PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men: For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen” (Proverbs 25:6-7).

Verses 6 and 7 go together.

Now this principle is given to you in the New Testament by the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke chapter 14:7-11, “And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:7-11).

This is a principle of life, a principle of pride and humility.

“Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men,” you do, and it might be expected of you to do the things of a great man. You might not be up to the task. You might not be up to the responsibility. You just might end up making a fool out of yourself. Haman was a man that did that. He put himself in the front of the king, and eventually it cost him his life.

Now, that expression, “Come up hither,” only occurs three times in the Bible. It shows up here, in the Old Testament. It shows up again in Revelation 4:1, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”

We see it again in Revelation 11:12, “And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.”

In 4:1, it's a picture of the rapture of the New Testament Saints. In revelation 11:12 it takes place with the two Jewish prophets; Moses and Elijah which is a type of the rapture of the Tribulation saints. Is there anybody else that has already gone ahead of us? We have the rapture the New Testament Saints here and the Trib Saints, is there anybody preceding that? So, evidently this verse here in the Old Testament, and notice, you just had a passage on the Millennium and the second coming in verse 5, and then in verse seven, “. . . it is better that it be said into thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower.” Do you know what the expression in the world? “put down,”

So here, you have the rapture of the Old Testament Saints in type. Now, these all take place at specific times in the Scriptures.

- 1. Matthew 27:51, you will find the Old Testament Saints resurrected out, or at least part of them, we don’t know how many of them, but some Old Testament Saints went up in Matthew 27:51 after his resurrection.

- 2. The New Testament Saints. You and I, we go up in First Thessalonians 4:13-18.

- 3. Tribulation Saints in Revelation chapter 14. I don't know the exact verse on it, but there is a reaping there of the earth, right before the destruction of the Antichrist’s army in revelation 14:15.

Now you will see all of these three resurrections in two other passages:

“But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming” (I Corinthians 15:23).

“But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:31-32).

Both of these passages give you the order of the first resurrection. In Revelation 20, John says:

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).

The first resurrection has three parts: 1, 2, 3 and after the third part is over with John then says, “blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” The first resurrection is complete.

Those different names for the resurrections are in Daniel 12, John 5 an in Acts. The resurrection of life is in John 5:29. In First Corinthians he gives you the order, he said in Adam all die, and in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order. Christ the first fruits, then they that Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end. Three parts to it, and the last part—the end—is an expression always referring to the Tribulation. Every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits. The first fruits went up right after his resurrection, then those are Christ’s at His coming. That's future yet.

In Matthew 22, he talks about the resurrection to the Pharisees, and they ask him a question, and He said that God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. He said He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and these three men picture all three of the resurrections. Abraham stands for the Old Testament Saints; he is the father of Israel. Isaac is a picture of Jesus Christ and pictures the Holy Spirit going for a bride, and that's exactly what the servant did. Then we have Jacob. Well, the tribulation is called “the time of Jacob's trouble.”

- Old Testament Saints, go up there is the god of Abraham. - New Testament Saints go up, God of Isaac. - Tribulation Saints go up, God of Jacob.

He's the God of the living, and in the living resurrection there are three parts to it typified by those three men. That's quite a bit of material to give you.

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