God is dealing with His household servants, the church – Eph 3:2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you…..

And then beyond the end of Man’s Day, the Age to come is also described as a dispensation, which will of course last one thousand years – 
Eph 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

And within the time covered by the first two dispensations, time taking us from Adam to Christ, we find another segment of time identified, a segment designated as a time of ‘death’ – Ro 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

The reign of ‘death’ spoken of in this verse has to do with the time from the loss of the glory in the Garden, because of Adam’s transgression, that put rulership out of man’s reach, and the re-introduction of the glory, which filled the Tabernacle in the wilderness, beginning the Theocracy, when God’s adopted firstborn son was to rule at the head of the nations, in the days of Moses, with Jehovah as their husband – Ex 40:33 And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. 34 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

It was then, within the dispensation of the Jews that the Theocracy was brought into existence following the exodus from Egypt, and was then subsequently ended, because of Israel’s harlotry, centuries later.  An end marked by the glory that came to the Tabernacle of Moses departing from the temple in Jerusalem during the days of the Babylonian captivity – 
Eze 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. 19 And the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

And as we would know, there has been no glory and therefore, no Theocracy since that time. Instead, there has been the introduction of another segment of time, that overlays two dispensations, that of the Jews and that of the church, which Scripture calls the times of the Gentiles – 
Lk 21:24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

As the Theocracy ended and the rulership given to Israel was taken from them, so that rulership was given into the hands of the Gentile nations. Those nations over whom Israel should have ruled and been the conduit of God’s blessing were themselves given power to rule in Israel’s place – 
Da 2:37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold.

Jn 19:11 Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above………..

And the Gentile nations were given this power for a singular purpose, that they would become the agency through which Israel is to be brought to repentance – Mic 4:11 Now also many nations have gathered against you, Who say, "Let her be defiled, And let our eye look upon Zion." 12 But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, Nor do they understand His counsel; For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

2). God’s reason for removing the Theocracy from Israel and divorcing the nation as His wife, has been set out in two complimentary Books, that taken together encompass the whole of the matter. And these two Books are Jonah and Esther. Jonah presents matters with respect to Israel as the adopted firstborn son and Esther with respect to Israel as the wife of Jehovah – Est 1:1 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this was the Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia), 2 in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the citadel, 3 that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants—the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the princes of the provinces being before him— 4 when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, one hundred and eighty days in all. 5 And when these days were completed, the king made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in Shushan the citadel, from great to small, in the court of the garden of the king's palace. 6 There were white and blue linen curtains fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on silver rods and marble pillars; and the couches were of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of alabaster, turquoise, and white and black marble. 7 And they served drinks in golden vessels, each vessel being different from the other, with royal wine in abundance, according to the generosity of the king. 8 In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory; for so the king had ordered all the officers of his household, that they should do according to each man's pleasure. 9 Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus.

The Book of Esther begins by detailing a time of celebration in Ahasuerus’s kingdom, ‘one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia’, the world-wide kingdom of its day, during which ‘the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty’ were shown for many days. And as we will note this happened in the third year of his reign. And this description really takes us to the end of the matter from a typological standpoint.
	a). This then pictures matters as they will be in the ‘third year’ of the King’s reign, as they will be in Third Day, when Christ’s glorious Kingdom will be upon the earth.
	b). V5 then introduces ‘a feast lasting seven days. These seven days follow the completion of the one hundred and eighty days, six months, in the historical account, but in the typology, the seven days, and the three years of Ahasuerus’s reign, would conclude at the same period of time, inevitably drawing from the Divine septenary design established in Genesis.
	c). So then, in the type, v1-4 picture Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, when God’s plans and purposes for that Day, the Third Day which is also the Seventh Day, are fulfilled. V5, in the type, pictures the whole of the seven days from Adam, with a specific focus on Israel with respect to the fulfillment of those seven days. And what then follows in the rest of the Book of Esther reveals what must take place, with respect to the Jewish people before the celebrations seen in v1-4 will be realized – Est 1:10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command brought by his eunuchs; therefore the king was furious, and his anger burned within him.

With regards to the seventh day of the feast, Vashti, Ahasuerus’s queen, refused to come, forming the type for the wife of Jehovah refusing to do that which God required of her with respect to the Seventh Day. And the description of Vashti in v11, parallels the description of Israel found in – 
Eze 16:10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. 14 Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord GOD.

In the Book of Esther, national Israel’s disobedience to the commands of her King is seen through Vashti refusing the king’s command, and in the Book of Ezekiel, as well as many other places, the nature of that disobedience identified in Vashti is revealed – Eze 16:15 “But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. 16 You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. 17 You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. 18 You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them. 19 Also My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord GOD. 20 “Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, 21 that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire?

And in the Book of Esther, we find the type for the action that God would take with respect to His disobedient, harlot wife – Est 1:16 And Memucan answered before the king and the princes: "Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the princes, and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. 17 For the queen's behavior will become known to all women, so that they will despise their husbands in their eyes, when they report, 'King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.' 18 This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will say to all the king's officials that they have heard of the behavior of the queen. Thus there will be excessive contempt and wrath. 19 If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it will not be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

Vashti would come no more before the king and rebellious Israel would be set aside – Jer 3:6 The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. 7 And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.

Mt 21:43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

It was the ten northern tribes of Israel following the division of the kingdom that were taken into captivity by the Assyrians, beginning around 722BC, and then the southern two tribes of Judah who were subsequently taken into captivity by the Babylonians, beginning around 605BC. And as Babylon had conquered the Assyrian empire, so the whole of the house of Israel, the previously divided kingdom, had been uprooted from the land given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and subjected to captivity within the Babylonian kingdom. And as we have seen, God brought this to pass for the singular purpose of bringing His chosen people to repentance, to change their collective mind, so that that pictured in Esther would be fulfilled, let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

And it was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who was the first Gentile ruler to hold the scepter of rulership in the place of captive Israel, who began the times of the Gentiles, as we have seen – Da 2:37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold.

And through Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian kingdom we see an unchangeable principle, whereby national Israel’s repentance can only be brought about outside of their land, at the hands of the Gentile nations. This principle was foreshadowed through the bondage in Egypt and can be taken back even further to Adam and Eve being removed from the Garden in order for God to deal with them and their offspring. And for us, the new creation in Christ, God is dealing with us outside of the land of our inheritance. What we can add to this from Daniel, in relation to Israel, is the presence of a Babylonian kingdom. Again, foreshadowed through the Assyrian Pharaoh and revealed in foundation through Nimrod, the first king of Babylon. A Babylonian kingdom that must be in existence in order for Israel to be brought to repentance.
	d). And it was during the reign of this same Nebuchadnezzar following the captivity of the two southern tribes of Judah in 605BC, that God began the ministry of the prophet Daniel, through whom God would give the precise timetable in which this repentance would be accomplished – Da 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god. 3 Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles, 4 young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. 5 And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. 6 Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
We will continue with this next time if we remain, and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.

From Time To Time - Part Two

Refresh A Recap from the Sermon

From Time To Time - Part Two

Aug 27, 2023

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: From Time to Time

Category: Sunday Morning

Refresh
A Recap from the Sermon