Posted on 11/07/2003 6:54:33 AM PST by wgeorge2001
CHRIST’S RETURN TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES John Blanchard Evening of September 6, 2002 Feast of Trumpets We have learned, brethren, that God’s thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts. God’s thoughts are so high compared to man’s thoughts that man cannot comprehend the difference actually. I want you to turn to our first scripture of the day. Turn to Isaiah chapter 55, verse 8: “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” So as high as the heavens are above the earth is the comparison between God’s thinking and mankind’s thinking. For the first time I looked up the word “thought”. According to the Strong’s Concordance, the first definition, number 4284, says “a contrivance, a texture, an intention or a plan”. It comes from number 2803 which means “to plait, to weave, or to fabricate”.
So God’s plan is woven so intricately that it defies human intellect. So intricately is His plan woven together with so many different aspects that you could almost compare it to multidimensional Chess. It is like we are playing in the dark, and God can see what He is doing! So His plan is totally hidden from us, comes from so many different pieces, on so many different levels and is woven together so beautifully and intricately. We are hopelessly lost in trying to understand that plan unless we have His help. We are desperately in need of His help, because we need to know what He is doing and what we are a part of.
We are a huge part of God’s plan! In order to be a part that is successful and significant in accomplishing the goals that God has, we need to understand what He wants. Therefore, we need to be able to see that plan clearly. We need to be able to put that fabric together before our eyes, that puzzle together so that we can see the beginning from the end like He does. We need to be able to see what He wants us to do to help accomplish His great goal. That is why we need to pray for eyesight, spiritual eyesight.
God has been blessing us with that spiritual vision. He has been teaching us how to look at His word spiritually. He has been teaching us so that when we read those physical words written on those pages before us called the Bible that those physical words are written in the best that mankind can do. But they are trying to express God’s thoughts. God’s thoughts are so high above those written words that they are incomprehensible unless His Spirit reveals them to us. That is exactly what God has been doing to us for the last few years. He has been teaching us how to look at that Bible, how to look at His words and understand His spiritual fabrications, His spiritual intentions, His spiritual contrivances. It is truly awesome to understand! It is awesome to be a part of!
As we have examined these beautiful thoughts of God in the past, we have seen that people are grass, He says. We have seen that He wants us to plant a garden. He wants us to plant our furrows so that we can bear a crop for Him. We have seen that the sun in the sky and the moon in the sky represent Jesus Christ and His Church. We have seen that stars of heaven represent angels. We have seen that mountains represent kingdoms, specifically Zion and that there is a beautiful spiritual city on that mountain called Jerusalem. We have physical examples of all of these concepts so that we can look at something concrete and comprehend the spiritual. What an awesome miracle we are part of! Only can this be done by God working with our minds.
Today we know the Feast of Trumpets pictures Christ’s return. The prayer that we heard said it very well. This day is a special day in which we look forward to His kingdom, to His rulership. We want it to come, and we want to help it come quickly. So we want to look at that today, but before we do, I want to look at another subject with spiritual eyesight so that we can get into the Feast of Trumpets properly.
First I want to talk about a hymn that we sing very often in God’s Church based on Psalm 128. Turn, please, to Psalm 128 and we will start in verse 1: “Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children’s children.”
We know now that this is a wonderful Psalm. We have sung it for years. We can also see now that there is some spiritual things here that probably we never really noticed before. We see that Jerusalem and Zion are mentioned and we have studied into those. But we also see that our children are like olive plants. If our children are like olive plants, the parents must be like olive plants. In God’s house, His wife will be like olive plants.
Let us delve into this subject just a little bit more by turning to Psalm 52. David comes right out and says it here. Psalm chapter 52, verse 8: “’But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise You forever, because You have done it; and in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good.’”
So David says God has made him an olive tree in His house. David could see something. David was not a physical tree but he understood something here. It has more or less been locked up for a long time. David understood that to be in God’s household, we must be symbolically like olive trees. So let us look at this subject of olive trees for just a moment.
The significance of the olive once we look at it at all we find that, of course, a physical olive tree bears physical olive fruit. From that olive fruit when we crush the fruit we get olive oil. Olive oil is called “the golden oil”. We know it represents God’s Holy Spirit. So let us look at some interesting scriptures about olives and olive trees.
First, if you would, turn to the New Testament and we will go to Romans. Romans chapter 11, starting in verse 17: “And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.’ Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.”
Verse 21: “For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.” In other words we are being told do not be too boastful. We are the ones grafted in to the natural olive tree, and if other branches had to be torn off so that we could be grafted in, do not think we cannot be torn off as well.
Continuing in verse 23 of Romans 11: “And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.” So God can regraft anyone from ancient Israel or Judah simply by replacing them back in in a miraculous way.
Verse 24: “For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, who are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?” Once Israel and Judah see the truth and understand the spiritual things we are learning, they will quickly want to be a part of it. We must not feel too proud and boastful. We often hear people putting down the Jews and ancient Israel for being hardhearted and stiff necked, rejecting the Savior and putting Him to death. Often times we hold ourselves in high esteem when we do that. God says do not do that. As a matter of fact, I will go so far to say it is actually more dangerous for us because our spiritual lives are on the line. Ancient Israel did not have that problem.
Continuing in verse 25: “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’” Yes, they will have a chance to repent. Our chance is now and we are the wild olive branches grafted to the natural olive tree. There are two trees spoken of here, the wild tree and the natural tree. The branches come off of the wild tree and get grafted into the natural and that is how we get connected to the root.
This is a very important concept. It is called a mystery here because it is a mystery that this can happen at all. It is a mystery that spiritual people actually come from the roots of a physically symbolic tree. We know, we should know, that God through ancient Israel really did have part of His temple getting assembled by the prophets of old. That tree was not just a physical tree, a nation, but it also had the thread line of a root that goes back all the way to Jesus Christ and continues right on to the present Christian era! The subject that was being spoken of here is Israel’s rejection of the truth and how the firstfruits have replaced them but not permanently. They will have an opportunity. So let us compare now Romans 10.
Let us go back to Romans chapter 10 verses 1 through 3. “’Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.’” Paul cuts them some slack here. He understands that they did not have the spiritual knowledge that we have. They were ignorant but many of them were extremely zealous, even to death. They gave their lives hanging on to the oracles of God and tried to do things right. Sure they made mistakes, but as we can see, Christians with the Holy Spirit can make just as serious mistakes, even more so.
Let us compare those verses with Romans 11, verses 1 through 7: “’I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life?” But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”’”
Verse 5: “’Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were hardened.’” So, yes, we have obtained it if we dare hang on. They will still have a chance and Paul knew that and wrote it long ago.
So now I would like to look at an explanation of this because you see God’s purpose is not to lose anybody if He can. He does not want anyone lost. We have been grafted into the plan of God that He gave to ancient Israel and to Judah, and we need to be connected to those roots every bit as much as they need to be connected to the roots. The roots went through them, the keepers of the oracles. Let us look at an explanation of this.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 11, starting in verse 1: “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse...” (A rod is a branch.) “...and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.”
Verse 5: “Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb...” (Going straight into the Millennium here.) “...the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.”
Verse 9: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious.”
Here we have a spiritual explanation in the Old Testament that corroborates what we read in Romans. Out of Judah there would be a root and a Branch and that Branch would ultimately bring about the Millennium and peace for all mankind and a wonderful government called the mountain of the Lord.
Let us go to the end of the story for a moment to corroborate this. Go to Revelation chapter 22, and we are going to read verse 16. This could not get any clearer. “’I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.’” So Christ, beyond a doubt, is that Root and that Branch, the Root and the Branch that gave life to the natural olive tree and the Root and the Branch that we are grafted into. Without that Root and that Branch, we would die. We would have no nutrients. You see a tree gets nutrients from two sources. The tree gets nutrients from the ground, the soil, through its roots. The tree also gets nutrients from sun light. Both are Christ. We know Christ is the sun and we know Christ is now the root. So both ways this tree survives, the tree that we are a part of. It survives by the grace of Jesus Christ by this wonderful plan.
We understand it because it is a mystery that cannot be understood without God’s help so we have had help from God. It says here angels have brought this message. To understand this message is something God does by sending it to His messengers. We need to thank God everyday for the understanding that we have been blessed with and then learn from Him what we are to do with it.
What do we get from an olive tree? We bear fruit so that we can have olive oil. We also have wood and the wood are the branches. We are branches that must bear fruit so that we can have olive oil. We must have fruit in our lives and that is why I said in the offertory God does not really care about our financial resources. He wants to know what we are doing with our lives. Are we bearing a crop for God?
I want to add another definition to the list of definitions that we have been working on and that is the definition of “olive” or “olives” in the Bible. In the Old Testament it comes from number 2132 and means “as yielding illuminating oil, the tree, the branch or the berry.” As yielding illuminating oil and that is what the olive is. In the New Testament it is very similar. It is number 1636 and 1637 “olive oil, the berry or the tree.” That is what is meant by “olive”.
Now let us look in the Old Testament at the main purpose of olive oil. Go back to Exodus chapter 27, starting in verse 20: “’And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually. In the tabernacle of meeting, outside the veil which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel.’”
That oil had to be in constant supply. It was the fuel for the lamps in the temple and those lamps were never to be allowed to go out. Turn to Leviticus chapter 24, verse 1: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light to make the lamps burn continually. Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations. He shall be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually.’”
The priests were put in charge of keeping the fuel coming for those lamps because those lamps were never to go out. In the physical temple this oil had to be continuous for if it went dry the lamp would go out. We know this happened to ancient Israel. We need to learn from it. Let us take a moment at what happened when their oil went out.
Isaiah chapter 17, starting with verse 4: “’In that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob will wane, and the fatness of his flesh grow lean. It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, and reaps the heads with his arm; it shall be as he who gathers heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in its most fruitful branches,’ says the Lord God of Israel.”
Verse 7: “’In that day a man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands; he will not respect what his fingers have made, nor the wooden images nor the incense altars. In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel; and there will be desolation.’”
Verse 10: “’Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, therefore you will plant pleasant plants and set out foreign seedlings; in the day you will make your plant to grow, and in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; but the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.’” We can see that there was a time in ancient Israel when their nation, their proud city of Jerusalem and their temple was shaken like an olive tree and there were very few olives left.
Look now at Isaiah chapter 24, starting in verse 7: “The new wine fails, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of the harp ceases. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, so that none may go in. There is a crying for wine in the streets, all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.”
Verse 12: “In the city desolation is left, and the gate is stricken with destruction. When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.” God says here His people would be shaken so that there is hardly any left.
Continuing on in verse 14: “They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of the Lord they shall cry aloud from the sea. Therefore glorify the Lord in the dawning light, the name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we have heard songs: ‘Glory to the righteous!’ But I said, ‘I am ruined, ruined! Woe to me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.’” This is a sad situation in which it seems the people of God are betrayed and end up being shaken like an olive tree with very few left.
Go to Jeremiah chapter 11, verse 14: “’Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble. What has My beloved to do in My house, having done lewd deeds with many? And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice. The Lord called your name, Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit. With the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken.’”
Verse 17: “’For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.’” Initially in the Old Testament the people had done something that turned God away from them. God says you know in the last days it will be the same way because there are two olive trees. We have studied that already. Remember Romans 11. This gets repeated, unfortunately, to God’s spiritual people at the end. We have all been witness to it and it continues on.
These three sad scriptures that were taking place in the Old Testament should have been a warning to those of us in the New Testament times, but unfortunately those warnings fell on deaf ears. We have turned on each other and hurt ourselves just like it says. God is very unhappy about the situation.
Please go to Micah chapter 6. God explains His displeasure, His unhappiness and His great sadness. Micah chapter 6, starting in verse 1: “Hear now what the Lord says: ‘Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O you mountains, the Lord’s complaint, and you strong foundations of the earth; for the Lord has a complaint against His people, and He will contend with Israel.’” Now we all know mountains do not listen to people. People listen to people. People should listen to God. It is a blessing to understand what God is getting at in these scriptures.
Drop down to verse 6: “’With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’” These are rhetorical questions.
Verse 8: “’He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you...’” (He does not require these physical sacrifices.) “’...but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?’” The same thing He is telling us today. Your money does not matter. It is your life that I care about. I want you to love mercy the way I love mercy. I want you to walk justly and uprightly the way I walk and to do this humbly before Me and not exalting yourself.
Continuing in verse 9 of Micah chapter 6: “The Lord’s voice cries to the city...” (We know what the city is.) “...wisdom shall see Your name: ‘Hear the rod! Who has appointed it? Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination? Shall I count pure those with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For her rich men are full of violence.’” The Church, brethren, is full of violence today. There is a violent message for the world, there is violence from brethren to brethren and Church group to Church group, minister to minister. It is a spiritual violence that is awful in God’s sight.
Continuing in the last half of verse 12: “’Her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, by making you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied; hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but shall not save them; and what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.’” We know in the last days a famine of the word is coming, a spiritual famine. We are in it!
Verse 15: “’You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; and make sweet wine, but not drink wine.’” So it is like we are working for nothing. The Church is working and getting no where because the Church is full of violence. God cannot produce the oil in the Church in His olive plants. That is the sad state that we are in today. God wants us to do something about it and to be willing to lay down our lives for our fellowman and for our Church brethren and become living sacrifices for Jesus Christ.
Now this subject gets very interesting. We want to look at this from a spiritual angle to understand what God is trying to do in His plan. God the Father is trying to send His Son back to marry His bride and things are a mess in the Church. Everything is in disarray. The bride is a mess, the temple is thrown down, the household of God is desolate, the body of Christ is polluted; and I want to add a new definition. The olive yard or the olive grove is full of dying trees. It is full of dying olive trees with the branches dying on them. The root has been strangled because people are not allowing the nutrients to come up and it is killing the plants who cannot absorb the sunlight. We cannot be fed in the condition we are in. This is a spiritual thing. All around us olive plants are, in essence, dying!
The new definition is an olive grove. An olive grove is obviously where olive trees are grown. Let us look at a couple of examples in the Bible. Turn to the Old Testament in Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 5. We are just going to look at a couple of scriptures that show us that an olive grove is where the plants are cultivated and where the young trees grow up into the large trees. They are cultivated and cared for.
Nehemiah chapter 5, verse 11: “’Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.’” God is pointing out here that olive groves, or yards, are where His trees are cultivated and taken care of.
Go to Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 25: “And they took strong cities and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all goods, cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and grew fat, and delighted themselves in Your great goodness.” In the Promised Land, the people had received olive groves that they could take care of and produce crops from. They had to take care of them but they were given olive groves.
Let us turn to Exodus chapter 23, and we are going to start in verse 10. This is the law of the Sabbaths spoken of here. “’Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove. Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your maidservant and the stranger may be refreshed.’”
So we see a Sabbath system instituted in which there is a seven-day week. Six days we work and the seventh day we rest, and there is a Sabbatical season. In six years we work and the seventh year we rest. We know that in the plan of God there is 6,000 years for man and in the seventh one-thousand year period, the Millennium, we rest.
What do we do in those first six days or those first six years or those first 6,000 years? We tend the olive groves. We bear a crop year by year and produce the illuminating oil. That is done in people with the Holy Spirit, but to understand it we have the physical creation to look at. We can look at how God set up the earth, the cycle of the seasons, the crop cycles.
We are coming into a large harvest now at the end of the year. This is based on the Northern Hemisphere, of course, and where Jerusalem is located; but here in Michigan and Ohio we are coming into a bountiful crop harvest where billions of bushels of wheat are harvested and billions of bushels of corn are harvested. In the Mediterranean areas they are harvesting olives. This is crushed for olive oil. The symbolism here is perfect, and God is showing that that olive oil represents the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament that olive oil had to keep the lamps burning in the temple. So this is the symbolism that God is showing us so we can understand His high thoughts.
God is almost done bearing crops. We know we are almost at the end of the 6,000 year period. How many more seasons do we have left to bear a crop? Only God knows but we know there are very few. Therefore, with our lives we need to purchase olive oil while we still can. We want to make sure our vessels are full of the illuminating oil, and, of course, we speak spiritually. We want to make offerings to God at the holy days of spiritual growth, fruits that we have produced by giving our lives to God and letting Him work in us.
I want to digress for just a moment and I want to do a little bit of review with all of you in some of the things we have looked at lately. Turn to Psalms. We are going to look at the concept of spiritual mountains again. Psalm chapter 87, verse 1: “His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God! I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those who know Me; behold, O Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia: ‘This one was born there.’” So the rest of the world will eventually see.
Verse 5: “And of Zion it will be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her; and the Most High Himself shall establish her.’ The Lord will record, when He registers the peoples: ‘This one was born there.’ Selah Both the singers and the players on instruments say, ‘All my springs are in you.’”
What a wonderful thing to go into eternity and have people say of anyone born in the temple of God in the mountain of God, that person there they were born in Zion! They were born in the mountain of God. That is something that will follow a small group of people forever! What a wonderful blessing that God has offered us.
Turn to Psalm 48, starting in verse 1: “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain.” Jerusalem is located on Mount Zion, remember? “Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is in her palaces; He is known as her refuge.” So this beautiful city of Jerusalem dwelling on the sides of the mountain called Zion is going to be a place where the whole world will eventually have a refuge! It will be a wonderful and beautiful habitation of God’s government, of His kingdom.
Let us turn to scripture for corroboration for that in the New Testament. Go to Hebrews chapter 12, verse 18. This will show us the spiritual intent of God from the New Testament corroborating what we just read in Psalms. “For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.”
In other words, we have not been called to a physical mountain like ancient Israel was. When they stood at the base of the mountain, God shook the mountain. There was lightning and the people were terrified, but that was just a physical occurrence. It was miraculous, yes, but they were at the base of a physical mountain. We have not come to that mountain.
Continuing in verse 20: “(For they could not endure what was commanded: ‘And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with an arrow.’ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.’) But you...” (That is you and I, brethren.) “...have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”
We have come to the spiritual mountain. How terrified and respectful are we? How lackadaisical are we? We need to take this thing extremely seriously. Now I know we cannot see this mountain yet, not like they could see Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb or Mount Zion in the Old Testament. We can see one another, and we have to realize, brethren, we are part of a spiritual mountain, a spiritual city and a temple on that mountain. It is an awesome thing! It is a mystery as was spoken of in Romans. It is a mystery and we need God’s help to comprehend it.
Turn to II Peter, if you will. II Peter chapter 1, starting in verse 18: “And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts...”
Verse 20: “...Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
We have to be taught by God. We need His help to see these spiritual things and blessed we are, brethren, that we can see. Beg Him everyday for more of that vision. Beg Him everyday for more of the illuminating oil so that we can be a light on this spiritual mountain. We need to be a light that the whole world will eventually see.
Now I am going to ask you a question. What would you call a mountain covered with olive trees? I want to suggest a couple of names. How about the Mount of Olives? Or how about Mount Olivet? These places are one in the same, Mount of Olives and Mount Olivet. This is one of the two favorite places of Jesus Christ to teach. Did you know that? The two favorite places for Jesus Christ to teach the people were in the temple and the Mount of Olives. Both represent God’s government.
Let us look, now if you would, at Luke chapter 22, verse 39. It talks about Jesus Christ and His disciples. It says something very interesting. We can just read right over. “And coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.” So it was Jesus Christ’s custom to go out to the Mount of Olives. We know there He gave the Olivet Prophecy. We know numerous times He taught the people from the Mount of Olives.
Now go back a chapter to chapter 21, verse 37: “And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.” So day and night He liked to be both in the temple and on the Mount of Olives. Why? And was He trying to show us something by His physical life? That is why I say this gets very interesting at this point. Now we have come to the reason why I have chosen this subject for the Feast of Trumpets.
Turn, if you will, to Acts chapter 1, starting in verse 1: “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” It is talking about when Christ manifested Himself after His resurrection to His apostles.
Verse 4: “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.’” Well that was not always to stay like that, brethren. There comes a time to know. We are in that time!
Verse 8: “’But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.’” In other words, Christ is going to return just as you saw. Just what you saw is going to be repeated only He will be coming back.
Verse 12 of Acts 1: “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet...” So this took place on the Mount of Olives. So we know Christ is coming back to the Mount of Olives. This is something that has been taught by most Christian denominations. But now we understand something people cannot see. We understand the real intent of God’s beautiful thoughts. We understand what the real Mount of Olives is. This changes a lot of things. This has tremendous impact on how we are going to view the last days and what we are going to do as olive plants on the Mount of Olives. Isn’t that where God loves to teach? He loves to teach in His temple and on the Mount of Olives. Isn’t He going to return to the Mount of Olives?
Let us look at a few things about this mountain, the mountain that we are a part of and that we are trees on trying to bear fruit for God. Turn to Zechariah chapter 14, starting in verse 1: “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and Your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” We understand what the city is.
Verse 3: “Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives...” (He is coming back to the Mount of Olives.) “...which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.”
Will there be a physical splitting of the Mount of Olives? It would not surprise me! But that is not where we can flee, for God’s people (God’s city), God’s mountain is all over the world! Can you tell me for a moment that God’s people from all over the world can flee to a little hill? That mountain is a hill just outside of Jerusalem. It is physically impossible! When you understand the spiritual thoughts of God, the beautiful mind of God, you understand He is referring to a mountain called Olives (a Mount Olivet). This is formed by His government, His people, the firstfruits.
Continuing on in the last half of verse 5 of Zechariah chapter 14: “Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You.” So not only will the living saints come but all the saints who have been resurrected will come.
Verse 6: “It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; the lights will diminish. It shall be one day which is known to the Lord - neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light. And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur.”
Verse 9: “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be - ‘The Lord is one,’ and His name one. All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place...” It goes on to say the people’s destruction will have been ended.
We know the Church (spiritual Jerusalem) has been smashed. The spiritual temple is destroyed! No one else can see that out there! That is why so many people around the world are looking for physical destruction in a physical city called Jerusalem and are missing the fact that the temple God is going to return to is also called the bride of Christ, the household of God, the Mount of Olives! They will form the mountain of God’s government which will fill the whole earth! We know a physical mountain cannot fill the whole earth but the government of God can! His peace and His Spirit can fill the whole earth as the seas now cover the earth. That is what is going to happen!
We can see that in verses 4 and 5 especially that this valley will be a huge valley so I looked up what “Azal” is. This valley of Azal is mentioned in verse 5. Azal is a place in Jerusalem just like the Mount of Olives is. The meaning of the word “Azal” is interesting. It comes from the words 680 through 683 in the Hebrew section of your Strong’s Concordance. It means “to separate, select or refuse”. Number 683 means “jah has reserved”.
This dividing or splitting of the Mount of Olives shows how God is separating, selecting and refusing by sorting out who He has reserved for what? For what purpose? To see what this means to us now, brethren, let us take a look at Matthew chapter 25 where the ten virgins are referred to. Matthew chapter 25, starting in verse 1: “’Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.’”
Verse 5: “’But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise answered, saying, “No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.”’”
Verse 10: “’And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us! But he answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.’”
That is why earlier on in this sermon I said while we can with our lives buy the illuminating oil to keep our vessels full. We do not know the day or the hour but we should know it is very close. We need to do those things that will help us bear a crop for God.
So, therefore, we can see that the mountain of the Lord, the Mount of Olives, His olive grove, His government, His firstfruits will be split by Him as He divides, as He separates, as He sorts. This enables the world to be protected because we see that that action of God allows the world as well as all of the saints to come into a large valley. The innumerable multitude will have a place to come. Christ is the one who does this dividing.
Let us see what the intent of this day is. Go back to Isaiah chapter 61, verse 1: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
Then it goes on to say the ruins will be rebuilt, the desolations will be halted, the repairs of many generations will take place where mankind has been wasted under the oppression of that tyrant of all tyrants, Satan the devil. God is going to bring His government. We are part of that government. We have been offered a position to help all of mankind! That sorting of His to determine who will serve mankind forever will be based upon the fruits, upon the illuminating oil.
For our concluding scripture turn to Isaiah chapter 52, starting in verse 7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion.”
Verse 9: “Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
This is the true meaning of the Feast of Trumpets!
"13. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 15. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee." Titus 2:13-15
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