True Life Story of Christ, Pt. 6

Ronald Weinland

May 30, 2020

So again, awesome time we’re in this time of year, today, the Sabbath before Pentecost, and of course this entire series is about the process of Christ coming into Jerusalem at the last of his life, working toward Passover, and those last two to three weeks, there was so much that he taught in the last two weeks, so much that happened, so much that is written in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John about that particular time. Some of the most important things he taught was at that last part of his ministry. And so, if you look at an entire 3½ years, the vast majority happened just in two or three weeks there, especially in the last two weeks.

To me that’s exciting, it’s inspiring to see how God works, to see what took place. We can learn from that because there are “types” of those kinds of things that take place in life and so we watch, we observe, we learn, seek to learn, and by continually being watchful, that kind of a mind, we’re able to learn more because God will teach us.

So again, here he is coming into Jerusalem to fulfill the role of Passover and the role of the wave sheaf offering because that’s going to follow soon afterwards, obviously, once he’s resurrected. So, incredible things that take place there.

Then of course, the wave sheaf leading up to what we’re going to observe tomorrow, being Pentecost, the annual Holy Day, third Holy Day of the year of Pentecost. All these things are tied together so powerfully so in the sense of once we get to the wave sheaf, actually, Passover, the wave sheaf, and then all the way up to what we’re going to be observing tomorrow concerning the wave loaves, the 144,000, the first of the firstfruits who are resurrected and return with Christ when he establishes the Kingdom of God.

That’s an incredible thing to think about when we think about God revealing things in a progressive manner and we look at the previous 4,000 years before his ministry, and you see a process that is progressive and compared to what God gave them and taught them, which they didn’t understand immediately, they began to after the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. as God poured out His holy spirit and began to help them to understand and to be able to put together those things that Christ had taught them. All of a sudden then those things became far more meaningful because they were on a spirit plane. They began to understand the things he had to say and that became exceedingly exciting.

Of course, we’re able to read those things and go through those things and be inspired, what was done then, but to think that it took 4,000 years to get to that point is really quite incredible. To establish a Church, to establish a means by which more people are going to be able to be worked with as part, as the firstfruits, to prepare them for God’s government.

Because the reality is when he was coming into Jerusalem, they were looking to him then to do that because that’s all they understood. They were looking for a Messiah. They knew that God’s Kingdom or a kingdom was going to be established. That was the hope. That was the belief of those things that were taught. They just didn’t understand the timing.

To look back on those kinds of things and to think of that mindset, here they are looking to Christ as he’s coming into Jerusalem, especially on the Sabbath before Passover there, and crying out about him being a descendant of David, crying out as they see him going by on that donkey’s colt, and crying about God and the Kingdom of God that’s going to be established because the Messiah has come. That’s what they believed. We’re talking about hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that had gathered there to see this event that were crying out to see him come into the city. God had prepared this. Like Christ said, “If they didn’t cry out, the stones would.”

So, what an incredible story as he’s coming into Jerusalem to fulfill the role of Passover, but not of the Messiah. To think that 2,000 more years have to pass nearly, that have to take place, of a Church that’s going to be established and different eras of the Church before God’s Kingdom actually comes, before the Messiah, or before he comes as a Messiah.

So, to me this is inspiring to understand the timing. He’s fulfilling the Passover. They didn’t understand that. They didn’t comprehend that someone had to die, his blood being spilled to the earth, but someone who lived a righteous life who was born of God. They didn’t understand these things and yet all this was compacted together and came together in a very short time where they did begin to see it and understand it.

So again, The True Story of Christ, Part 6.

We’re going to pick it up here in Mark 12. Think about how so few have ever heard this story and understand it. I think of the particular video that’s out now about three days and three nights and how that people who read through scripture and the reason there’s been so much confusion. Just like the idea of a Friday (what they call Good Friday), when Christ died being the time that that event took place and it wasn’t. We understand that in the Church, but people in the world don’t because they don’t understand something as simple as preparation days, that there is a preparation before the weekly Sabbath. That’s why they thought it was a Friday. They don’t understand the scriptures then because they don’t understand the Old Testament and they don’t understand a relationship with God that Israel was to have.

Then to understand there is a preparation day or preparation days before an annual Holy Day that falls on different days of the week, and because of that lack of knowledge, that kind of ignorance which they can’t help, they don’t understand this story, just a story flow of things we see and grasp that fits together so perfectly is inspiring.

Here we are, two days before Passover. Continuing in that now as we left off last week, and things that he continues to teach all day and into the night at different times here, different things that are being taught by him. Some of the most important, some of the most meaningful, meaty things spiritually that’s given to the Church.

Mark 12:18. So here they had been trying to entrap him. They wanted to find reason to be able to kill him, have him put to death as far as the Roman government was concerned so they could take him before the Roman government and be able to legally, obviously then, put him to death. They’d asked questions about whether you could give to Caesar, give tax to Caesar and so forth, and that’s the scripture we ended on last week.

Then the story continues here. It says, Mark 12:18—Then the Sadducees came to him, who say there is no resurrection... So even amongst themselves Sadducees and Pharisees had different beliefs about things that would take place in time; different concepts and ideas had already worked their way into the teachings of Judaism. From that point on it just got a whole lot worse in Judaism.

…and they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife and raise up seed unto his brother, in other words, descendants, children. Now there were seven brethren, seven brothers, the first took a wife, and dying, left no seed. There were no descendants. There was no birth. And the second took her, and died, and neither did he. So, there were no children born. …and the third likewise. And seven had her as their wife, and, again, no children. And last of all the woman died also.

You think, just to think up the stupid questions trying to prove their point, or trying to find favor over another group, even amongst themselves disagreeing and fighting with each other as so often takes place. I can’t help but think about what’s called the “holy city.” It’s not holy. But the old city, basically, and visiting there and having a guide that was taking us through the different sections, except for one. You can’t go into the one by the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It’s on the mount, where the temple mount was. You can’t go in there, as a whole, of course, unless you’re a Muslim because it’s their holy site.

But anyway, we went through that particular area and the guide was telling us how that even amongst the different groups who are there, of those who call themselves Christian, there are four primary groups in that area and that they actually get into fights. The priests actually have gotten into fights there over the time that they can have certain areas to themselves. So, they’re supposed to be on this rotation type thing of sharing and the like and so even amongst themselves they actually have knock down drag outs. Not just hollering matches at times, but they’ve actually gotten into skirmishes arguing over their time.

So here we are, Sadducees, Pharisees pitted against each other even in the midst of all this. It’s just the way of religion.

They’re asking this question here because they have a certain belief about a resurrection: In the resurrection, therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall be for the seven that had her as their wife? And Joshua answering said to them, Do you not therefore err…? This word has to do with “deceive yourselves.” In other words, “Aren’t you deceiving yourself? You’re in deception here, don’t even see it?” because you don’t know the scriptures…? So, wow! Can you imagine? He didn’t mince words here at the end at all. At other times in the past there were things said because it wasn’t his time yet. But now he was letting it be what it was and saying anything and everything. He knew the timing was there and drawing closer and so just put it on the line, this is what it is, and they’re going to take it in a certain way, obviously.

“You don’t know the scriptures?” So again, quite a put down if you understand their attitude and their thinking. …neither the power of God? So, “You don’t understand the scriptures and you don’t grasp the power of God?” Whew! For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage. Most certainly they didn’t understand. They had their own ideas about things, but he’s telling them things that in many ways, in many respects are new as far as really understanding God’s purpose and what God is doing and the Kingdom of God that’s going to come.

This is part of what he’s saying, they don’t marry, neither are they given in marriage; but are as the angels who are in heaven. So again here, when there is spirit life, when there is resurrection to spirit life there is no more purpose for procreation, for human life. They’re not human any longer anyway and they don’t have life. That’s not the purpose of it so things change drastically. That’s basically what he’s letting them know. They’re not like we are now. The purpose is not the same, obviously.

And concerning the dead, that they rise. Have you not read in the book of Moses…? So again here, quite a slam. Haven’t you read in the book of Moses? So, this is hard on them because they’re so filled with pride. The more pride that people have the more irritating something like this becomes. It’s like people who consider themselves really religious, have a certain belief, and they will take a side, if they think you’re on their side, and then if they find out…

I think of the comments. Sometimes I’ve gone through some of those on the videos and you think, wow, there are so many ideas that people have out there that it’s mind boggling. It really is! Some of it… Well, anyway. You just have to shake your head at times. You see different things that people will latch on to and you can tell the ones who really have their feathers ruffled the most, is because they have more pride in what they believe, what they believe about their teaching or their Church, and because of that, they’ll attack in different ways.

So, this is the same sort of thing here and they’re being riled up. It’s basically to lead them to a spirit and an attitude that they’re bent on anyway, of something that must take place toward the end here when, as a whole, people turn against him in a very powerful way and want to see him put to death, cry out for him to be put to death. We’ll come to that later.

He says, And concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses how in the bush God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You, therefore, are greatly mistaken. Again here, they didn’t grasp God’s plan and God’s purpose. They didn’t understand what God was doing, why mankind, what is in the future. They had no comprehension about the Family of God, the Kingdom of God.

Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? What’s the first one? What’s the most important? Hopefully, we grasp that with all of our being. That’s why I mention that as being something that I keep as a number one, because if it’s not there then the others, well…? Because anything else that we do in life, if we don’t honor God then the first one we have messed up mightily on.

I’ll read something else. I want to interject here a particular scripture in Matthew 22:34. I’ll just read that quickly to you, a part of the story here, then we’ll go back to Mark here. This is Matthew 22:34 where it says, But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer… So again here, it’s like, “Shut them up so now it’s our chance. We’re going to be made look better here because, obviously, more righteous and he can’t help but agree with us, type of thing. So, it’s this playing of this game back and forth that people do sometimes.

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked, testing him, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? So, if they couldn’t do it, they can, because they’re shrewd and they can get one on him perhaps.

This is where it picks up again then in the flow here of Mark. So again, Mark 12:29—Joshua answered him, The first of all the commandments is Hear, O, Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD. And you shall love the LORD your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul… So, it’s about God. It’s about there being, in essence here, truly one God, one Elohim. There is one Family of God. He’s saying here, in essence, You shall love the LORD your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. Because, well, isn’t that what we want to do? Isn’t that what we desire to do, to honor God, to please God, to love God and to strive to draw closer to God? As we learn to love God more and more, which is about loving His word, loving His way of life, loving His plan and purpose, then we’ll be able to see other things in their proper perspective, in their proper light.

If we don’t do this then we’re not going to be putting God first in our life, we truly aren’t. There are going to be things we’re messing up. But the stronger that is in our life the more we’re going to want to be focused on having everything else right in our life because it all comes back to this, doesn’t it? God is first.

So, to love Him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. What does that mean, all of our mind? Well, repenting means to think differently so the mind has to change to be in greater unity and oneness with God, to be right with God. That’s the process we go through in life. So that means number two, number three, number four, whatever it is all the way down the list, things that are wrong in our thinking have to change so that our mind is right with God, so that we can love God with all of our mind and all of our heart.

That’s a lifelong process. We all come short of that; we truly do. We’re all lacking in that. So wherever you are in your calling from the time you were called and baptized, received the impregnation of God’s spirit, to now, and whatever growth has taken place, there is still growth that needs to take place above and beyond that. We can’t ever become stagnant. We can never let up. When we cease to grow, that’s an impossibility. If we cease to grow that means God’s spirit isn’t working in our life, and if God’s spirit isn’t working in our life then we’re quenching the spirit, there is sin there that we’re tolerating and not repenting of. The mind has to change.

So, this means so much here when it says, “And with all of your mind.” That brings us back to a reality, “I know that I don’t love God with all of my mind, but I want to. That’s my choice.” Every one of us has to acknowledge that. We fail in that because we’re carnal, selfish human beings. It’s hard for us to love the way God wants us to, but it’s something we’re to strive to do because we’ve made the choice. He knows we can’t love as He loves. We don’t have that capacity. We don’t have that ability. But we want to, and that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

So, the more we concede that we’re lacking in our ability to love and the ability to love others, that’s a good thing because if we don’t see that then we’re not striving to change those things in our life, because only by seeing it can you make a choice to fight against that and to yield then more fully and cry out to God more fully for His spirit to grow with that mind that He has, He and His son. That’s a beautiful process to go through in life.

The more I grow, candidly, the more I see I am lacking in love. That’s just a reality. I know that. I see it far more clearly than I did a year ago. I see it far, far more clearly than I did two or three years ago – far, far more clearly than I did a decade ago. The more we grow, and the longer time goes in that process of growth, the more that reality will strike us deep. That’s a good thing because that helps to get rid of haughtiness and pride and it helps us to have more of a humble spirit and to recognize our need for God’s spirit. Would to God we could see that more clearly, all of us in the Body. But that takes time we grow in, truly.

He says, this is the first commandment. It says it all, really. Because everything else hinges upon that, where we are in our understanding of that.

And the second is like unto it, namely this, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. So, that’s what we desire to do because it reflects the degree to which we really see and have number one in our life. Because the stronger that is means that that one there is under far greater control and being exercised and practiced in our life, and it will be reflected in then the number one because that’s first. Where we see our weaknesses is really in the number two. Because it’s hard for us as human beings to grasp our relationship with the Great God of the universe because it’s a spiritual relationship. It’s not something you can do openly like you do with friends and people who are close to you, or acquaintances, or members of a body, of a Church.

And so, we’re limited strictly to the spirit in our relationship with God because it’s not a physical one. It’s physical in the sense that we can begin to grasp and understand everything around us is here because God gave it to us. Everything we see, everything we’re able to drink in, everything we’re able to enjoy is because God wants to share that with us. That’s a unique part of that relationship.

But the real trial and test of it comes in our physical relationships with others. It truly does. That reveals our closeness with God. That’s why we’ve talked about in times past how we think toward others in the Body of Christ reveals our true spirit toward God. Because if we’re judging others in a wrong way, in a bad way, harshly, not righteously, that reflects our attitude toward God because we’re all God’s children. We’re all part of God’s family. How we look upon someone else is, candidly, about our thinking toward God, if we can grasp that.

He said, There is no greater commandment than these. It sums up everything, doesn’t it? Beautiful!

Now, to understand those two things we might think, “Well, that’s easy. That was a good answer,” and even the response here that we’re going to see. But to understand it spiritually is a totally different matter. To see it, to hear it physically is one thing; you think, “Well, that makes good sense,” carnally thinking, human thinking, “Well, yeah, that’s good. God should be first, yes.” But that’s not the same as understanding it spiritually. That’s not the same as the things I just discussed with you about the more you grow spiritually the more you’re going to understand how much you lack, how much you’re not able to love like God does.

Verse 32—And the scribe said to him, Well, Master, You have said the truth. Think, yeah. …for there is one God. Isn’t that amazing? …one God, and there is none other but Him. Now, especially at that point in time, even as far as Elohim is concerned, there is only one in the God Family, God the Father. And so, this was even more meaningful at this point in time in the sense of understanding what people think about Christ, those who think that he had eternally existed. He’s making it clear here there is one God, period, and there is none other but Him.

Now, if he had been God as some think, then he would have been lying right here. See, that would have been untrue. But he was telling the truth here, “There is one God!” So, this is a toughie. This is going to be a toughie for some who are scattered out there, who still have this concept. They’re able to deal with the concept of the trinity with the holy spirit and realizing that’s not a being, but this other part, they’re going to have difficulty with. That’s going to be a matter of conversion and a matter of repentance on their part and receiving. Whether people want to hold on to what they have, what they think they have, or whether they’re willing to repent and say, “Well, that’s right,” once they begin, once they’re given the ability to see it.

…and to love Him with one’s heart, and with all ones understanding, and with all one’s life. We read something like this, and you’ve got to understand here he doesn’t get it! He doesn’t get it. The individual saying this was not spiritual at all. He didn’t have God’s spirit in him. He wasn’t being drawn by God’s spirit. He was speaking by carnal knowledge, by the knowledge he’s had of the Old Testament, those writings, and of the law of Moses, obviously. He sees there’s an agreement.

It’s amazing to me sometimes how you can say certain things and people hear and agree. Like reading some of the things in the books or whatever it might be, or something on a website, and they say they agree, but they don’t understand. They don’t understand the next section that’s talked about there, so they don’t really agree. But somehow there are times when people think, “Yeah, I agree with that,” because they’re not seeing it like you see it. To me, that’s an amazing process here. It’s a beautiful process too here, because it shows that God has to give the ability to see it by His holy spirit. That’s an amazing thing, if people, though they might be going through hardships and trials, and maybe sometimes even because of the troubles of life, go through a period of depression, of being down, of being discouraged rather than encouraged, because that just happens sometimes in human life, and some things can become filled with weight in our life. It can turn into drama, too. That’s a lot of weight.

So those things can work in our life in such a way that they’re very hurtful and painful. But if we can see through that and realize that if we’re able to grasp what is true, you talk about encouragement! The only way we can is because of God’s spirit. We have to at times get refocused or focus in again a little bit more fully. Maybe it’s getting a little cloudy, and if it is, and somebody is discouraged about something, going through a hardship, then it’s time to draw closer to God and use the tools that are available – prayer, fasting, whatever – and remind yourself of that truth. If you see things, it’s because God is working with you. It’s because God has opened your mind and you still have that ability through the power of His holy spirit to see the truth. Because people can’t see it otherwise!

We’ve known of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who have lost that, who once had that relationship, that can’t see those things that you see now so clearly. So, what more encouragement could a human being want? Your life is in God’s hands, and if you see that by the fact of what you know then what does it matter what we go through in physical life? If it helps you to learn something, to glean something from it, to come to a point of seeing something like that, how much is that worth to a person? Because those kinds of things you can’t buy! Those kinds of things you can’t receive by human understanding. They come from God’s spirit! To me, that’s an awesome thing to understand.

The reality is we should never be discouraged. But in human life that can happen, and people can feel sorrowful, they can feel lonely, they can feel differently. But you don’t have to. To understand the Great God of the universe is there holding you up; He’s there to give you help. He’s there helping you already, if you see it, by what you see and by what you know, and you haven’t lost it. Take heart!

You talk about different times of God’s intervention in life when He’s told different ones, when He told Joshua “Be encouraged!” That’s for us when we understand. These things that Joshua said, it’s for us to be encouraged by it, to understand and see that we grasp things that the world can’t!

We can read through something like this and think the wrong thing. The reality is, the right thing is this guy didn’t know what you know. He didn’t see this spiritually. He has the right words of certain things by saying he was right, but do you grasp that he didn’t get it? He didn’t get it. He didn’t understand it spiritually, just strictly physically. “Oh, obviously, to love God with all of your heart, that’s great! That’s true! Because what can be greater than loving God! To love a human being, no. To love God, yes.” Physical. Totally physical. Nothing spiritual in that whatsoever.

What you are blessed with is something that’s alive in your being. Sometimes we don’t grasp that because of time and the longer we’re in the Body, if we’re not careful at times, whether it be a year, two years, five years or whatever, we can lose sight of this reality, that we have what we have because God and Christ dwell within us, His Son dwell within us.

He says, again here, Master, you have said the truth, for there is one God, and there is none other than Him. And to love Him with all one’s heart, and with all ones understanding, and with all one’s life, and with all one’s strength is to love their neighbor as themself, is more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. In other words, this is greater than the burnt offerings and sacrifices. Well, that’s right. That’s what’s important. So that part there, that was some good insight. But it’s still not spiritual.

You get it. I hope you can see that. I really do. I hope you can see that with all of your being, with your mind, of what is spiritual, that he was restricted to understanding things on a physical plane. You see them on a spiritual plane.

And when Joshua saw that he answered discreetly, he said to him, You are not far from the Kingdom of God. So, the last part of that answer was really good, of what he said here in that part, in that respect. “It’s more important than whole burnt offerings.” Now, he might have had some of God’s help there to be able to give that portion, we don’t know, because of what is going to be written as an example here for people to learn from. Nevertheless, he said it. There are many things that have been said, just like we’ve already read in this story, there are people who said things at different times, that they didn’t grasp what they were saying.

Just like the high priest (we read about that), he didn’t grasp the importance of what he had said because he meant it in a totally different light than what it truly meant for those who understand what it was spiritually.

“You’re not far from the Kingdom of God.” In other words, “That’s right.  That’s what this is about.” But see, the Kingdom of God, God’s Family, the receiving of God’s spirit is to understand this on a spiritual plane.

And after that no one else dared ask him a question. Because these things, they’ve never heard such things before, and this desire to trap him is not going to work, and to try to do yourself one up against someone else is not a good idea.

So, in Matthew’s account here it goes on during the same day. Again here, again so much given, and you think of all these things that are being given here, one right after another, and so much of this just saved up in the last week here, candidly.

Matthew 22:41—While the Pharisees were gathered together, Joshua asked them, saying, What do you think of the Messiah? So that’s what he’s asking, “the Christ.” What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he? And they said to him, Of David. He then replied to them, How then does David in spirit call him Lord? So, there were things they didn’t really grasp. Why did they say this? Because they don’t grasp that God Almighty is the Father. They don’t grasp that. They can only understand something happening physically.

So, he was born, he had a mother and a father, physical. That’s all they can really grasp, as a whole. And so, “We know that he was of the lineage of David, so the Messiah has to be of the lineage of David. So David is his father.” That’s what they’re saying, “He’s of the lineage of David.” So that’s the extent on a physical plane of their understanding.

And he replied to them then, How then does David, in spirit, call him Lord? So, awesome that something like this is being stated in this manner, that there is more here because David himself is referring to the Messiah as his Lord. So how can someone born of David be called that? How could he call one of his own descendants (whenever he comes), his Lord, if he comes from him? Don’t we see the greatness then of David? And that was part of their problem.

In another place it talks about, “For David himself said by the holy spirit...” So, in other words, it’s through the holy spirit that this was said in the first place, “he called him Lord.” In other words, he’s showing here that with God’s inspiration David is then referring to the Christ, the Messiah, as his Lord.

So, again reading this, Matthew 22:42—So what do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he? And they said to him, David. He then replied to them, How is it then that David in spirit calls him Lord saying, The LORD… Now, this is the quote, Yahweh, the Eternal, this is what’s being said back there written by David: Yahweh said unto my Lord.

So, to me this is inspiring because this is one of those places that really begins to help people, like in the book of Acts and so forth, that we’ve come to more deeply understand, that the Church hasn’t always understood, that I take great encouragement in. Because there have been a lot of things that we had to be given in order to keep moving forward, in order to be able to see God is working with us in a unique was as a remnant, and if we didn’t have all these things it wouldn’t be the same, it really wouldn’t.

God gave these things in order to encourage us, in order to gives us the encouragement we needed to see that there is a distinction made between that which was scattered and that which has continued on. The farther it’s gone, the easier it’s to see.

All those truths that God has given to us, that should be incredibly encouraging because it’s something we can see on a spiritual plane. This is not understood, has not been understood by the Church in times past because of this concept of Christ eternally existing. That blocks out the truth. As long as that is held there, as long as that’s in play, the ability to see these things will neve be there, until God comes along to shake, to help them see, to begin to be drawn to or awakened to truth that’s right in front of them. But it takes God’s spirit to be able to see those things.

That’s an encouraging thing to realize by God’s spirit we see this so clearly. It’s night and day here. But they didn’t get what he had to say. The Church during Philadelphia and Laodicea wasn’t able to see this for what it was because it wasn’t time. Until its God’s time things remain hidden. Just like all the truth that God gave Mr. Armstrong. If that hadn’t been given no one would ever have known it, would be able to see it. You can’t figure those things out on your own. They’re from God.

He replied to them, How is it then that David in spirit said to Him, The Eternal (Yahweh) said unto my, in other words, David’s Lord… So, he’s making it clear here that Yahweh is saying to David’s Lord – not to David, to the one who David calls Lord. Sit you on My right hand, the Messiah was to sit on. This is about the Messiah sitting on the right hand of God. …until I make your enemies your footstool?

So, awesome here what’s being stated. It wasn’t something that already existed. It was something that would come to pass in time.

If David then calls him Lord, how is he then his son? Good question. Because the reality is he isn’t. Now, we understand that and it’s a beautiful thing. But they couldn’t grasp what he was saying. It says, And no man was able to answer him a word. They didn’t get it. They didn’t grasp what he was saying because it takes God’s spirit to see what this is all about, and they didn’t see that. …neither did anyone dare from that day forward ask him any more questions.

So again here, an incredible process here. I want to go back to the book of Acts here and jump forward here to the Day of Pentecost (tomorrow), because again here, these things are so tied together. That’s why I love being able to go through this particular series right now in the time between Passover period, Unleavened Bread, and then on up toward here, Pentecost, because we have come to understand in time how important the wave sheaf is to the wave loaves and this tie-in that God gave. Even to know the time by how we are able to count to that time and prepare for that time. We understand that means even so much more now with things that God has revealed to us.

So again here, things that God has given to be able to better understand.

Let’s turn over to Acts 2 because here it’s on the day of Pentecost that God begins to pour out His spirit and they begin to come to understand, or the Church does, begins to understand things that they have never known before, and because of God’s spirit being poured out, awesome things revealed. Just as with the time of Christ leading up to Passover and all the things he was teaching, and then he was with them for forty days after his resurrection, and then ten days later we come to this point in time here, the day of Pentecost. Incredible things that, again, poured out in a more powerful way as God gave His spirit so that they could teach these things because they saw them. It was exciting and inspiring and the power of God’s spirit that was working in them at that particular time.

So, picking up the story here then, Acts 2:1—And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all of one accord in one place. Just as they were told to be on the day of Pentecost. So, they were told to stay there. They didn’t know what was going to take place. But Christ knew, God had given that to him, given that to them, to tell them what they were to do. Because this is where the Church was going to be established.

Then in verse 22 as they began to be moved by the holy spirit to teach things, that there were people there whose minds were beginning to be opened for the first time. Some who were being drawn to that moment in time. There were people there who had looked to Christ as being the Messiah, and now this story about him being resurrected that’s going around, “He’s alive!” Something new, above and beyond, and something they didn’t have any knowledge of. They didn’t know this was going to take place and now it’s like, what does all this mean? This importance then that the disciples were here, gathered together, those followers. Again, there was a lot taking place here.

Verse 22—You men of Israel, hear these words; Joshua of Nazareth, a man has been proven of God among you by miracles… So, in other words, he’s a man that’s been proven. You should be able to see this, understand this. Things that he did, only God could do these things. This power that worked in him, understand where it came from. He’s been proven by God because God was the one who did these things. The healings that took place, the lame that would walk, the blind that could see, the dead resurrected to life again, all these things, God has proven him before you who he is.

…and by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God… So, beautiful when you understand what that means, isn’t it? Because most people reading this or even hearing this, if they don’t have God’s spirit they don’t understand what’s being said here. What do you mean “by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God?” Well, we understand what it means by all the other scriptures put together that talk about this purpose and plan that God had in His Son and in the Christ, things that were determined before anything in creation.

Again, how inspiring, how awesome is that to grasp, to understand that before God began anything in the spirit world as far as the creation was concerned, this was planned out. It’s hard to express in words. How do you do that? It’s by what God gives in the mind as to what we’re able to see in that. It’s beautiful.

God Almighty, things we can’t comprehend about God. The power to create something in a spirit realm, to create a spirit realm, we can’t grasp. To create things that can be seen in the spirit realm we cannot grasp. To grasp beings, angelic beings who were created of spirit in a spirit realm, we cannot grasp fully except by what we’re able to see by comparing with physical things that we do understand, by what God tells us, and then by His spirit to see certain things then on a spirit plane and believe.

All these things that were predetermined about Christ – that he would come and die at a certain part, at a certain time 4,000 years after man had been on the earth and this long patience that God has for human beings to be born, to live, to live selfish, selfish, selfish, really pretty hideous lives. Because human beings live hideous lives, as a whole. We like to look at ourselves as being good but history of mankind, we live in an age where we have been so blessed to live in a western world, to live in this part of an inheritance that God gave to a people as they migrated, then all the peoples of the world that have come together from so many different places that have become part of a great nation. God having given that for a purpose, to be the single greatest nation on the earth. Incredible! Things that we grasp and understand that have taken place for the end-time. Awesomely blessed!

So, we look at these things through time, we look at what God has given to us, and we should be deeply motivated, deeply inspired by them indeed, brethren. So, he’s going through and telling the story of all that’s taken place, things that God has given to human beings, things that we have been given that are incredible, things that were predetermined so long ago.

And not only that, but where we are now was predetermined. The end of 6,000 years. What’s going to take place was predetermined. What follows is predetermined. A thousand years without mankind ruling himself but with God ruling him – all predetermined. Then a hundred years beyond that where there will be no more reproduction, no more people born. That’s a mind blower for people when they hear that. To a lot of people that’s just going to sound far, far out.

But then as they begin to see by God’s spirit the beauty of that it’ll become incredible and it’ll help to smother and do away with the stupidity and foolishness of people going down whatever it is, down into some place where these little things are poking you in the butt with hot forks and you’re running around jumping between lava flames type of thing. For all eternity you’re running away from these little things that are running around with these pitchforks. You think, come on, give me a break!

Then others going up into heaven and fishing for all eternity. You know, if they’re not biting… You know, everything in time for human beings becomes boring. You know, you want something new, you want to go on, you want to be able to do this, accomplish something else. It’s a part of life and God has given us that. That’s what the universe is out there for. There will be no end to those things as time goes on. Things we don’t grasp.

So, all these predetermined. Christ’s life and death and resurrection, all predetermined. This is what they’re being told.

I’ve gone through this, spent quite a bit of time on it because we see that, something that was predetermined. People read right over this and don’t know what that means. But you know. So again, what kind of value to you place on these things? I really hope and pray that we’re putting more and more value on things we see and things we grasp, because one of the greatest dangers of life is that you can begin to take them for granted, that you begin to not be moved by God’s word and this story of Christ’s life, as it were, and other things that we’ve been given. If we can’t go through these things and be moved by them, we’re in danger, we really are.

In our relationships in the Church and how we treat each other, how we think about each other, I see a danger right now, I truly do, in some of those kinds of things. We need to be careful. We need to be alert. There will probably be some series and stuff we get into in time here.

But him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have nailed him to a pole and killed: whom God has raised up, having released him from the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

So again here, Christ lived a righteous life. He didn’t sin. He was able to be resurrected, no payment of sins—to receive the gift, the blessing of eternal life in the Family of God. All of us now, we have to go through that, through what we do, through Christ, through why he died as our Passover so that we can receive the same inheritance, of the same inheritance. It’s a beautiful story, it truly is.

Verse 25—For David spoke concerning him, I foresaw the Eternal always before my face… So, what they didn’t grasp is this wasn’t about David, because when people used to read these things, and did afterwards as well, they thought that, because without God’s help they didn’t change that. But within the Church God began to give understanding. Now, that was lost and has been lost for a long, long time.

So, you can read through this now and understand what it’s saying, but there are people who are scattered by the hundreds and thousands who don’t see this, who don’t grasp what is being said yet. It’s by God’s spirit and because of that it should encourage us to grasp what we’ve been blessed to have.

For David spoke… So, David wrote these things, but it wasn’t about David. So, David wrote about these things concerning him. Who? Christ. Then it says, “I,” so it’s about what Christ is saying, I foresaw the Eternal always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. It’s about a relationship between God Almighty (Yahweh), and Christ. Therefore, did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh shall rest in hope. Christ knew what was going to happen to him. He knew when he was going to be resurrected, exactly the timing involved of what God’s plan and purpose was. He told them, but they didn’t grasp it until after it happened. Then they began to grasp later on what he’d said.

Because You (Yahweh) will not leave my life in hell, in the grave. That’s what it’s talking about. So again, it’s not about David, yet they thought it was about David, that David was writing about a relationship between him and God somehow, of whatever this meant to them. But we understand what it’s about. Now, there are things here that are understood by a scattered Body, but they don’t understand the implications of this, of what it leads to in the book of Acts here as it continues on.

So, if they would understand this, that it’s between the Messiah, between the Son of God, what he is saying and what he’s saying to his Father and that that Father is Yahweh, then they would understand. Because see, isn’t this amazing, there are people in the scattered Body, if they get cornered with any of this whatsoever, they basically believe that Yahweh was Christ. So how does that fit into it? Well, kind of becomes like this little trinity thing. Anyway, doesn’t really work.

He said here, You will not leave my life in the grave, and neither will You allow Your Holy One, Christ, the Holy One to see corruption. David wasn’t a Holy One. It’s about the Christ. So, he died, but he was to be resurrected.

You have made known to me the ways of life; You shall make me full of joy with Your countenance. So, he understood, and what is being recorded here in prophecy prophetically is that this power, this life, spirit life would be in him, would be his life.

Men and brethren let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us to this day. Because they couldn’t understand this. They could only take it on a physical plane about David and God, that this was something being said there, not about the Messiah.

Therefore being a prophet, speaking of David, and knowing that God (Yahweh) had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, had sworn to David that of the fruit of his loins… That’s why they knew and proclaimed, because of what the scriptures say, that the Messiah would come from the lineage of David. …according to the flesh, He (Yahweh) would raise up Christ (the Messiah) to sit on his throne. David knew that this was what being said to him, or this was what was being given to him, that this Messiah would be raised up to sit on the throne of Israel over Israel.

…he seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, or his life was not left in the grave, neither his flesh did see corruption. So again here, didn’t decay, didn’t rot as human flesh would after being in a grave for endless days.

Then verse 32 it goes on to say, This Joshua has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being at the right hand of God exalted… So, he’s not here, he’s there, on the right hand of God. So again, they’re talking about this, being inspired to tell the story on the day of Pentecost. Awesome! …and having received of the Father the promise of the holy spirit, he has poured out this. So they understood by inspiration of God that this is how they were able to teach these things, and the things that were happening now were happening because of God’s spirit being poured out. …which you now see and hear.

For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he said himself, The Eternal (Yahweh) said unto my Lord (David’s lord) Sit on My right hand until I make your foes your footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made this same Joshua, whom you have nailed to the pole, both Lord and Messiah.

So again, very powerful here what’s being spoken of. Again here, a relationship that if people could grasp what was being said here, the implication of all this is not just to understand that this is about Christ, but to understand that if this is about Christ then he wasn’t Yahweh, he wasn’t the God of the Old Testament. Incredible, some of the goofy things, but we don’t know until we know.

Let’s turn over to Luke 51. Again, just more and more that continues to be given just in the last couple of days here. It just goes on and on.

Luke 21:5—And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with outstanding or… beautiful stone, in other words, valuable stone, the work that went into it and gifts, he said, as for these things which you are looking upon, the days will come in which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.

What an incredible thing to come to understand. Again here, when he spoke of himself, they didn’t grasp what it meant, “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.” They made fun of those things because to them it was ludicrous because they could only see it physically. Even the scattered Church has looked for physical things of when these things might have taken place and did it really happen in 70 A.D. then and all the things that have gone on and on through time here about what he was referring to. What he’s talking about is something prophetic concerning what happened after the Apostasy.

And they asked him… This is later, privately on the Mount of Olives that evening, beginning of the 13th now. So, the sun had gone down so here we’re now into the last day and this is that period of time now. He teaches them all day long. He teaches them on into the evening there.

…saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign shall there be that these things shall come to pass?

Verse 8—And he said to them, Be on guard that you be not be deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ. So, we’ve lived through that. What an incredible thing to understand what this is about and about the age in which we live in, that this world is filled with people who talk about Christ, with people who talk about, in this case “Jesus” (and how we’ve been blessed to be freed from that one as well). He said “be on guard.” So, even for the Church, the Church has to be on guard.

Look what happened to a third of the Church. They went right back to the same thing they were taken out of. To me that’s almost mindboggling how that’s possible, how that could all be lost. But it’s a reality of something we witnessed and, as the expression goes, “But by the grace of God there go I.” Things can happen. When the mind gets cut off from God depending on choices people make.

You make the wrong choices, and if God doesn’t have a purpose in something that’s being worked out in a person’s life and you’re pulled into various things because of wrong choices, it’s incredible where it can lead.

That’s why I think of a third of the Church that went right back to what they’d been called out of. Went right back to some of these things. And a third, it’s easier to understand those who became fully just disillusioned. But anyway.

Be on guard that you be not deceived: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ. So, we just didn’t really believe that as a Church like we should have, to the depth we should have. We weren’t able to be on guard like we should have. We began to let down during the period of Laodicea. That’s why it’s aptly called what it is with a description in Revelation of what would happen, becoming lukewarm, not really hot, not really cold. Because then it’s easier to see where someone is, where they stand. And a minister, if he’s hot, you’re going to be able to see it. If he’s cold you’re going to be able to see it more clearly, going to be able to be drawn to certain things more easily and perhaps be on guard more readily. But it didn’t happen that way. All became lukewarm.

…And when you shall hear of wars and disruptions, disturbances, don’t be terrified, for these things must come to pass. Now, people read this and what is it? It’s a physical thing. It’s about physical wars and don’t be discouraged. This is to the Church. This is about things that would happen in times on a spiritual plane. These are things to be on guard about. These are the kinds of things that now in retrospect we can look at – and that’s generally how we learn the most, by being able to look back after we come through a certain thing, and then be able to more clearly see it spiritually because then you have a greater conviction.

Isn’t that an amazing thing, how God convicts us of things? Not just being in agreement and saying I believe something, but because you become convicted of it because of your experience. That’s a far greater thing to have. That’s a far more valuable thing to have in your life, if you come to that point where various things in your life you become convicted of because of what you have experienced. The conviction then becomes stronger then on a spiritual plane with wisdom, not just knowledge. Knowledge is a good and wonderful thing to have, but without the other part of it that comes with experience we have our limitations.

…these things shall come to pass; but the end is not right away, not yet to occur. Then he said, Nation shall rise against nation… So again, this thing about wars and so forth. I think about what we went through in the Church at different times. How can you help but think about some of these things? If you’ve been in the Church and you experienced what happened in the early 70’s when you heard of a few, and it was disturbing to see that some began, ministers, you think why would, how could this happen that a minster could begin to say Mr. Armstrong is teaching the immortality of the soul by a book that he’d just written, The Incredible Human Potential? And yet that was the mind.

We didn’t know then. We learned later as time went along and we grew spiritually, that something had happened to them that they couldn’t see what he was giving because of sin in their life. Because that’s what happens. People get cut off from God’s spirit and they can’t see anymore so they’re going to come up with goofy, carnal, disruptive, disagreeing ideas because they become divisive. They don’t agree with how they’re being led, how Mr. Armstrong is teaching or whatever he’s doing. Those things have happened.

Then as time went along, finally we got a little bit later there and then we had the thing about Pentecost. Again, all the people who left over that and the ministers who were in an uproar – some who were frustrated (so they said), but again, it was because of sin – they were in disagreement because they didn’t believe he’d move fast enough, “Well, this is clear!” Well, if they were able to see it clearly then they should thank God so that it was easier to receive because of what Mr. Armstrong had already been talking about. And yet Mr. Armstrong had this process, inspired by God, to go a whole year.

That’s what people didn’t understand. You better wait because this is God’s time. You wait through that year then until the apostle has said, “Okay, this is what we’re doing.” But some were impatient and so they criticized Mr. Armstrong because he didn’t move fast enough. Then there was a smear of people who left over that. Then there was a smear of others who because he came to the point where he was going to change it from Monday to Sunday, they left. Incredible! Evangelists, different ones, people who followed, different Church areas that were hit at different times. Entire Churches leaving because of the ministers they had over them in some regions.

This is the kind of war it’s talking about being on guard. Don’t be deceived. Stay close to God. Well, that’s the only way, if God’s spirit is in us, that we can go through the things we do. Thank God we’re here.

Then he said to them, Nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. Again, think, well how has that occurred in the Church? Evangelists over here pulling someone this way. Another evangelist over here pulling someone this way. Mr. Armstrong is getting sick, he’s getting old, he’s going to die in time, so who are you going to be with, who do you agree with more? Are you going to support one of the others or are you going to try to get support from others of the evangelists and the ministry to follow you? You think about these things that were going on and you look back at it now, you think, dumbfounding what we went through as a Church. It truly is.

…and great earthquakes shall be in different places. Again, this word, it’s a word that can be used for physical earthquakes, but it’s talking about a shaking. You talk about a shaking, especially in areas where these things were happening, it shook people up because it shakes the foundation of what you are. What do you do?

There was a great shaking taking place when it finally came down to Garner Ted or and what are people going to do because of different things that have been said out there? So, who is right? Who is wrong? Well, we’re always to remember where we learn what we learn because that’s how God works. If He revealed it in a certain way, wow. So, people were tried in those things.

…there’ll be great shakings, in that respect, in the Church, and famines. So, ministers were rising up that weren’t teaching what they should be. They were giving sermons out of books. When people went into headquarters they’d talk about how you could work with sermons kind of like the world does when they put together sermons and kind of plan ahead a whole year. You need to give so many child-rearing sermons, so many marital sermons, so many other kinds of sermons, and you need to plan these things out. And what of God’s spirit? What is needed in the congregation at a certain moment in time? Are you led by God’s spirit or are you to decide what the Church is supposed to receive? This is what was taking place. So literally, they were talking about using reference books and so forth that are written by the world and gleaning information out of those things. And you think…? Well, anyway.

Famine, because that’s what happens. When this book here, the Bible, and what’s in it isn’t the foundation and the inspiration and the guidance and the direction for everything that is given, and growing in that, then you begin to head in a wrong direction. So people had to sit through sermons in some cases where scriptures weren’t even used. Scriptures weren’t even used. Reference books were used about what one author had to say and another author had to say, and maybe going through a book and explaining various things that were written. Easy to get caught in that.

…and pestilences, and epidemics. So again, something that can spread. I think about what it talks about, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Well, it’s like a disease as well. It’s in something that infects, and you get close to one person and you catch it if you start listening to something that you shouldn’t be listening to, and you become infected by it. Because there are things that infect the mind. I think of so many things that were said about Mr. Armstrong that infected people’s minds and it stopped them from growing because they chose to believe those things.

…and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. I’ve come to believe and see, and especially in this age of the Internet, how easy it is for people to believe whatever they want to believe. People don’t grasp that in a spirit world people can actually be moved to be drawn in a certain way, away from what is true. And candidly, people have to be on guard about that as well in their life.

But we see it in politics especially, what people can conjure up, what people can come up with, how far they will go to mislead, to not tell an entire story, to leave out pertinent parts or to add a part that is disruptive for the purpose of being disruptive and lying, in essence. And on and on it goes.

So, mankind is really evil at heart without God’s spirit. That’s the way we are as human beings because we have our own interests at heart. The longer you’re in the Church the more you come to see how sick the human mind really is, it truly is. We all need saving big time. Thank God He’s transforming the way this mind is because the carnal mind, the way it thinks, is the mind of Satan. It really is. It’s selfish. It’s filled with jealousy, and envy, and lust, and pride, and it just rules in life. only with God’s spirit can that rule begin to be taken away, can that bondage and that captivity, can we begin to come out of it.

That’s what these Days of Unleavened Bread picture that we’re going through here, as Passover, in other words, that this period covers, and then leading up to Pentecost, which we have tomorrow, that speaks of the giving of God’s spirit and the ability to deal with things then on a spiritual plane that without God’s help we can’t.

So again, all these things are about the Church. In the Church, through Philadelphia and into Laodicea, we could only see these things as the world, not as the Church. When it got down to pestilence and epidemics and earthquakes and so forth, that to us was physical. Now, there’s a “type” in a sense of those things that yes, those things are happening in the world increasingly so. Because of populations and so forth and where people chose to live they become more devastating and more notable, in that respect and because of technology and communication we’re aware of those things more and they are getting worse, in that respect, as a build up to an end-time. But again, that’s only a “type.”

This here though, of and by itself, is a warning to God’s Church. It goes on to say, and fearful sights and great signs shall be there from heaven. But before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute, delivering you into the synagogues, and in prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.

So again here, so much here given about, in these verses here about different things that are to be taken on a spirit plane in understanding and things that we haven’t grasped.

I’m going to go ahead and stop there today because I just don’t want to get into another section here on some of this without going through a specific portion here. Because we’re getting into the Passover and I want to keep this all together for next Sabbath. So, we’ll stop there today in these verses.

But again, all this, I hope we’re moved by understanding all that God gave, all that Christ gave toward the very end here, because the vast majority of what we’re going through here has just happened in the last week or so, and to me, some of the most exciting things that were ever given to mankind are given right here, so we’ll continue in it next Sabbath.