ALL THE WAY THERE

  I woke up this morning and balked at my standard routine of Bible study and commentary. I was lazy but obeyed anyway.

  As usual, even in my obstinnce, I was blessed. I always perceived that the route that Moses was to take was not the final destination of Israel, but all the Way to Paradise in heaven. Today, scripture pointed toward that as true. The insight that I received today would be particularly informative to the Jews, but as scripture says, a Christian is a Jew inwardly, so it applies to them as well.

  You cannot get part Way to Paradise. You must follow Jesus all the Way, so you are to pick up your cross and follow the Angel of Jesus (the Holy Ghost) the rest of the Way to get to the Tree of Life!

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  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth — the shamayim and the ‘eres in the Hebrew — the space and the matter within it. The two together are the cosmos that is perhaps the celestial dome that scripture calls the “firmament.” That includes the seen and the unseen things. God created all things for His heirs:

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev 4:11)

  “God With Us” (Emanuel) was the “Technician” (Greek; Teknik), as is written: “God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Ephes 3:9). That validates John chapter one. Hence, Jesus is God, and all things were created for the pleasure of Jesus. All the earth, on Earth and in heaven, belong to Jesus. He is not only King of the Jews but of the entire universe, the seen and the unseen — the heaven and the earth.

  Jesus was real before he was made flesh. As it happened when Jesus was baptized, “The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.’”

  When Jesus came to Earth it should have been for His pleasure but instead it was for His agony. As any heir would do, the Son of God came to review His inheritance that He had worked so hard to make. Jesus was King of the heaven and earth, but by grace He came to share His “Estate” with those who love Him.

  It is “real estate” in that it is tangible. Likewise, Jesus was always tangible. Luke saw the Ghost of Jesus in bodily shape. He even recognized the Ghost of Jesus. It is that Spirit that created the heaven and the earth, and that Spirit is God With Us. When Jesus was crucified the King James Version alone recognized that the Spirit of a man is a Ghost, and after Jesus ascended His “Ghost” came to preserve the heirs of God so that they too could co-inherit the Kingdom of God.

  Paul wrote, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” (1 Cor 6:9). Implied therein is the righteous would inherit the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom is the heaven and the earth that was made for the pleasure of Jesus, but He is willing to share that pleasure with the adopted sons of God — Christians.

  That brings us the instructions that God gave to Moses:

And the Lord said unto Moses, “Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘Unto thy seed will I give it.’” (Exod 33:1)

  Moses was shown the Way to the Tree of Life to the land promised to Abraham and his seed. The Israelites would be the “seeds” that Joshua (Jesus), not Moses, would “plant” in the Promise Land.

  Moses and the Israelites were on the way to their inheritance, and years later for the crucifixion, the Tree of Life would be “planted” in the middle of the Garden again on Calvary in Jerusalem, right there by the Garden of Gethsemane.

  If you remember, as a result of sin, “He (God) drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the   garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the Way of the Tree of Life” (Gen 3:24).

  The Tree of Life would be protected by angels to keep the unworthy out. Sinful people, including Adam, are not worthy to eat of the Tree of Life. That pertains even to this day: “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27). The Body and Blood of Jesus is the “Wood” and the “Juice” of the Tree of Life. It is not the Cross per se but Jesus Himself whose blood and water were “sown” on the rocky soil of Calvary and took root that day! As such, the Holy Ghost of Jesus “baptized” all of Adam’s kind with the fruit from the Tree of Life called the baptism of the Holy Ghost — from the one Christ and the one baptism.

  It turned out that even Moses was unworthy as were the Israelites who had lived in sin in Egypt. The forty years of wandering in the wilderness was for spiritual purification — to separate the righteous from the unrighteous.

  Then God said to Moses:

² And I will send an Angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: ³ Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. (Exod 33:2-3)

  God would send an Angel before Moses to clear the Way to the Tree of Life. God would allow the unrighteous to die that only followed Moses, but not Yahweh. Obviously, the young were not accountable as unrighteous for it was the older and disobedient ones who would die without entering the Promise Land.

  The Exodus seemed to be the fulfillment of Adam’s reprieve, but was it? Perhaps, entry into the promised land was only the partial way to the Tree of Life. Perhaps rather than their eyes on Jesus, the Israelites had their eyes on the prize of the land. That assumption is still being validated to this day. For them, it is still not about the invisible Kingdom of God but the “Garden” itself and its land.

  The Israelites were directed to “the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘Unto thy seed will I give it.’” They were the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but standing in the Way were stray “seeds” of Canaan, Ishmael, and Esau (Gen 33:2). They all laid claim to the Promise as if it was theirs, but an Angel would help the Israelites get past. Often, in scripture, that “Angel” is usually the Holy Spirit that was the manifestation of Jesus who Luke saw centuries later.

  None of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, or Jebusites were legitimate heirs, and all were of the Wicked One. They represent the cherubim that God would leave to guard the Way to the Tree of Life. Pre-incarnate Jesus would clear the Way to the middle of the Garden for the Israelites to pass through, but on the Way, the unrighteous would be prevented from entering.

  Moses never made it in… then, until much later:

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him. (Mat 17:1)

  Moses, in death, found the way to the Tree of Life (Jesus). Jesus brought the Ghost of Moses to the Holy Mountain to finally see the Face of God after all those years. Patience is a godly feature and never give up on anyone! Moses had sinned, but by grace, Jesus overlooked that sin!

  Now back to the promised land. It is ‘eres in the Hebrew, the same as the substance that God created in the beginning.

  All the Jews were thinking that the land of milk and honey was their destination, but was it? Some of the Israelites would continue their journey and pass the Tree of Life that was driven into the rocky soil of Jerusalem to the true place of peace, New Jerusalem, to wit:

³ And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the Earth. ⁴ These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. ⁵ And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. (Rev 14:3-5)

  The land of Canaan was part way to the “land of milk and honey.” To this day, the Israelites remain still in the waters of the Jordan thinking that the water of the River of the Garden is enough to save them. They followed the Angel part Way but have not all the Way, which is not enough. They have failed to pick up their crosses and follow Jesus the rest of the Way to the Tree of Life to Paradise in heaven.

  John saw 144,000 of them who would someday follow the Angel to the throne of God and see Jesus who sits on that throne.

  The Israelites who were blessed enough to get into the land are now wandering over the Earth. God will show them that they were mistaken, that part of the Way is not all the Way! Since 1948 Jews all over are again making an exodus from the Earth as they had from Egypt. They are still seeking and have found the land that they had lost, but it is still only part Way to the Tree of Life.

  John saw, in his vision, many of the Israelites, not just Jews from Judah, that will someday make it all the Way!

  They will be guided to ‘eres as goes the promise. Many Jews will be surprised when the ten lost tribes are found by God and led all the Way to the “land” that counts.

  It is the not the seen substance that they will see, but the unseen substance hat God also created in the beginning. It is not Canaan’s land at all, but God’s Realm in heaven, the invisible land that is also real, and has the dimensions that John saw.

  All the while the Jews have sojourned to obtain the land could have been better spent seeking the land that John saw that their seed shall obtain, and for only those who follow the Angel all the Way to the Tree of Life, now in heaven (Rev 22:2).

(picture credit: elamy.com)