THE PROCESS OF OUR ETERNAL SALVATION IS EXEMPLIFIED IN THREE STAGES:

JUSTIFICATION, SANCTIFICATION, GLORIFICATION

04-07-19 This message may be viewed live streaming video at www.tabernacleofmoses.org commencing today Sunday at 11:00 am, and repeated 24/7 for one week; thereafter, the video, audio, and study notes are archived.

 

(John 15:15)  Henceforth I call you [His disciples] not servants [Gk: 1401 doulos; a slaves]; for the servant knoweth [Gk: understands] not what his lord doeth [i.e., the Bible: John 1:14]: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known [Gk: declared, given to understand) unto you.

 

JUSTIFICATION (the brasen altar) (salvation)

(Judg 7:1-3)  Then Jerubbaal [Heb: contender with Baal], who is Gideon [Heb: feller (warrior) /// to fell a tree] [a type and shadow of Jesus Christ], and all the people that were with him [the 32,000 soldiers who responded to Gideon’s clarion call (Judg 6:34); a type and shadow of Christians who come to church], rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod [Heb: fountain of trembling]: so that the host of the Midianites [Heb: brawling, contentious, discord, strife] [a type and shadow of all unsaved men] were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh [Heb: teaching] [a great lesson was about to be taught for the benefit of you and I], in the valley [“in the valley of decision” Joel 3:14]. And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the [victory over the] Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves [Heb: boast, glorify themselves] against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid [i.e., who do not trust God, believe God for the victory], let him return [to his home] and depart early from mount Gilead [Heb: heap of testimony, mass of witness, mound of stones] [a type and shadow of the brasen altar, the cross, stony ground]. And there returned [home] of the people twenty and two thousand [22,000 unsaved soldiers who did not trust, believe God for the victory]; and there remained ten thousand [10,000 saved soldiers who trusted, believed God].

 

SANCTIFICATION (the brasen laver)

(Judg 7:4-8)  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people [the 10,000 saved soldiers] are yet too many; bring them down unto the water [a type and shadow of the Holy Spirit (that cleanses and edifies)], and I will try [Heb: to fuse (metal): refine, melt, purify] [Zech 13:7-9; 14:12] them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee [into combat against the Midianites], the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people [the 10,000 saved soldiers] unto the water [a running stream in the midst of the valley]: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself [in one group]; likewise [in another group] every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth [being “vigilant” (1 Pet 5:5), keeping watch, their eyes on the enemy across the stream], were three hundred men [300 saved soldiers]: but all the rest of the people [9,700 saved soldiers] bowed down upon their knees to drink water [indiscriminately sucking it all up (good and bad) and thereby blinding themselves to the life-threatening enemy across the stream]. And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men [300 saved soldiers] that lapped will I save you [from the unsaved Midianites], and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people [the 9,700 saved soldiers] go every man unto his place [of service in the army]. (Judg 7:8)  So the [300] people took victuals [Heb: food] [donations] in their hand [Heb: power], and their trumpets [voice, the word of God]: and he sent all the rest of Israel [the 9,700 soldiers] every man unto his tent [i.e., not to his home; once saved always saved], [THE RAPTURE] and retained [Heb: to fasten upon; hence to seize] [“caught up,” a type and shadow of the rapture (1 Thes 4:17)] those three hundred men [to the tops of the surrounding high hills]: and the host of Midian [the 135,000 unsaved warriors] was beneath him in the valley.

 

GLORIFICATION… OF THE THREE HUNDRED (inside the Tabernacle)

(Judg 7:16-18)  And he [Gideon] divided the three hundred men into three companies [representing God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, God the Man] [“as one man” Judg 6:16], and he put a trumpet [symbolizing a loud voice proclaiming the Word of God] in every man's hand [Heb: power], with empty pitchers [Heb: earthenware] [symbolizing empty earthly bodies], and lamps [Heb: flaming torches] [symbolizing the Holy Spirit] within the pitchers. And he [Gideon, (Jesus Christ in type)] said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise [Mark 16:15]: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp [for Christ Jesus is a Spirit and will not enter into (Mark 4:19) persons by force], it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do [we are to emulate (copy) our Lord and Savior]. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon [“For we are labourers together with God” (1 Cor 3:9)]. (Judg 7:19-23)  So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch [10:00 pm]; and they had but newly set the watch [the newly arrived sentries were very uptight and exceedingly jumpy]: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands [accompanied by a tremendous sudden thunderous crash in the middle of the night, totally exposing the dazzling glorious light of the flaming torches, symbolizing the Holy Spirit in each of them that altogether instantly appear as a brilliant blinding all encompassing “one”]. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps [Heb: flaming torches] in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal [symbolizing the breath of God blowing through the chosen instruments of God (us)]: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon [who was a willing instrument of service]. And they stood every man in his place [in his assigned place indicating order and obedience] round about the camp [“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7]: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled [in massive fear]. And the three hundred blew the trumpets [i.e., proclaimed the Word of God, this phrase is repeated 3x for extreme emphasis], and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow [in the black night of blinding terror and screaming foreign dialects (the three invading armies had become one) they slew each other; a type and shadow of global nuclear warfare], even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath. And the men of Israel [all of the unharmed 10,000 saved warriors] gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued [crossing over the river Jordan into the wilderness] after the [remaining 15,000] Midianites [into the Great Tribulation].

 

THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH IS FIRST THE RAPTURE,

THEN GREAT TRIBULATION

(Judg 8:4-17)  And Gideon [Jesus Christ in type and shadow] came to Jordan [Heb: (the) descender] [a type and shadow of the Holy Spirit], and passed over [from “the good ground”Mat 13:23;Mark 4:20;Luke 8:15, i.e., The Promised Land, a type and shadow of Heaven, into the wilderness], he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint [Heb: weary], yet pursuing [Heb: hunting] [1] them [the 15,000 Midianite warriors] [Jer 16:16]. And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah [Heb: sacrifice] and Zalmunna [Heb: withheld], kings of Midian. And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands [Heb: power] of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? And Gideon said [to the men of Succoth who were living outside (physically and spiritually) the Promised Land “among thorns” Mat 13:22;Mark 4:18,19;Luke 8:14], Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. And he went up thence to Penuel [Heb: the face of God] [watching], and spake unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him. And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower [Heb: castle, pulpit] [made of stone, “stony places” Mat 13:20,21;Mark 4:16,17;Luke 8:13]. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword. And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote [Heb: wounded] the host: for the host was [thought themselves] secure [Heb: safe]. And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited [Heb: (caused them) to shudder with terror] all the host. And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up, And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men [77]. And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid [Heb: carp at, defy, reproach, (taunt)] me, saying, Are the hands [Heb: power] of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary? And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. [And then, he returned to Penuel]  And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city [2].

1.     (Jer 16:16)  Behold, I will send for many fishers [us], saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters [the raptured, resurrected us], and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

2.     (1 Pet 4:17)  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God [i.e., Succoth, and then Penuel]: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Amen