God's Love For Zion
The mystery of fellowship is about God's love for Zion. The Apostle's Gospel is the joyous participation of the saints in the Holy Ghost. Fellowship is the sacred union of Christ with the church. It is the sacred union of each member with each other. It is the sacred place where we deposit our pledge of loyality and fidelity to Christ and each other. It is the sacred and joyous union with Christ in the eternal Sabbath. Fellowship is the social union were in which we make deposits, pledges, are coupled together, joined together, have partnership and, participation so as to be of benefit to each other in every area of life. In this union of social intercourse, there is spiritual and financial benefaction, contribution, distribution, communication and communion. In this league,we particate as sharers, associates, companions, partakers and partners. In this coupling together, Christ meet the needs of all the participants. It is here that the Lord loves to dwell. He loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. All scripture speaks to impart knowledge concerning the nature of this Divine and sacred union. The Godhead is discerned in fellowship. The knowledge of the Deity must be discerned in fellowship relationships. For we have are in fellowship on mount Zion, in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with an innumerable company of angels, with the general assembly and church of the firstborn…with God the Judge of all…with the spirits of just men made perfect…with Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and with the blood of sprinkling. (Heb 12:22-24). The Deity is only revealed to this august congregation. Psalm 87:2
In the fellowship relationship, the Deity reveals himself to those assembled. He reveals salvation history, the eschaton, and the future of the Godhead. Thus, to speak about God or the nature of God, and not speak about his relationship and communion with the patriarchs and the Israel of God is to know only a fragment of the Deity. We came to know if there is a God, in this matrix of these relationships. When a definition of the supreme God and Israel is properly applied, it properly leads to the conclusion that the root meaning of God and Israel is now as it always has been, the One, the Almighty, the Eternal, the Immortal King who reigns over a seed of believers (all who humble their soul in contrition and confession of sin), of which He himself is head; and as head, he leads, guides, protects, provide, comfort, forgives, Loves, strengthen and a whole host of other enabling adjectives. An analysis of this relationship viewed through the rubric of all scripture reveals who and what is God. We know God in light of his contextual history and his future: either denotatively or connotatively. All scripture, literally, every verse of scripture, points to or infers this Deity. The entire text of the sacred word is written by the faithful congregation. This congregation, who participated in fellowship with the Deity, cannot be excluded from speaking about what the Holy Spirit spoke and what they believed about the nature of the Divine Being. Moses and his Prophets: the prophets of pure monotheism have attached covenant curses to those that slander the One Elohim, by: “ visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” Exo 20:5. Caution is therefore imperative, when speaking concerning the Deity. Some things are left better unsaid, rather than introduce an idol god, and provoke disaster upon one’s seed.
The book of Judges and 1 Kings is a narrative about ancient Israel’s worship and introduction of the concept of Bitheism (YHWH + BAAL) into the worship liturgy, to wit they provoked Elohim and were afflicted by the spirit of God. Indeed the writings of the prophets rebuked ancient Israel for two major transgressions: Idolatry (apostasy from pure monotheism) and pollution of the Sabbath. These can be fatal transgressions; for they tamper with the revealed knowledge of the Elohim: Commandment #1, 2, 3, 4.
Christ Perfecting of the Saints
Messianic Ecclesiology speaks about the prophetic nature of the OT prophets to build up a people to be faithful to one God, within the structure of the Levitical priesthood. There are no surrogates or viceroys who serve with the revealed God of the Old Testament. The nature of God in prophetic literature is One. Any attempt to discuss the nature or deity of God apart from Hebrew Scriptures is to speak out of context. The curses written in the book of Moses devour many Sabbath congregations and many assemblies in general, because they failed to appreciate and discern properly the role, purpose and mission of the Son Of God. This failure has brought forth wrath because of transgression against the first four commandments.
Ancient Israel sought to mix YHWH with Baal. YHWH (YAWEH) being the high God with Baal as a security blanket. Given the cultural pull of the ancient world, Israel found it extremely difficult to be faithful to one God, only. It just was not sophisticated, given the advance civilization of Canaan, and the surrounding kingdoms. Ancient Israel could see and experience YHWH in the Sabbaths, Priesthood, and sundry mighty acts of power demonstrated from time to time through the instrumentality of the prophets. The people of God, is an assembly of believers faithful to one God: YHWH. This faithfulness was descriptive of the Prophetic Hebrews: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. Their mission was to build up and establish the people of God, and keep them separate from the world. Pure Monotheism was introduced to ancient Israel by the almighty God, himself personally. Other religions in the ancient world had gods many: two. Three, four or whatever their imagination fancied.
Ancient Israel is acted out prophecy (type), the resurrected Church of God being the antitype. Thus, Moses according to Act 7:38 “was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spoke to him in the Mount Sinai, and with the fathers: who received the Lively oracles… The Church was veiled and under the authority of angels, until the manifestation of the Son of God. The Church is indeed, the Israel of God. Let the redeemed say so! The Church in the wilderness was acting out a prophecy. For this reason, the entire Old Testament is a prophecy concerning Christ and the Church. When Moses went to the top of the Mount Sinai, what he saw was the Church: The Church of the highest God, and he commenced to make a pattern of those things He saw in the Holy Mountain. Moses was not aware, of what he was seeing, for the truth is revealed only through the ‘Son of God’.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saw the in prophecy God doing his thing in the heavenly places. It was not to be revealed in their time, but upon us the promise is come. Heb 3:5 Moses was a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later. Heb 8:5 Moses served as an example and shadow of heavenly things, as he was admonished of God to make the tabernacle according to the pattern showed to him in the mount. Christ affirmed, that the entire Heb 10:7 volume of the book it is written concerning Him and His body. They understood not, one prophet wept to no avail in his attempt to discern the mind of God concerning these things.
Moses standing on the mount said that so terrible was the sight that I was exceedingly fearful and did quake :) He stood at the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood Of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel. Moses stood in the mount and shook with fear (Heb 12:20-26).
Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. One can not simply jump to the New Testament to discern the nature of the Godhead, in complete ignorance of Hebrew scripture and Prophecy. The spirit of God made the Patriarchs, Moses, and the Prophets to be the gifted ones to speak by the spirit of God to ancient Israel in a veiled form later to be manifested more perfectly in our own time.
The mission of the patriarchs, Moses, and the Prophets, was to build up the people of God faithfulness to One God within a prescribed doctrine. For the Patriarchs it was One God, the Sabbath and circumcision. For Moses and the prophets of Moses it was the Ten Commandments and the Laws of Leviticus. An enabling stone or in some cases a stumbling stone was placed before Israel, in the person of the Son of God. The term “Son of God” means: a visible form of the deity. The imagery of the Godhead which Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel and saw was “the son of God”. They saw a merciful rendering of the Godhead to build up and establish the faith of the people of God. Had the Godhead broke forth on the prophets in the Excellency of his glory they would have been vaporized. For no one can approach the excellent glory of the Godhead, except for the mercy of God, he so render himself capable of apprehension by faithful people of God.
In ancient times this rendering of the “son of God” was in angelic form (not flesh and blood). No man at any time has seen or can see God, except God reveal or make himself capable or render himself friendly to human apprehension and comprehension. The primary vehicle for the apprehension and comprehension of the Godhead are the visions and scriptures of the prophets. Abraham and Moses had visions of God. These visions became the basis of sacred scripture. The deity put the patriarchs to sleep and communicated the Godhead to them through their subconscious mind. They heard a voice saying: “I am God, to me be faithful”. Without written text of any form, “the God” embedded knowledge of the godhead in the subconscious mind of the patriarchs, and subsequently Moses, and by extension, all the prophets of Moses: Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and et..al. These visions were all ways fragmented or partial because they were to serve a particular need or circumstance and yet be prophetic of future fulfillment. These holy men prophesied and wrote by the spirit of the one almighty Deity. No were in prophetic scriptures of the OT is there a plurality of the Godhead. The very notion was grounds for stoning until dead so as to be cursed and cut off from the assembly of the people of God. In deed it was an insult and blasphemy against the nature of the deity.
Thus in ancient Israel, whenever the people of God assembled for worship, they extolled YAH as the only God, and King of the people of God. They bowed down. They danced. They prayed. They sang songs. They heard the reading of the scriptures. They saw the pageantry of God in beautiful garments of the King and Priests. It was glorious!During the day of King David and after the Babylonian captivity, the people of God began to experience the prophetic nature of God with respect to a visible appearance of God in the earth as Messiah. This prophecy made it clear that the trouble, sin, and judgment on the people of God, were due to the absence of the Messiah to wage war against the very presence of evil and oppression in every form. They had tried and failed. Now they longed for the Messiah to do for them that which they could not do for them selves: The enablement to be joyously faithful to the Deity of the Patriarchs. The terminology “Son of God” is not a Greek or Roman category imposed upon Hebrew scripture. A few hundred years prior to the messiah arrival, Jewish apocalyptic literature was replete with the term “Son of God” in relation to the Messiah, whom they understood as God. The cultural environment was ripe with revolutionary fervor touting one messiah, then another. But the people of God patiently waited for God’s Messiah.
The Apostle's Gospel declares that Zion is the city of he Lion of Judah, the Root of David: who has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals; This Lion is able to execute judgment because he is the one worthy to take the book, and to open the seals because he was slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. TheLord Jesus Christ is the root and offspring of David. He is of the lineage of Jesse. Thus David’s Rule was prophetic of the Kingship of the Messiah. As the offspring of David; theLord Jesus Christ is the Ruler of the tribe of Judah, whose name means: “ I will praise theLord”. Christ is the brave and mighty hero come out of Jesse. Jacob, father of Judah prophesied by the Holy Ghost, saying: “ Judah, your brethren shall praise you: your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies; your brothers shall bow down before you. Judah, you are a lion's whelp: When you come from killing the prey you shall lie down and who is he that would dare to awake you? Judah, the sceptre shall not depart from you nor a lawgiver from between your feet, until the Prince of Peace shall come; and the Prince Peace shall gather all nations unto himself, (Gen 49:8).
Jacob prophesied, that a man brave as a lion; a brave and mighty hero would emerge from the lineage of Judah. This man whose hand will hold the golden scepter will be the Messiah; the Peace of God. Jacob prophesied that Israel and all nations will gather unto him.
A scepter is a stick kings hold in their hand to symbolize their rule, authority, kingdom of power and majesty. The kings wears a crown; but he also carries a scepter. This scepter is the rod of the empire. It is the golden scepter of God. TheLord told David to be a ruler over the people of Israel. TheLord told David that he would be with him where he go; and would cut off all his enemies from his sight; and make his name greater than the great men in the earth. TheLord told David, that He would appoint a place for the people of Israel, and plant them, in a place of their own; they would never have to move again and neither shall wickedness afflict them any more.
Mary’s husband, Joseph, was of the House of Judah; and as such he was a direct heir to the throne of David. Joseph stood in line with royal line with Solomon, Roboam, Abia, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasses, Amon, Josiah, and Jechoniah: all kings of the House of David, of the tribe of Judah, (Matthew 1).
The prophecy said that: "the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; and that in that day the root of Jesse, shall stand for an ensign of the people; and to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. The prophecy said: "God will cause them that come of Jacob to take root; that Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. The prophecy said: "he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Christ, is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, who has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. Jesus of Nazareth said: "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. (2Ki 19:30; Isaiah 11:10; 12:6; 27:6; 53:2; Rom 15:12; Rev 5:5; 22:16).
For theLord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation; He remembers his congregation, which he has purchased of old; the congregation which is the rod of his inheritance; his inheritance which he has redeemed; he has reedmed Mt. Zion, for this is where he dwells. This Mt Zion is his the joy of the whole earth; This beautiful for situation,is the city of the great King. Here Christ ourLord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. David took the strong hold of Zion; and Zion will never again be defeated; for Christ our King sits in Zion; for it is his holy hill. Here praises are sung to Christ; and here his doing among the people is declared. The daughters of Zion praise Christ in the gates and rejoice in his Salavtion. Our Salvation comes out of Zion; it is here where we rejoice and are made glad. Here Christ sends forth help and strength. Here the daughters of Judah rejoice. Here the daughters of Judah walk about Zion and tell the towers of the glory of God. In this Christ's holy hill, God has shined forth his righteousness, sanctification , wisdom and redemption. In this Christ's holy hill, God takes and does his pleasure; he builds up the defenses of Zion
In Zion, the daughters of Judah, go from strength to strength; they see the face of God. God loves Zion more than all the dwellings of Israel. In Zion, God gives birth to and establishes the daughters of Judah. In Zion the daughters of Judah rejoice because of his judgments. The daughters of Judah rejoice because, in Zion God is great. Here God is high above the people. God has raised himself out of death to have mercy on Zion.God has raised himself out of death to favour Zion. God has raised Christ from the dead to declare his name and to be praised in Zion. God has raised Christ froim the dead to sent forth his authority and majesty in Zion. In Zion Christ rules over his enemies. In Zion, the daughters of Judah, will never be moved; for there they shall abide for ever. It is as if the saints are dreaming; for when God raised Christ from death, he delivered them from captivity. Out of Zion, God sends forth his blessings; and the daughters of Judah shall see good all the days of their life; and those that hate Zion shall be confounded and turned backward.
Zion is Christ's desired habitation; for here God has commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. Here, in Christ's desired habitation, God bless the daughters of Judah. When in trouble, the daughters of Judah, remember Zion. The daughters of Judah, remember Zion, because here Christ reigns over her; even Christ her God. Here the the daughters of Judah are joyful in her King. Out of Zion, the house of Jacob, goes forth the law; here our of Zion, God teaches his ways and; and here the daughters of Judah, walk in God's path.
Zion is the body of Christ. Zion is the church of the living God. Zion is the Church Christ has built that shall never fall. Her walls and her stones will last for ever.The body of Christ is for a signs and wonders. Here the body of Christ cry out and shout: Great is the Holy One of Israel! Great is the Holy One of Israel, for the poor of his people shall trust in it. Out of Zion, the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; Christ shall reign in mount Zion before his ancients gloriously. Great is the Holy One of Israel, for God has laid in Zion a foundation; a stone; a tried stone; a precious corner stone; a sure foundation. the daughters of Judah, shall weep no more; for Christ is very gracious at the voice of her cry; when he shall hear it, he will answers.
As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone, and a stone of offence: and he who believeth in him, shall not be ashamed. and then, will all Israel live. It is written: A deliverer will come from Zion, and will turn away iniquity from Jacob. It is written, the saints have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the Jerusalem that is in heaven; and to the assemblies of myriads of angels. It is written: Iin Zion I lay a chosen and precious stone, for the head of the corner; and whoever believeth in him, will not be ashamed. It is written: I looked, and behold, a Lamb stood on mount Zion; and with him the number of a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written upon their foreheads. (Rom 9:33; 11:26; Heb 12:22; 1Pe 2:6; Rev 14:1).
We Cry out and shout, because great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of us. It is a marvelous thing, un heard of from the foundation of the earth, that Zion is made to bring forth in one day. It is miraclous and marvious thing that Zion is born at once. As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Zion is compared to a comely and delicate woman, who is glad, and rejoice in theLord God. God has poured out in Zion the former and the latter rain in the first month. Isaiah 12:6; 66:8; Jeremiah 6:2; Joel 2:23).
The Apostle's Gospel declares that Zion is the city of he Lion of Judah, the Root of David: who has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals; This Lion is able to execute judgment because he is the one worthy to take the book, and to open the seals because he was slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the root and offspring of David. He is of the lineage of Jesse. Thus David’s Rule was prophetic of the Kingship of the Messiah.
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