Saturday March 17 th 2018 The Word of the Kingdom Conference Session Four As It Was..So It Shall Be Part One

Transcription

1 Saturday March 17 th 2018 The Word of the Kingdom Conference Session Four As It Was..So It Shall Be Part One 1). Lu 17:20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 "nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you [Lit. in your midst ]." 22 Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 "And they will say to you, 'Look here!' or 'Look there!' Do not go after them or follow them. 24 "For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 "But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 "They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 "but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 "In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 "Remember Lot's wife. 33 "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 "I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 "Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36 "Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left." The verses we have just read were preceded by the account of the healing of 10 lepers, only one of whom, a Samaritan, returned to give glory to God for his healing. The other 9 are presumably Jews and they did not return to glorify God for their healing. THE DAYS OF NOAH 1

2 a). And this incident sets the stage for the Lord s conversation with the Pharisees in v20-21 who ask a seemingly innocent question about when the Kingdom of God would come. b). But as innocent as their question may seem, it underlies a complete absence of spiritual understanding on their part and in this they parallel the ungrateful lepers they had witnessed the miraculous signs the Lord performed but did not glorify God in them, but rather both rejected the Messenger and His message. Although the Lord tells them that the Kingdom does not come with observation it s not gained by sight but through faith and repentance; the Pharisees fail to see, even using their own criteria, what is right in front of their eyes the Kingdom of God was in their midst, because the King was in their midst presenting the credentials of His office Joh 10:37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 "but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." c). And the Pharisees failure to see their King or the proffered Kingdom, rejecting both, is the reason that the Lord then turns to His disciples and essentially answers the Pharisees question within an existing scriptural framework, taking them, through the use of types, to the future day of the coming of His Kingdom. d). He tells the disciples firstly, not to be like the Pharisees, they are not to look here and not to look there to see if they can see it, rather He tells them what His coming with His Kingdom will be like, 24 "For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. And having told them what it will be like in His day, He then sets a timetable so that they will understand what must take place first, 25 "But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And this is something the Lord does again a couple of Chapters further on in Luke - Lu 19:11 Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. 12 Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 "So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I THE DAYS OF NOAH 2

3 come.' 14 "But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' Before He will return to establish His Kingdom, He must first suffer, be rejected and crucified; He must be raised from the dead and ascend into heaven, to go into a far country to receive for Himself a Kingdom, to sit at the Father s right hand until. Ps 110:1 <<A Psalm of David.>> The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." 2 The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! And this prophetic timetable had already been set in the scriptures Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, His death is foreshadowed in Cain killing Abel, in the sacrifice of Isaac and in every Passover lamb. e). His suffering at the hands of this generation, prior to His crucifixion, was foretold in Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. His rejection is seen in Joseph s rejection by his brothers and in Moses rejection by his brethren. And the exact timing for this was laid out in Daniel - Da 9:24 "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, 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 the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. THE DAYS OF NOAH 3

4 Da 12:11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 "Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. And in the last sentence of Daniel 9:26 we find ourselves at the event spoken of in the days of Noah, the flood came and destroyed them all the exact same event spoken of in the days of Lot, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. And the same event seen through the 10 plagues and the complete overthrow of Egypt in the Red Sea in Moses day, the overthrow of Nimrod s kingdom and the destruction of Nebuchadnezzar s great image. 2). And so, in dealing with the coming of His Kingdom in Luke Chapter 17, the Lord continues to teach His disciples through referencing 2 specific events from scriptural history. The first event draws from the historical account of Noah - 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: 27 "They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Here in the days of Noah we see one man entering the ark who will be brought safely through the worldwide flood that destroyed them all. a). And the second draws from the historical account of Lot Lu 17:28 "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 "but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. And here in the days of Lot, we see one man removed from Sodom before the destruction of the cities of the plain which destroyed them all. b). The destruction of the cities of the plain and the worldwide flood picture the same event. An event we would identify from - Jer 30:7 Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it. THE DAYS OF NOAH 4

5 An event that we also know as the Tribulation and Daniel s 70 th week. And what we would note from the end of v7 is that Jacob, the nation of Israel, will be saved out of it, will come safely through it which is exactly what we see pictured through Noah. c). And so, to review for a moment the flood of Noah s day and the destruction of the cities of the plain are presented as types, as word pictures, for the time of Jacob s trouble, the Tribulation. d). And according to the scriptures we have seen so far today, Noah, forming a type of the nation of Israel, will go through the Tribulation and Lot, forming a type of the Christian, will be removed before the Tribulation begins. e). And obviously, because of who Noah and Lot typify, the events surrounding Lot must take place before the events surrounding Noah And this can be easily seen from the foundation - Ge 5:23 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.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." Enoch is the 7 th generation from Adam, and he was taken by God alive into heaven before Noah the 10 th generation from Adam went through the flood. f). Enoch taken into heaven apart from physical death is the same picture as Lot removed from Sodom, both picturing the resurrection/rapture of the Church and this clearly takes place before Divine intervention brings destruction to those on the earth, through which Noah safely passes. g). The days of Noah and the days of Lot are not presented chronologically in Luke 17 for three reasons firstly the chronology is set from the foundation and is therefore not in doubt secondly, Luke s Gospel must be seen within the context of the Lord s first advent which was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel which means, thirdly, He must deal with things pertaining to Israel first as at the time the Lord spoke to His disciples about the days of Noah and the days of Lot, the Church did not exist. h). Before we look at the days of Noah in some detail there is one last thing to note about how the Lord s coming is described with respect to both. With respect to the days of Noah we are told, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. i). And then with respect to the days of Lot we are told, 30 "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. THE DAYS OF NOAH 5

6 Now, these are not two separate events but one event that we have come to call the second coming of Christ. And this second coming begins with Him being revealed to the Church at the time of the resurrection/rapture and continues to His literal return to the earth at the end of the Tribulation and the days of Lot and the days of Noah provide the beginning and the end for this. 3). So, if we look at the days of Noah what will they teach us about conditions upon the earth when Christ returns to deliver Israel? Ge 6:1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These verses deal with the sons of God, fallen angels, cohabiting with the daughters of men, producing the mighty men who were of old, men of renown those referred to as Nephilim. And this action of the fallen angels was for a singular purpose to prevent that which God had said with respect to God s purpose for Man - Ge 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion [Lit. rule ]. And Satan s attempt to accomplish his singular purpose came in 2 interconnected ways firstly, to pervert the marriage relationship between a man and a woman, which is the basis for rulership as we see in Genesis 1:26. And secondly, to corrupt the human bloodline to prevent the Seed of the Woman from coming. a). And because of Satan s attempt to overthrow God s purpose, God intervened in no uncertain manner, destroying all life upon the earth apart THE DAYS OF NOAH 6

7 from Noah who was perfect in his generations, his family and the creatures he took into the ark with them. b). And it is because of the perverting and corrupting work of the fallen angels amongst the daughters of men within the land covenanted to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, prior to Israel s deliverance from Egypt, that gives rise to the severity of God s judgment upon them to be exacted by Israel when they enter the land - De 20:17 "but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, c). The flood of Noah was not the first time that God had brought judgment on the earth because of Satan s actions. Following Satan s rebellion and his attempt to exalt himself above the stars of God and sit in God s place in the farthest recesses of the North the earth was engulfed in darkness and covered with raging waters. And this condition continued until God began His restorative process in Genesis Chapter 1. Restoring the physical earth for the Man and the Woman to rule over in the place of Satan. d). And according to Peter, this event, prior to the restoration, has been willfully ignored by those who reject Christ s second coming - 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 [the pre-adamic world]. 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 world in which we now live]. 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. Now this would be the point God has intervened in the affairs of Man in the past and is about to do so again in the very near future. He will not allow things to progress beyond a certain point before He steps in to put it right. But for the majority of those who live upon the earth they have no knowledge or understanding of this, hence it is as it was in the days of Noah - Lu 17:27 "They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. THE DAYS OF NOAH 7

8 Things will not continue as they are, they are about to change rapidly with the most profound consequences for all of us. e). And especially for God s people, the Children of Israel. That pictured through the flood of Noah s day has purpose for them it is the time of Jacob s trouble, the Tribulation a worldwide affliction and persecution of the Jewish people the like of which has never been seen before or will be seen again Mt 24:21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. f). From Satan s perspective this will be his next attempt to totally eradicate the Jewish people from the face of the earth - Ps 83:1 <<A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.>> Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, And do not be still, O God! 2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more." An attempt to destroy Jehovah s future wife to prevent the marriage relationship upon which rulership is founded and to destroy the one God has chosen as His firstborn son to rule at the head of the nations. g). But from God s perspective He will use Satan s son, the Assyrian Antichrist, to bring the Jewish people to the end of themselves, so that they have no choice but to cry out to the God of their Fathers. And as they do they will access the promise given to the nation in - Le 26:40 'But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,41 and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt- 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land. And confirmed again to Solomon at the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem 2Ch 7:13 "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 "if My people who THE DAYS OF NOAH 8

9 are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. And it is this very promise that the Lord drew attention to as the Kingdom of the Heavens was offered to Israel at His first advent - Mt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Israel did not repent at the Lord s first advent and even the death of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust did not bring them to repentance. However, the last half of the Tribulation, the Great Tribulation, will bring them to that place Ho 6:1 Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. h). Despite the intensity of the persecution Israel will experience described in Zec 13:8 And it shall come to pass in all the land," Says the LORD, "That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one -third shall be left in it: And at present estimates this would be around 9 million Jews. Despite this the nation of Israel cannot be destroyed as it was in the days of Noah. A remnant will come through the Great Tribulation, chastened, repentant and restored to fulfill God s purpose for His firstborn son. i). But, also as it was in the days of Noah, those Gentile nations under the control of the Antichrist, who set their hand against the Jewish people to destroy God s purpose will experience the same outcome as the inhabitants of the earth before Noah s flood who had given themselves over to the perversion and corruption brought by the fallen angels through their cohabitation with the daughters of men - Re 6:8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. And in that future day - Re 19:19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two THE DAYS OF NOAH 9

10 were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh. The protection of the nation of Israel and the destruction of Gentile world power had already been established in the days of Noah. It was pictured again in the destruction of Nimrod s kingdom, the destruction of the cities of the plain, the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea and the destruction of Nebuchadnezzar s image and was set forth in the antitype of these events in the Revelation that which God has already said must come to pass and cannot change and that which John saw and recorded in the Book of the Revelation cannot be altered, because in one sense it has already taken place. 4). But that which the Lord draws attention to in the days of Noah does not end with Noah in the ark and the destruction of the inhabitants of the earth, because both these events have purpose the same purpose with respect to Israel and the earthly portion of the Kingdom that we saw in Genesis 1:26 Rulership - Ge 8:4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on [Lit. above ] the mountains of Ararat. And here is Israel following the destruction of Gentile world power in her rightful place at the head of the nations seen in the ark coming to rest above the mountains of Ararat. a). And just as Noah stepped from the ark into a new beginning so Israel will have a new beginning, restored, healed and forgiven, in the Millennial Kingdom. b). And just as only one of Noah s sons had a God - Ge 9:26 And he said: "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant." In the same way the descendants of Shem through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be the one earthly nation with God in their midst and the one to whom the descendants of Ham and Japheth will need to go to receive the blessing God has for them through His firstborn son. c). And in the antitype of a man wrestling with Jacob until the break of day, so God will have wrestled with the house of Jacob through the dark night of the Tribulation until the day dawns and the Sun of Righteousness will arise THE DAYS OF NOAH 10

11 with healing in His wings and the house of Jacob will at last become the house of Israel and from that house the blessing of God will flow to the Gentile nations during the Millennial Kingdom as Israel fulfills her calling to be God s witness taking the good news that Jesus is alive and governor over all the earth in the antitype of Joseph s brothers a circumstance that has never yet existed in the whole of human history, but will exist in that Glorious Day Mic 4:1 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD'S house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it. 2 Many nations shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more. 4 But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. Zec 8:21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, "Let us continue to go and pray before the LORD, And seek the LORD of hosts. I myself will go also." 22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations Shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, And to pray before the LORD.' 23 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'" 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: So, do we believe this? THE DAYS OF NOAH 11