Message 17 Book One
Monday, June 30th, 2008Message Seventeen - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF
The forty-year exile of the chosen people was subsequently followed by a second exile in Babylon that lasted seventy years, after which, during the first year of Cyrus as king of Persia, issued a proclamation declaring that GOD had given him all the kingdoms of the earth, and had charged him to build HIM a house in Jerusalem. The Spirit then moved certain ones to go up to Jerusalem to commence construction of the edifice. They brought with them religious vessels which had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar during the seventy-year occupation (Ezra 1:1-11).
Among those who went up out of captivity were Zerubbabel, Jeshua son of Josedech. What took place is briefly described in Ezra 5:12-17; including that the exile had taken place because the fathers of Israel had provoked GOD until he “gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away into Babylon” (Ezra 5:12). This second exile of GOD’s people, like the first forty-year exile, was caused by their recalcitrant lack of faith and trust in GOD, as briefly outlined by the writer to the Hebrews, who mentions those who had heard GOD’s voice, but even so, provoked HIM:
“But with whom was HE grieved forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom swore HE that they should not enter into HIS rest, but them that believed not? And so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:17-19).
Lack of faith is a vexatious problem that has continually afflicted mankind, and when GOD established HIS Son at HIS right hand in the highest of heavenly dimensions – empowered as the risen Christ over the heavens and the earth (Mt. 28:18) – faith in Him was made an indispensable condition for salvation of the soul. The writer to the Hebrews declared:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by he Word of GOD, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because GOD had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased GOD. But without faith it is impossible to please HIM, for he that comes to GOD must believe that HE is, and that he rewards them those who diligently seek him. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterward receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he want out not knowing whither he went. For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD.” (Heb. 11:1, 3, 5-6, 8, 10.)
Lack of faith in GOD, with a corresponding failure to obey and follow His guidance and direction, brought about the scattering by the Roman armies of the chosen people in what amounted to a third exile. Apostle Paul summed it up::
“To us there is but one GOD and Father of All, of whom are all things, and we in HIM; and one Lord Jesus the Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.” (1 Cor. 8:6)
When the Son of GOD entered into the earth plane as Jesus Christ of Nazareth, He fulfilled that which GOD had foreordained through HIS Prophet Malachi:
“I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers have you gone away from my ordinances, and have not kept them Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord GOD.” (Mal. 3:6-7).
GOD had not changed, HE forgave HIS chosen people, Israel for their failures; and to those who feared HIM and spoke often to one another about HIS promises to them, a book of remembrance was written, and their names entered in it (Mal. 3:16), so that they would not be forgotten:
“And they shall be mine, saith the Lord GOD, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him. THEN SHALL YOU RETURN, AND DISCERN BETWEEN THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED, BETWEEN HIM THAT SERVES GOD AND HIM THAT SERVES HIM NOT.” (Mal. 3:17-18).
As the New Testament discloses, these souls did return, not having been consumed by GOD’s wrath. They manifested in flesh as Jesus Christ and His Apostles and Disciples, called out as He discovered them and proceeded with His ministry. In that way was brought to pass that which GOD had foreordained through HIS Prophet Malachi. Those souls that from the days of their fathers had gone away from GOD’s ordinances, not having kept them (Mal. 3:6-7), had been spared and had returned to HIM to receive the promises HE had extended – as noted in Mal. 3:10-12. But it was not all as it appeared to be on its surface.
Once empowered at GOD’s right hand, the Son took over the reins of power (Mt. 28:18), and brought in His New Covenant Gospel, which superseded the law of Moses with Christ’s law of belief, faith, love and truth. Apostle Paul spelled this out to the Galatians, declaring that no man is justified in the sight of GOD by the Law of Moses, for the just shall live by faith, and the man that remains under the law must live under it (Gal. 3:11-12). He explained:
“Before faith came we were under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:23-24).
Christ the Son of GOD had experienced and witnessed spiritual developments on the earth from the time He lived as Adam, Enoch, Melchizedek, and in other penultimate earth experiences as GOD’s Son. “By Him were all things created that are in heaven and in earth are visible and invisible…all things were created by Him and for Him. Even the Mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: to whom GOD would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:15-16, 26-27).
All these spiritual matters boil down into one principal all-important truth veiled in the writings of the prophets and even in the New Testament. It is that GOD and Christ have seen fit to merge all people of the earth into one unified congregation. As Apostle Paul spelled it out:
“There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Rom. 10:12-13; cf. 1 Cor. 12:13; Ephes. 2:1-5, 18-22).
Series to be Continued in Message 18 of Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.