ALL ABOUT YOU: GIDEON, CHAPTER 24

VISIBLE PREPARATION OF THE ARK

Sorry, you must have Windows Media Player 9 or higher.

03-28-04

For clarity of this message let us now state that Emmanuel (God with us) became born visible for us as Jesus son of Joseph (a man). (Heb 2:16,17). As the firstborn among many brethren, He is ahead and the head of us. At birth, the head is revealed and born out of the womb before the body. In the accepted canon of scripture, Jesus son of Joseph did no visible miracles throughout his youth until the approximate age of thirty years. Then Jesus son of Joseph (man) became for us Jesus the Christ or Jesus Christ (man-God) upon visibly receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit in the river Jordan. (Luke 3:22). Jesus Christ thereafter became for us Christ Jesus (God-Man) upon His visible death (John 19:30), His visible burial (Mark 15:46), and His visible ascension (Acts 1:9). In every case, when He "became" (man, man-God, God-Man), He did so visibly and manifested Himself in the sight realm.

 

(Acts 1:9-11)  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee [Judas Iscariot, the tare of Judaea having been already picked out of the wheat], why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come [again from within a body] in like manner [by sight] as ye have seen him [by sight] go into heaven. 

 

Don't look up ye men of Galilee. “The kingdom of God [heaven] is within you.” (Luke 17:21). Look within. Even the two angels asked: "Hey guys, why are you out there wasting valuable feeding time staring up at the clouds?" Why is this so difficult for us to understand? Is it the biblical cloud references? Well don't you rhema by now that the clouds are symbols of men? (Heb 11:39,40; 12:1; 2 Pet 2:17; Jude 12). Clouds are a type, and shadow, of men. (Psa 19:1). Prophetically, we are the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:21; Isa 4:5), and "a pillar in the temple of my God." (Rev 3:12). As cloud, each of us is a tiny speck of dust surrounded by a larger drop of moisture (water, Holy Spirit) in the company of millions of other drops of water. Corporately, we are the vessel called cloud. From within the cloud of us comes the rain (the Word of God), the former rain and the latter rain, upon the earth (dry land), which is being increasingly poured out. (Joel 2:21-32).

 

Peter and the other disciples experienced this prophecy as a type of firstfruits harvest on the day of Pentecost. Peter stood up with the eleven and addressed not just the multitude of "devout men" then present but all Christian men, i.e. "Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words [Gk: rhema]." (Acts 2:14). Peter said rhema, not logos. He did not say "hearken to my logos." To "hear" in the sense of these verses is to "receive." This was tremendous prophecy. All men can hear logos for it has been made visible. (John 1:14). However, only the gathering multitude of "devout men" that "came together" (Acts 2:5,6) like a cloud, as a type of corporate body of Christ can also hear the rhema (John 6:63; 12:48). Why? Because rhema is invisible. These true believing Christians hear rhema while the unhearing others are "mocking." (Acts 2:13). Would that all men would hear the rhema. Peter then repeated this prophecy that we might know that the experience will be repeated again and that the permanent fullness was yet to come. (Acts 2:16-21). The tongues-words (rain) came out of, from within the cloud of the twelve apostles and was absorbed, i.e. heard and received, by and into the "devout men, out of every nation [prophetic] under heaven." (Acts 2:5). You don't believe me? Well, that's okay friend. Please be very careful that you do not receive a permanent crick in your neck while you waste your allotted time (Eph 5:15-17) passively standing around "gazing up" waiting for Him. While you are gazing up, you are not actively grazing down. Be ye doers of the Word; bow down your heads, and feed. (2 Tim 2:15).

 

Please note that Spiritual invisible God repeatedly manifests in the sight realm in a vessel-body for His progressive purpose. In like manner shall He be revealed and manifested in us (Rom 8:18,19) for we are the clouds. The time of our Lord's second advent is a spiritual reality manifesting now in part in this present physical sight realm.

 

Noah preached for 120 years the exact same end-time message as do we while the ark of salvation was "a preparing." (1 Pet 3:20).  Our Lord God said that the days of man (sight) shall be 120 years. (Gen 6:3). He did not say what kind of years. A Jubilee year is a very special kind of year. It is a year of complete restoration to "proclaim liberty throughout all the land." (Lev 25:8-55). A Jubilee year is celebrated every 50 chronological years, on the Day of Atonement which is the sixth feast and the sixth seal (Rev 6:12) celebrating our Lord’s return.

 

 

That which saves is salvation. The ark that Noah constructed was a vessel of salvation. We preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the ark. He is the vessel of salvation. While Noah was obediently assembling the boards of the ark of salvation, the ark of salvation was literally manifesting board upon board (doctrine upon doctrine, angel upon angel, priest upon priest) in the physical sight realm. The ark was manifesting in the sight realm from in part into a complete whole exactly like a house, a ship, or a barn that is constructed board upon board from nothing (0), to in part (1-612 boards), to whole (613 boards). Through the building of it, the invisible pattern from God placed in your mind (positional reality) becomes visible (experiential reality). The multitude of people surrounding Noah could clearly see the instrument of their potential salvation forming; they heard the message of Noah but chose to laugh and ignore it. They "mocked."

 

Biblically, trees and wood symbolize men. The 48 wooden boards supporting the ark-tabernacle of salvation of Moses symbolize the 48 Levitical cities, i.e. the priests of God. The boards of the ark of Noah and the boards of the tabernacle of Moses in the Old Testament, and the boards of the barn of Jesus Christ (Mat 13:30) in the New Testament each fitly joined together form a type of the true spiritual church, the house of God, a ship on the sea of humanity. The barn into which the wheat is gathered is a New Testament type of ark. The barn is composed of wooden priest-boards. It is the house of God. This barn was "broken down" in the Old Testament. (Joel 1:17). Amos prophesied that the Lord God "will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old." (Amos 9:11). James repeats this prophecy that we may know that it is not fulfilled but yet to come. (Acts 15:16). Those who enter into this ark-tabernacle-barn of salvation are "in Christ." All are invited to enter in. (Heb 10:18-20). The salvation of the sheep is attained by hearing the faith message of the shepherd-priests of God and entering into the sheepfold-ark of salvation. The sheep and the goats then and now can see the shepherd as well as hear the shepherd. The first ark-vessel of salvation (Noah) was moved by water. The second ark-tabernacle of salvation (Moses: drawn out of the water) was moved by men. The third ark-barn of salvation (Christ: the anointed) is moving men.

 

As in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Now, while the ark of the barn-body of the Christ is being assembled (Matt 13:30: gather = Gk: assemble) board upon board for the exact same purpose of salvation, it is manifesting in the physical realm. Those willfully blinded in spirit choose not to hear nor to see the physical corporate body of walking talking priest-boards of God who are now in part manifesting Christ Jesus. These boards are you and I. Very soon these priest-boards who are being assembled into the many-membered ark-barn of Christ will manifest the fullness of Christ Jesus. That fullness will appear when He is fully "revealed in us." (Rom 8:18,19).

 

When the ark of Noah was completed, then the hand of "the Lord shut him in." (Gen 7:16). Noah and his family were shut inside the “hedge” (Job 1:10) of the ark of salvation and the unbelieving multitude were shut outside. The open "door" was closed. (John 10:7,9). The flood came immediately. Those without remained without, doomed to eternal separation from God, and the consequences thereof.

 

(Mat 24:29,30)  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

 

Amen