The Disciple 3 – The Lamp & Light Post

The whole Bible is about Jesus.

Historical
1. natural
God’s plan for Israel, the church and the rest of creation.
1. Spiritual
Discover Jesus in the Old Testament
Learn about the “secrets of God”

It starts by being still.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Stillness = Peace

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Philippians 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Waiting upon on the Lord

Isaiah 40:30-31 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, [31] But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Now

We wait for Jesus’ return.

Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Jude 20–21 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Revelation 21:3 NKJV And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

We Go and do His work being His word.

John 1:14 (NKJV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us.

Matthew 28:19–20 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

2 Timothy 4:2 NKJV Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

Not a hard

It is all about Jesus.

Philippians 2:9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,

Old Testament.

Even the feasts of Israel are revelations of the Lord Jesus, His life and ministry.

The Feast of the Passover—His death on the cross

1 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV) Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread—when Jesus took our sins upon Himself.
1. Pointed to the Messiah’s sinless life (as leaven is a picture of sin in the Bible), making Him the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
2. Jesus’ body was in the grave during the first days of this feast, like a kernel of wheat planted and waiting to burst forth as the bread of life.

2 Corinthians 5:21 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The Feast of Firstfruits—the Lord’s resurrection from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:20 (NKJV) But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)—the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:1-2 (NKJV) ¹ When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

The Feast of Trumpets—the rapture of the church.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NKJV) ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Corinthians 15:52 (NKJV) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

The Day of Atonement—the salvation of Israel.

Romans 3:25 NIV God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood-to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-

Romans 5:11 NKJVAnd not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation/atonement (KJV).

The Feast of Tabernacles—the millennium reign of Christ Jesus.

John 1:14 (NKJV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, [tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us] and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Bible is not just about history or poetry or prophecy.

It is about Jesus.

Then I began to see that Joseph is not about Joseph, but about Jesus.

He was loved by his father. That’s Jesus.
He was hated by his brothers. That’s Jesus.
He was tempted by Potiphar’s wife. Jesus was tempted in every way, but without sin.
He was totally blameless, yet placed in a prison, which is Jesus’ death and His incursion into the underworld.
He came out of prison, and that’s the resurrection.
He was seated at Pharaoh’s right hand, and that’s the ascension.
Joseph was given an Egyptian wife. Egypt symbolizes the World which God loved.

That part of history is no longer Joseph.

It’s all about Jesus.

The Bible is a revelation of one person: Jesus, the Son of God.

Seeing Jesus on every page of the Bible is what transforms us into His image.

Auto Transcription

)Hallelujah. We live our lives, most of us anyway, to the best that we can, trying to be as good as we can. And many times we fail. Many times we fall short. We know we can be better. And the only thing that I have found that sustains me and that helps me grow is the Word of God, because it leads me to God Himself. And that is what is meant to be a disciple, to know the Word of God so much so that it bears fruit in you, that so much so that nothing in me supersedes or comes that word. And it is not easy. Sometimes there are things in the world that seem to be more important or top the Word of God. Sometimes our habits, they crop up out of nowhere. And you see yourself saying things which you don’t want to say. But then here’s a thing. In Philippians 1.6 it says, “Being confident of this, that He will perfect that which concerns us.” So we are all on a journey. And as for me, I resort to the Word of God. Some people ask me, “When are you going to take a vacation?” I say, “From what?” Some people ask me, “How do you entertain yourself?” I don’t need to. The Word of God provides that. How do you get there? I wasn’t like this all the time. But I want you to understand how I got there. And today we’re going to study how the Word of God, the role it plays in our lives and how it is important. It is all about Jesus.

It’s all about Jesus, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Now, when you take the Word of God, there is a historical aspect of it that is in the natural. We know there was a king called David. We know Jesus lived and died and rose again. That’s one layer. Remember, I spoke to you about layers. Then as you go deeper, you find God’s plan for Israel and the Church and the rest of the creation. And my book mainly covers that. What is God’s plan? That is spiritual. These are layers. And as you go deeper, you’ll find Jesus in every page of the Bible. You’ll find Jesus in the Old Testament. And that is a discovery you have to make. If I teach you all this, which I will do that. Yes, but it’s just knowledge. But then when you discover, you’ll find that, hey, the Word comes out of life. And there is deeper things. In Deuteronomy 29, 29, it talks about the secret things of God. You learn about the secrets of God. I taught you about that last week and the week before that. But it all starts with being still. In Psalm 46, verse 10, it says, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. For you and me.” It means what? Keep God above everything. Don’t exalt anything about God. Yes, be still. You cannot get there without being still. And in that stillness is peace, the Shalom of God. Nothing missing, nothing broken of God. And who is the Prince of Peace?

Jesus. Go to Isaiah 9.6. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

There’s something about this peace that we don’t understand fully. But that peace is a peace of God that surpasses all understanding. What does it say that? In Philippians 4.7, you can read it for the context, Jesus. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. He’s the Prince of Peace. So it all starts when you wait upon the Lord. Make the time to wait upon the Lord, not take the time alone. Then you can say, “I didn’t find the time.” No, make the time. Make the time. Go to Isaiah 40. 30 to 31. “Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mound up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.” I find that if you don’t wait upon the Lord, I have to form a cheerleading club for every worship session. I have to encourage you to praise Him. I don’t know how soulless that will end up being. But if you wait upon the Lord, I don’t have to do that. You’ll naturally get there. And we will get together in unity as a church. We’ll find the presence of the Lord in our midst. Now it’s there by His grace. Not because of anything we have done. Yes, but if we pay the price and wait upon Him, there’s more. But we will talk about that later. But what I want you to understand now is that right now we wait for the Lord’s return. That is the return of Jesus. He’s been here first and He’s coming again. There are two things we have to do. One is wait, the other is go. Sounds like a contradiction. But here, go to Philippians 3. 20. For our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? He’s not come yet. He’s already come in the past. But when you eagerly wait, that means for His return. Do you understand? For His second coming. That is what keep your eyes on the things about. Do you understand? Yes. Go to Jude 20, 21. But you, beloved, building yourself up in your home, most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourself in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, looking unto Him. Keep your eyes on Him. It’s okay to wear a verse pants that says, what would Jesus do? But you’re not called to look unto your wristband. You call the look unto Jesus. If you know what I mean, then. Yes. Now, if you go to Revelation 21. 3. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. And God Himself will be with them and be their God. This is true spiritually, but this has yet to happen physically because God is not there. Yes. Where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus, He’s there in our midst, but then obviously not physically in spirit. Do you understand what it speaks about in Revelation 21? It’s the future of how things are going to lead to. This is very important for us to understand. Because leading to that is a commission to go to His word and be His word. For some people, the only word they will encounter is you and me. It starts with that. Go to John 1.14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This is talking about Jesus. He tabernacled with us. He lived with us. Yes. So in the flesh and He’s coming again. But right now you are in the flesh. And that is how some people, that is the only way that some people will know Jesus through you. You have to speak. Not only that, you have to be a witness. You have to talk about Jesus. How will you do that if you’re faking it? It has to be real. And here’s the thing. It doesn’t depend on you. It depends on Him, on God. He perfects you. But you renew your mind on the Word of God. It’s simple. I keep telling you that. Go to Matthew 28, 19-20. Go therefore, Jesus said that, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Go therefore.

In 2 Timothy 4, 12, the Apostle Paul is telling his spiritual son Timothy, preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching in season and out of season. What does that mean? Whether you feel like it or not, Jesus is not a hard task master, but don’t be stubborn and foolish. See, your willingness is of the utmost importance. You have to be willing. Otherwise, you don’t do it because He’s already paid the price. But when you’re willing, you look on the cost, you make the time. Do you understand? But your willingness is important. He’s not a hard task master. Are you willing? Many of us think we are willing. Emotionally, we say we are willing, but are we? And the Lord will teach us the contents of our heart and reveal that to us. Not that He doesn’t know, but we should know this. But what I want you to understand is the whole Bible is about Jesus.

And Jesus has been given the name above all names. What did it say that? In Philippians 2 9. Therefore, God also has highly exalted them and given them a name which is about every name. So when you read the New Testament and you read examples of Jesus being explained through scriptures, they’re talking about the Old Testament. What does that mean? A long time ago, someone told me, oh, when I read the Old Testament, I go to sleep. Or I don’t understand a word of what I’m reading. And that’s why you need to belong to a church. Otherwise, it’ll be gibberish to you. If you make a book report on Romeo and Juliet and you had Shakespeare as your friend sitting next to you, he’ll give you insights that you never thought of, not even from reading that. And that is the privilege we have. We have the writer of the Bible, the author of the Bible residing in us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So we must be familiar with the Old Testament. I’ll give you an example. Even the Feast of Israel, a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, his life and ministry. I’ve talked to you about this many times. I think more than twice a thrice about the Feast of Israel. But I’ll run them by you. Feasts, amor idem, or in the Hebrew language, days that are set apart, they’re ordained by God himself. So you have seven feasts and you have the feast of the Passover that speaks about his death on the cross, Jesus’s death on the cross. You go to 1 Corinthians 5-7. And therefore, purge out the old living that you may be a new lump since you are truly unlivened, for indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Then the Feast of the Unlivened Bread, when Jesus took our sins upon himself, pointed to the Messiah’s sinless life as a living is a picture of sin in the Bible, making Jesus the perfect sacrifice for us. Why? Because he was born without sin and only he was qualified to pay the price. Jesus’s body was in the grave during the first days of this feast, like a kernel of wheat blended, waiting to burst forth. He was the bread of life. 2 Corinthians 5-21. For he that is God made him Jesus, who you know sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. You’re already the righteousness of God. You cannot get any better than that. Then you have the Feast of the Firstfruits. That is the Lord’s resurrection from the dead. Go to 1 Corinthians 15-20. But now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Don’t fall asleep while reading the Old Testament. Talks about Jesus. That is a remedy for not sleeping. Yes. Try to find Jesus in the Old Covenant. Yes. Feast of Weeks or the Feast of the Pentecost. The coming of the Holy Spirit is on the day of Pentecost. Code Acts 2-1-2. When the day of Pentecost had fully come and they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. I’m just briefly going through that. I’ve taught you in detail how these feasts are symbolic of what is going to happen. Even for example, the Feast of Trumpets. That is a rapture of the church. Go to 1 Thessalonians 4 16-18. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. That is a word used for rapture. Shall be caught up, caught up. Yes. Shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. Go to 1 Corinthians 15 52. In a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible. And we shall be changed. Feast of Trumpets. It’s about Jesus. It’s about the church. It is interesting. It ought to interest you. It’s about your future. The day of Atonement, the Feast of the Day of Atonement, it is the salvation of Israel. You could say that in Romans 3 25 says God presented Christ as a sacrifice of Atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. That means it’s also talking about you and me because by faith we receive Christ. Otherwise, he’s just a man who lived and died in Israel. How do you know he rose again? Do you understand? He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. Continues on. But here, sacrifice of Atonement. Jesus made it like you and I never sinned. Do you understand? This is also some people view as the gathering of Israel. Romans 5 11. And not only that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation in the King James version. It says Atonement instead of reconciliation.

So we have the ministry of what? Atonement. Hallelujah. It’s deeper than that. Yes. That what you think of it. Yes. Anyway, then you have the Feast of Tabernacles. Some people say that as the Millennium reign of Christ. But it goes beyond that. Go to 1 John 1 14. We covered this. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Tabernacle. That means fixed the stent of flesh for a while among us. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. That is in the past. In the future, we have Revelation 21 3. We covered this. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. This is a future event. But these are all earmarked by the feasts that are in the Old Testament. It’s all about Jesus. The Bible is not just about poetry or history or prophecy. It’s about Jesus. It’s about a person. That is important for you to understand because it makes a difference in your life as it made a difference in my life. For example, you take Joseph, not in the New Testament, in the Old Testament. When you look at Joseph, his life and the historical part of that is there. Yes. But he’s an example of Jesus. How he was loved by his father. Remember the Technicolor Court? Yes. That’s Jesus. He was hated by his brothers.

That’s Jesus. He came to his own, but his own did not recognize him. Yes. He was tempted by Potiphar’s wife. That’s Jesus. Jesus was tempted in every way, but without sin. He was totally blameless yet placed in a person, which is Jesus’ death and his incursion into the underworld. This is God, became a creation, blamed for something he didn’t do. Then he died. And death caught him and he went to the underworld. But then when death realized there was no sin in him, what could death do? Let go. And he rose again. Amen.

Jesus came out of prison. That is as a restriction. Like Joseph. Yes. He was seated at Pharaoh’s right hand. And that’s ascension. Whereas Jesus seated at the father’s right hand. Yes.

Joseph was given an Egyptian wife. Egypt symbolizes the world which God loved. We are part of that world and we become the church that called out once. Amen. So that part of history is no longer about Joseph alone. It is about Jesus.

Am I making sense? Yes. The Bible is a revelation of one person, the Son of God, Jesus. If you really love him, you will find out more about him. If you’re faking it, all that will be is logos to you. The written word. It won’t be the living word because Jesus is a living word. Seeing Jesus on every page of the Bible is what transforms us into his image, his word that we apply to change to make that change. For example, many times God has told me, don’t lose your cool. Don’t lose your temper. But I’ve seen myself shoot up my temper above and beyond where I could control this. And I see things that I ought not to say. It comes back down and then I’m all sorry about what I said. And if I love the devil to bring condemnation, he’s already one. The devil is one. I get back. The righteous may fall perfectly seven times, but he gets up. Hallelujah. The task at hand. One is to wait on the Lord patiently while you wait. Cool. Is that clear? This is all I’m going to talk about today, but I wanted to be real to you. His presence was real today as we worshiped. And I believe that is there for a reason, that what the Lord is teaching us about himself will bear fruit in us. Amen. Let’s worship him.

Auto Transcription

Leave a Comment Cancel reply