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The Beginning and the End - Part Seven

Nov 24, 2024 by: John Herbert | Series: The Beginning and the End

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Re 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!

Today we will have a review of our previous six studies. There will be no Weekly Bible Study this week.

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Sunday November 24th 2024 
The Beginning and the End
Part Seven – Review

As we began our study, we had drawn attention to what is an obvious, and because it is obvious, a possibly overlooked fact: that God’s revelation to us of His plans and purposes, contained in what we call our ‘Bible’, has a specific Book at its beginning and a specific Book at its conclusion.  With a Book that gives cohesion to the OT and NT between the two. And this is not an arbitrary arrangement, but rather an intentional design, with all presenting God’s purpose for His Son and the Seventh Day within the context of creation, ruin, restoration and rest.

The Scriptures begin with Genesis, the Book of origins, the Book of beginnings that sets out a foundational structure of seven days. John’s Gospel is the cohesive Book that begins the NT, repeating that same seven-day structure and the Scriptures conclude with the Book of the Revelation where the purpose for those seven Days is realized – 
Re 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!

Re 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.

And the subject of this final Book of Scripture is stated in its opening verse. It is the revealing or the unveiling of Jesus Christ. And this unveiling of Jesus the Christ cannot be separated from the mystery of God - Re 10:7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.

The finishing of the mystery of God and the complete revealing of Jesus the Christ are one and the same thing. And from Revelation 10:7 we can see that the mystery of God and its finishing have both been ‘declared to His servants the prophets’ – Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. 8 A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?

And the first of the Lord’s servants the prophets, is Moses, to whom God gave the first Book of Scripture, the Book of Genesis, the Book of origins, the Book of beginnings. And it is the Jesus found throughout the OT Scriptures, beginning at Moses, who is revealed as the mystery of God is finished.

And we will remember from the Revelation that Jesus said this of Himself – Re 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Re 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

And that which the Lord said about Himself, He said at the beginning of the Book of His revealing and at the conclusion of it. The person and work of the Christ, as we have seen, is inseparable from the mystery of God – Col 2:2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

And as He is the beginning of God’s purpose and in Him is the end of God’s purpose, with respect to the Seventh Day, and that this was declared to His servants the prophets, we could only have expected to find Jesus the Christ at the beginning of the first Book of Scripture - 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…….

Not only then would we expect to find Jesus, the Alpha, in the first Book of Scripture, we would also expect to find Him as the Omega, there as well. Which is exactly what we did find.

And we will remember that Jesus Himself testified of this – Jn 5:46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

And the Lord confirmed what He had said, recorded in John 5:46, when He revealed Himself to His disciples on the day of His resurrection - Lk 24:25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself………….. 44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

And as we turned to the very first verse of Scripture, that which God wanted to convey to us as being of foundational, paramount importance we saw this – Ge 1:1 In beginning God created the heavens and the earth…

That done ‘in beginning’, when God created the heavens and the earth, was the combined work of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and as we compared Scripture with Scripture by going to the Gospel of John where the creation of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1 is dealt with again, so the importance of what was done ‘in beginning’ became clear for us – Jn 1:1 In beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…….. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 
 
And to this we then added further commentary on the creation of the heavens and the earth from - Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

We saw that rulership of the earth from the heavens associated with it by and for His Son on the Seventh Day is God’s purpose. This is given to us as a statement of intent in Genesis 1:1 and reconfirmed through the creation of Adam and the building of a Woman to be his wife to rule over the restored material creation in the Seventh Day – 
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.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”……….. 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.

And this time structure of seven days set in foundation in Genesis, then permeates the rest of the Scripture. And as we have seen, it is re-established again at the beginning of the NT in John’s Gospel, where we find a wedding at Cana of Galilee taking place on the third day following the previously identified four days.

Adam, the Scriptures tell us, is ‘a type of Him who was to come’. So, in Adam we see the Christ who must have a wife to rule with Him in the Seventh Day. Here the end is declared from the beginning. Christ is the Alpha, typified in the first Adam and He is the Omega, the second Man, last Adam. Christ is the One seen ‘in beginning’ and the One to rule in the Seventh Day.

And then as we came to the conclusion of the Scriptures in the Book of the Revelation, we saw faithful Christians identified at Christ’s Judgment Seat who will become Christ’s Wife and we saw a restored Israel who will become the Wife of Jehovah, to rule together from the heavens and on the earth during the Seventh Day, the Millennial Kingdom, with the Christ, fulfilling that set out in the first thirty-four verses of Scripture. And on the simplest, and yet profoundest, of levels this is what all of Scripture is about – God’s process to bring to fruition His purpose for the earth, Mankind, and His Son.

In our studies we have seen that the material creation was reduced to a state of ruin because of Satan’s rebellion – Eze 28:18 “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities…….

Ge 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.

We saw how the material creation was restored over four days of God’s work and populated over two days of creative activity in Genesis Chapter 1, in readiness for Adam and the Woman to rule over it in the Seventh Day, only for the material creation to be ruined again by sin, introduced through Satan’s deception of the Woman before rulership by Adam and the Woman could take place.

And if the ruined material creation had to be restored in preparation for Adam and the Woman to rule over it, then the material creation must be restored a second time following its second ruin, in preparation for the Last Adam and His wife to rule over it in the Millennial Kingdom.

The material creation was restored over four days in Genesis Chapter 1, establishing an unalterable pattern for its future restoration from the curse placed upon it in Genesis 3:17. At the end of the four days, the four thousand years from Adam, the material creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God, in readiness to receive a new order of rulers.

And as we compared Scripture with Scripture, we saw that the terms for this second redemption of the inheritance, which is a phrase synonymous with the restoration of the material creation, are contained in a seven sealed scroll that can only be opened by the One worthy to do so – Re 5:4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” 6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

And the One worthy to open the seals on the seven sealed scroll, the Lord Jesus Christ, is described both as ‘the Lion of the tribe of Judah’ and as ‘a Lamb as though it had been slain’. In the Lion of the tribe of Judah, we see the righteous judgment that is to be visited on God’s chosen people, Israel, and the Gentile nations under the Antichrist, and in the ‘Lamb as though it had been slain’ we see that the purpose for the execution of this righteous Judgment is redemption. Redemption both for Israel and the material creation. Both with a view to rulership in the Seventh Day.

We have seen that this time of righteous judgment is what we know as the Tribulation, referred to in Scripture as the time of Jacob’s trouble, which comprises the last seven years of Daniel’s seventy-week prophecy.

And the time of Jacob’s trouble, Daniel’s seventieth week, we have seen to be inextricably connected with the fourth and final phase of a Babylonian kingdom under the Antichrist, portrayed through the exploits of a rider on four different horses as the first four seals on the seven sealed scroll are opened – Da 7:7 “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

A Babylonian kingdom and a captivity that began with Nebuchadnezzar, previously foreshadowed by Nimrod, and will end with the final king of that kingdom, Antichrist, and a final captivity – Lk 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 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.

And although we have not looked at this yet, during our study so far, the events of these final seven years under the Antichrist and beyond can be found in the Book of Esther, where Haman and his ten sons are given as a type for the Antichrist and his ten-nation confederacy.

God’s purpose for the fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and the persecution he brings, is Israel’s national repentance leading to deliverance and redemption for God’s chosen people, the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh, to whom the promises were given.

At the end of those final seven years of Daniel’s seventieth week the four thousand years from Adam will be complete. And just as it was set in the foundation, so at the end of the four thousand years the restoration of the material creation under a curse will also be complete. These final seven years also complete the six-thousand years of Man’s Day, at the end of which, fulfilling that seen in the foundation, national Israel and faithful Christians will also have been redeemed. These final seven years also bring to conclusion the two days, two-thousand years of the Jewish dispensation, allowing them to rule on the earth at the head of the nations on the Third Day. The Third Day that follows the previous four days. The same Third Day, following the same four days, when faithful Christians will be Christ’s wife, ruling the Gentile nations from the Kingdom of the heavens with her Husband.

That rulership from the heavens over the earth by Christ, the Last Adam, and His wife in the Seventh Day is unchangeably established in the first thirty-four verses of Genesis and is the singular focus for the person and work of the Christ should now be steadfastly set in our understanding. It is this wisdom brought forth from above that is the reason for our hope and the subject of our confession – Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

And we have seen that central to God’s purpose for His Son, the earth and mankind is redemption. And we have also seen that to properly understand redemption, we don’t start at the cross of Calvary, but in the third Chapter of the Book of Beginnings – Ge 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

To redeem Adam and Eve following their fall, God clothed them with tunics of skin. And of necessity, these tunics of skin required the death and shed blood of the animals from which they came. And here in foundation, is where the means of redemption is established. Redemption requires a substitutionary death and shed blood, that God alone provides, and God alone accepts. Redemption is the complete prerogative of Deity. And once we receive this wisdom brought forth from above, redemption is easy for us to understand.

What we will note though, is that following Adam and Eve’s redemption they were not instantly in the image and likeness of God again. Nor did they fulfill the purpose for their creation. In fact, they were driven from the Garden and denied access to the tree of life – 
Ge 3:24 So 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.

And here once again in the foundation, it has been established that the redemption of man for the purpose of rulership must involve more than passing from death to life. There is a totality to redemption then, that we possess now only in part. But what we will also know with absolute certainty, is that the redemption of our soul and of our body yet future is provided for through a substitutionary death and shed blood. It is the same blood of Christ, poured out at His death, that purchased our eternal redemption that is now upon the Mercy Seat in the heavenly Tabernacle to make propitiation for the sins of the saved with a view to the salvation of their souls – 1 Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Now, with regards to the redemption of the material creation placed under a curse in Genesis 3:17, we have seen in our studies, and again today, that the redemption of the material creation requires the intervention of the ‘Lamb as though it had been slain’. And we have also seen in our previous studies and again today, that redemption is always dependent upon God’s intervention through a substitutionary death and shed blood.

And this has led us to realize that if the slain Lamb provides redemption for the ruined material creation, ruined a second time, then that same slain Lamb must be seen in conjunction with the redemption of the material creation, following Satan’s rebellion, that we see beginning on the first day in Genesis Chapter 1 as well. And that is exactly what we saw – Re 13:8…………….the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Although the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, was slain from the foundation of the world, His slaying did not appear in chronological time until 33AD. However, in every sacrificial animal that God provided and accepted, beginning with the animals slain for Adam and Eve, God recognized the death and shed blood of His Son. And it is this that gave the death and shed blood of those substitutionary animals their efficacy.

And that which we have seen in previous weeks through the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world but not appearing until 33AD, has opened our understanding to how God relates to time.

And as we consider this, it is good to keep in mind that time as we know it has been set in place for the purpose of accounting for the seven days, the seven-thousand years that are God’s focus – 
Ge 1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

‘For signs and seasons, and for days and years’, and this accounting of time is to bring light from the heavens on the earth. Seasons, days, years all provide profound spiritual truth with regards to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for the seven days. And He has provided for us chronological, linear time so that we might understand where we are in the seven days. For us to understand what has been and what is to come. Everything that has been and is yet to come is revealed in order within chronological, linear time so that we may see it, understand it and prepare for it.

And although all events that we have not yet experienced will appear chronologically within linear time, God works outside of these boundaries of time to maintain the Divine order He has set in place to complete His purpose for the seven days. Consequently, we have seen the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, we have seen that there is no time gap between Daniel’s sixty-nineth and seventieth weeks, and no time gap between the third part of the Babylonian kingdom and the fourth part of that kingdom. And as God begins to deal with the Jewish people in the seventieth week, through the fourth part of the Babylonian kingdom, that time will begin in the spring of AD33, immediately following the Lord’s crucifixion.

There is then, God’s Divine, unchangeable order, and chronological time, and the two are not contradictory but rather complimentary, that we may receive great spiritual truth to take us from faith to faith, remembering – Ecc 1:9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.

2 Ti 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 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.

And with all of these things in mind we will rejoice with thanksgiving for the light that shines in a dark place as we wait for the Sun of Righteousness to arise with healing in His wings, to bring the times of the restoration of all things and to establish His glorious Kingdom.

Next week we will continue if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.

The Beginning and the End - Part Seven

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The Beginning and the End - Part Seven

Nov 24, 2024

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: The Beginning and the End

Category: Sunday Morning

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A Recap from the Sermon