JESUS
CHRIST IS THE TREE OF LIFE AND WE ARE BRANCHES OF LIFE
04-28-19 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.
(Psa 1:1-3)
Blessed [Heb: happy] is
the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful.
But his delight [Heb: pleasure, desire] is
in the law of the
LORD; and in his law doth he meditate [Heb: ponder: study] day and
night. And he shall be like a tree
planted [Heb: transplanted] by the rivers
of water [symbolic of the Holy
Spirit], that bringeth forth his
fruit [Heb: reward] in his season; his leaf also shall
not wither [1]; and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper [Heb: be profitable] [to
whom?].
1.
wither = Heb: wilt, fall away, fail
faint; be foolish or (morally) wicked; despise, disgrace: dishonor,
fade, fall,
come to naught, make vile.
(Psa 1:4-6) The ungodly [1] are not so: but are like the chaff
[2]
which the wind [symbolic
of
the Holy Spirit] driveth
away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the
congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way
of the righteous [Heb:
just, lawful]: but the way
of the ungodly shall perish [Heb: be destroyed: not escape].
1.
ungodly = Heb: morally wrong; bad
person:
condemned, guilty, wicked (man), that did wrong.
2.
chaff
= Dict: 1. the husks of wheat or other grain separated [from
the seed] in threshing or winnowing. 2. anything worthless.
WHOSE
ROD WAS IT?
(Exo 3:9,10) [The
LORD said unto Moses] Now therefore,
behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come
unto me: and I have
also seen the oppression [Heb:
distress: affliction] wherewith the
Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I
will send thee unto
Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children
of Israel out
of Egypt [symbolic of the
land of
the unsaved].
(Exo 4:1-5)
And Moses answered and
said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor
hearken [Heb: hear intelligently
(obediently)] unto my voice:
for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared
unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand [Heb: power]? And he [Moses] said, A rod [1]. And he [God] said, Cast it on the
ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became
a serpent [symbolic of sin]; and Moses fled
from before it [Whose rod was it?]. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put
forth thine hand, and take it by
the tail [Heb: to curtail] [2]. And he put forth his hand, and
caught it [3], and it [the serpent] became a rod in his hand [Heb: power] [i.e., power over his
sin (symbolic of us), for our
future evolution, from the ten plagues upon Pharaoh, being transformed
(Rom
12:2) throughout the Bible from a rod of wood into “a rod of iron” (Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15), symbolic
of judgment]: That they [all of us] may believe that the LORD God of their
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
1.
rod = Heb: a branch [of
a tree]; also a rod,
whether for chastising (fig. correction), ruling (a
sceptre), throwing (a lance), or walking (a staff); fig. a support of
life.
2.
curtail = Dict. Synonyms:
restrain, restrict, inhibit, reduce, hold back, rein in.
a.
(Gal
5:22,23) But
the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith,
Meekness, temperance
[Gk: self-control: temperate]:
against
such there is no law.
b.
temperate = Dict: 1.
moderate in indulging the appetites, not self-indulgent. 2. moderate in
one’s
actions, speech, etc.; self-restrained.
3.
caught it = Gk: fastened
upon; seized; be strong, to bind, restrain, conquer: behave self
valiantly,
withstand.
WHO IS
THE IRON AXE HEAD?
(2 Kings 6:1-7) And the sons of
the prophets [Heb:
inspired men] [students of one of several
schools for “the sons of the prophets” 2 Kings 2:3,5] said unto Elisha, Behold now,
the place where we dwell with
thee is too strait [Heb:
small, tribulation] for us. Let us
go, we pray thee, unto [the river] Jordan [Heb:
descender] [symbolic of the Holy Spirit],
and take thence every man a beam [Heb: a rafter: roof] [symbol of a covering], and let us make us a place there, where we may
dwell. And he [Elisha] answered, Go ye. And one said,
Be content, I pray thee, and
go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.
So he went with
them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood [symbol of men].
But as one was felling a beam, the axe head [Heb: iron
(as cutting)] [symbol of judgment]
fell into the water
[of the Holy Spirit]: and he cried,
and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed [from someone else and thus, in good faith,
destined to be returned]. And the
man of God said, Where fell it?
And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick
[symbol of man], and cast it
in
thither; and the iron did swim
[supported by the water of the Holy Spirit and became mutually
attached to the stick].
Therefore said he [Elisha], Take it
up to thee. And he [who
had “cried”] put out
his hand, and took it.
1.
Commentary: From whom was the axe
head borrowed? The axe head was Jesus
Christ, the stick was the man; mutually
joined together they are an
instrument of God doing the work of the cross.
2.
(Luke 9:23)
And he said to them
all, If any man
will come after me, let him deny himself
[his natural desires],
and take up his cross daily, and
follow me.
3.
(Luke 14:27)
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and
come after me, cannot be my disciple.
THE
FULL SUMMATION
(Mat 3:10-12) And now also the
axe [the fully assembled
axe head and rod = God
(axe) joined with man (rod); Christ joined with Jesus; the
cross, i.e., Jesus
Christ attached (nailed) to the wood; the Head attached to the Body of
Christ] is laid unto the
root of the trees
[completely separating the tree from the
earth]: therefore every tree which
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and
cast into the fire. I
indeed baptize you with water [symbolic
of the Holy Spirit, i.e., “the washing of water by the word” Eph 5:26] unto repentance [Gk: to think differently, reconsider]: but he that cometh after me [Jesus Christ] is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
[“the earnest (deposit) of
the Spirit” 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5], and
with fire [“cloven tongues like as of fire, and it
sat upon each of them” Acts 2:3 (the fullness of the Spirit)]: Whose fan [Gk:
a winnowing fork] is
in his hand, and he will throughly purge
[Gk: cleanse perfectly] his floor,
and gather [Gk: assemble]
his wheat into the garner
[Gk: barn]; but he will burn up the
chaff with
unquenchable fire.
Amen