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This time we are covering the name of God which is the Everlasting God: ‘El Olam’ in the Hebrew. I think it’s interesting that there are seven names of God in the Old Testament. I want you to think about that as we start into what we’re going to do today, and I’ll add a little bit to it as we go along.
I would like to read a little bit out of the book, The Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes, where he gives us the meaning of the Everlasting God.
Both the fact that in God’s dealings with His creation, there are successive times, or ages...
As the Protestants say, dispensations. We even have that in the New Testament.
...and that this is a mystery, or secret, which is only opened as we grow in grace and it is involved and taught in the name, El Olam. The word, El Olam, which is rendered everlasting contains both the idea of secret, also of time or of an age.
This is going to help us understand at least two Scriptures in a way that we have never understood them before, because of the meaning of the name the Everlasting God!
Let’s begin in Psalm 90:1: “O LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God” (vs 1-2).
Why the phrase, “…everlasting to everlasting…”? That seems kind of redundant because if it’s everlasting it is everlasting. If it’s everlasting, how can you have, “…from everlasting to everlasting…”? It means from age to age, or from one age to another age! Don’t we have it today that we are living in a ‘new age’? Regardless of what man does, God continues in His plan from age to age! He’s going to fulfill and complete it.
Isaiah 40:28: “Have you not known? Have you not heard that the Everlasting God [El Olam] ...[here are quite a few of the names of God] ...the [Yahweh] LORD… [it shows that these names apply to the same God, though they are different names] ...the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow weak nor weary? And His understanding no one can fathom.”
Think about, for a minute, how God has dealt in some of these ages. First of all:
- there was the creation of Adam and Eve
- then the world which was before the Flood
- then the world right after the Flood
In each of these ages, God dealt a little bit differently with the ones that He called. He dealt primarily and especially with Abraham, after the Flood. There’s a lot that we can go into with that, but we won’t at this particular time.
In Genesis 21:33 we have an incident with Abraham were it talks about ‘the Everlasting’: “And Abraham planted a tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD [Yahweh], the Everlasting God.”
This was symbolic of Abraham claiming that promise that would go down through the ages. He did this right after Hagar and Ishmael were cast out. There’s some significance in how God dealt with Ishmael and Hagar—which we’ll cover next time, which will be: the Lord of Hosts or ‘Yahweh Sabaoth.’ So here, Abraham called on the name of the Everlasting God.
Psalm 106:47: “Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to Your Holy name and to triumph in Your praise. Blessed is the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting...” (vs 47-48).
What is this telling us? This is telling us that God is going to work with Israel through all ages, and that God is going to carry out His promise in everything He is doing, through all time.
“...and let all the people say, ‘Amen.’ Praise the LORD!” (v 48). You go back and you study through the Psalm and you will see that this has to do with the rise and the fall of the people of Israel and all of their difficulties. This is showing that God is going to work with them, as He promised Abraham, through all ages. From age to age, He will continue working with the children of Israel!
Psalm 41—read the whole Psalm; that will help give you a little more background on how God is there to help in times of difficulties and trouble from age to age. In other words, God never changes from age to age in His ability to do things. He may change how He deals with men and women and how they can approach Him.
Psalm 41:13: “Blessed is the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.... [here’s an interesting thing; why does it say]: ...Amen and Amen!” This technically closes the first book of Psalms. There are actually five books of Psalms and at the end of each book, it says, ‘Amen and Amen!’ This gives added emphasis to it.
Psalm 93 is a short Psalm, but this helps us to understand more about the Everlasting God. This is also a projection forward into the age that is coming, or the Millennium.
Psalm 93:1: “The LORD reigns; He is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength. He clothed Himself and the world also is established; it shall not be moved. Your throne is established of old; You are from everlasting” (vs 1-2). In this case, the beginning of the ages.
Verse 3: “The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voices; the floods lift up their waves. The LORD on high is mightier than the thunders of many waters, yea, mightier than the mighty waves of the sea. Your testimonies are very sure; holiness adorns Your house forever, O LORD” (vs 3-5).
It’s interesting that the term [phrase]—when we get to the New Testament—where it says, ‘forever and ever,’ that should be translated: ‘into ‘the ages of eternity.’ This tells us that there are going to be ages on into eternity.
How does God reveal these ages, or time, to man?
1. With the Day
Have you ever thought of it? God reveals time to man beginning with the day! If you go back and you examine the days of creation, then we see and we’re taught by that example, that God does things in stages. It’s interesting! If you write down the word ‘s-t-a-g-e-s,’ you have the word, ‘ages.’ The first day that was revealed to Adam and Eve was the Sabbath. God reveals His time, first, in days. Seven days! So, we have the Sabbath!
2. With the Week
How else does He reveal time to us, which is relevant to the Holy Days? Seven weeks, plus one day! Keep in mind the ‘seven, plus one.’ This is going to be important with the names of God. There are seven major names of God in the Old Testament, plus one for the New Testament, which is the Father!
This will help us to understand, as we finish this series, why the name of the Father encompasses everything, all these aspects of God. We will see why it is not mandatory that we use these names in sort of a litmus test for whether you can have contact with God or not, as some of the ‘sacred namers’ do
3. With Seven
What is the next series of time that we have revealed to us in seven? The seventh month, seven months.
4. With Years—seven years—the land Sabbath
5. With the Jubilee
Isn’t it interesting that when you count all of the Holy Days, you have:
- seven Holy Days, plus one—the Passover
- seven weeks during the harvest, plus one—which is Pentecost
- when we come to the Feast of Tabernacles, we have seven days, plus one—which is the eighth day [the Last Great Day]—which is a renewing
The # 8 is always new. When you consider the second resurrection and everything that that day means, it is a ‘new beginning’ for these people. The way that pattern fits is just absolutely fantastic when you see it!
Remember, the name, the Everlasting God, teaches us that God does not do everything at once, but reveals Himself in stages, or accomplishes His work in stages.
In Jer. 10 we’re going to see some more about the Everlasting God. In this case the Everlasting King. Jeremiah 10:1: “Hear the word, which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.Thus says the LORD, ‘Do not learn the way of the heathen, and do not be terrified at the signs of the heavens...’” (vs 1-2).
What we want to do is get the comparison between the religions of men. If you get some of these public television channels, watch some of the documentaries on some of these people. I saw part of one which shows two men traveling in the islands of Indonesia and on down to Fiji. It’s quite interesting, but:
- when it shows the people
- when it shows their religion
- when it shows their customs
It really makes you realize that the only One Who can change all of this is God! The return of Christ!
The one part that stands out in my mind is, when they got down to the island of Fiji, they went into a colony, a tribe or whatever, of, supposedly, ex-cannibals. I don’t know how ‘ex’ their cannibalism was, but these people were so depraved. You’ll have to see it.
It is, in the truest sense, the naked truth; in some cases, maybe even a little pornographic. It shows how this whole society that they have is wrapped up in demonism, cannibalism and sexism; to the extent that you can see that these people—in following these things—are cursed. What they did on this special feast day they would have, they would have a special ceremony, go out in the forest and cut down some trees. Then they would carve the gods on it, with all of these pornographic things that they would have with it, too.
It was really something. I was thankful that God did not let those people rule the world. Just think what they would have brought. God kept them on the island of Fiji. Thank You! Even the missionaries couldn’t do anything for those people. One of David Rockefeller’s sons went down there on a tour to investigate about these people and he came at the wrong time. He was supposedly one of their last meals that they had in cannibalism. It’s not too far removed! The natives all looked to the signs of the heaven. I couldn’t get over that.
Jeremiah 10:3: “‘For the customs of the people are vain; for one cuts a tree out of the forest with the axe, the work of the hands of the workman. They adorn it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it will not move’” (vs 3-4). That applies to the Christmas tree, but it also applies to every other idol that they make!
Verse 5: “‘They are upright like the palm tree, but cannot speak. They must surely be carried because they cannot walk....’” The Fiji natives have ceremonies where they carry these big totem poles.
I couldn’t get over it. The natives have these huge noses and they had something that looked like bullhorns. They have a slot in the septum of their nose and they work this thing into it. It’s their great regal dress that they have painted with all this demon stuff, this bone of a thing that they have sticking through their nose and they have this music they make: Oom-pa! Oom-pa! Oom-pa! It’s all I could do to watch it. It was an education to me. It really was! You just can’t help but thinking of that.
“…Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil nor good, for it is not in them.” In other words, this piece of wood has no power of good or evil. That’s what God is saying.
Verse 6: “Therefore, there is none like You, O LORD... [that’s compared to God Who has created everything] ...You are great, and Your name is great in might. Who would not fear You, O King of nations? For fear belongs to You because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.But they are altogether foolish and animal-like; the tree is a doctrine of vanities” (vs 6-8). If we don’t see that’s true with what’s happening in the world today! Everything we try and solve becomes another giant, huge, gargantuan problem.
Verse 9: “Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the goldsmith. Violet and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skillful ones. But theLORD [Yahweh] is the true God, He is the living God... [rather than a dead piece of wood and a pole] ...and the Everlasting King.... [Age-lasting, going beyond all these pagan things that you see around you] ...At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to stand His fury” (vs 9-10).
In Hag. 2, it says that God is going to shake the earth: ‘Behold, I will shake the heavens! I will shake the earth! I will shake the sea!’ Then where are all these gods going to be?
Verse 11: “Thus you shall say to them, ‘The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.’ He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His judgment. When He utters His voice, there is a noise of a multitude of waters in the heavens. ‘He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.’Every man is stupid for lack of knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by the graven image; for his molten image is a lie, and there is no breath in them.They are vanity, the work of delusion; in the time of their judgment they shall perish” (vs 11-15). The Everlasting God is the One Who is going to take care of that! He’s going to make sure that that will be!
The whole book of Daniel tells us, by prophecy, how God is going to deal in successive ages, with successive histories of empires of mankind.
Daniel 2:19: “Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. And Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever...’” (vs 19-20). If this were in the Septuagint LXX, the Greek Translation, this would be: into the ages of the ages, or the ages of eternity.
“‘...for wisdom and might are His.And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him’” (vs 20-23). We know the rest of it, what Daniel told king Nebuchadnezzar, and how that this would be. It would be down to the very end of the age.
Here’s one of these Scriptures that’s going to be clarified for us. I’ve had some people ask, so we’ll read the verse and then I’ll present the question that was asked. Then, I will tell you what the solution is going to be.
Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a Child is born... [we know this a prophecy about Jesus Christ] ...unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” He’s got five different names and different titles.
- How can He be the Everlasting Father?
- How can Jesus be the Everlasting Father if the Father is the Father, how can Jesus be the Everlasting Father?
- How does the carnal mind normally approach this?
‘If there’s one Father, then you can only have one Father. Therefore, the Bible isn’t true because if this is talking about Jesus, how can it be talking about the Father. The answer is this: Jesus Christ is the Father in the coming age!
- How is He going to be the Father in the coming age?
- Does that take away from God the Father now, in this age, in our knowledge of God the Father? No, it doesn’t!
Jesus will not be a Father until He marries His bride. Then, He will be a Father.
All of those who come into the Kingdom of God during the Millennium, under the reign of Christ and the saints, those are going to be His children. We are God the Father’s children. We are not Christ’s children. We’ll be in a different category. That’s why the first resurrection is based upon greater promises and greater blessings!
Jesus is the Father in the coming age—that’s the way it’s translated in the Septuagint—or the world to come. World, in this case, is age.
Verse 7: “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and over His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with righteousness from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”
Let’s go to the New Testament and begin in Romans 16:25: “Now, to Him who has the power to establish you, according to my Gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that in past ages has been kept secret.” Here, it is showing the hiding of El Olam, the secret. It is the mystery that has been kept secret since the world began, until Jesus Christ. There was a definite change of the age when Christ came.
Verse 26: “But now is made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures, according to the commandment of the Eternal God... [age lasting or Everlasting God] ...has been made known to all the nations unto the obedience of faith.” Something definitely changed. Something definitely happened when John the Baptist came on the scene.
Let’s see what Jesus Himself said. Some people take this the wrong way and say that we ought to get rid of the Old Testament. No! That’s like saying get rid of the foundation of the house. Christ is the foundation!
Matthew 11:11: “Truly I say to you, there has not arisen among those born of women anyone greater than John the Baptist. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.” That’s something to think about. If you want something to think about some day when you’re stuck in the traffic driving down the road, think on that.
Verse 12. “For from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven is taken with a great struggle, and the zealous ones lay hold on it.” It actually means that you have to exert the force and the effort to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Verse 13. “‘For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.’” That was the change of age, when John began to preach! What came with the change of the age?
Mark 1:14: “Now, after the imprisonment of John, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God,and saying, ‘The time has been fulfilled...’” (vs 14-15). This is the beginning of an age. That’s what He is saying. If you have time that’s fulfilled, it’s ending one time and beginning another. You don’t call the middle of the week, the first of the week. Although, we have a misnomer today; in the world, they call Saturday and Sunday the ‘weekend.’ It’s really, the ‘week end’ and the ‘week beginning.’ You know how you do in your mind; you have these little battles going every once in a while. I thought, when someone says, ‘Have a nice weekend.’ I might turn around to them and say, ‘Have a nice week beginning.’
“...and the Kingdom of God is near at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel.” (v 15). God is showing He is going to deal differently with people.
What other thing showed that there was a conclusion of the age? There’s always a transition period from age to age. Matt. 27 shows, in a dramatic way, a change of age, from one age to another.
Matthew 27:50: “And after crying out again with a loud voice, Jesus yielded up His spirit.Then suddenly the veil of the temple was ripped in two from top to bottom...” (vs 50-51). That has significance.
In Heb. 10 we can see this ‘new age’ of God, since so many people are talking about the ‘new age’ in which we are living right now. Every time I listen to some of the news they’re talking about, ‘a diverse society.’ That’s an excuse to get rid of God out of every fabric of society. We now have a society that is absolutely defunct as far as any moral values go. This shows us what the ripping of this veil has done. Now God is dealing in a different way and we have a different relationship with God in this age.
Hebrews 10:16: “‘This is the covenant that I will establish with them...’” That’s the covenant that we’re in today, the covenant of the New Testament. That’s why there’s the Old Testament—the old age—and new age.
“‘...after those days,’ says the Lord: ‘I will give My laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds;and their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again’” (vs 16-17).
That’s very important to understand concerning Pentecost. I’ll sort of telegraph part of the meaning of Pentecost: Even though we have sin dwelling in our members, God in His graciousness:
- gives us His Spirit
- forgives our sins
- looks not to the sins that are in us
That is absolutely marvelous!
How many times have we beat ourselves, flagellated ourselves, mentally and spiritually, because we’ve sinned and we go around and feel so bad? Yes, we feel bad! We beat ourselves up, when God did not intend that to be. Go to God! He’s not going to forgive you any more if you mentally torture yourself over the thing. You need to understand it.
That’s not saying that you should go out and sin, then you go back and turn grace into licentiousness. That is a marvelous thing, that the great God Who is perfect—the Everlasting God Who controls everything—will put His Spirit in you, even though you have the law of sin and death. There’s one thing else that He does beyond that, but you’ll have to come to Pentecost to find out about that.
Verse 18: “Now, where remission of these is, it is no longer necessary to offer sacrifices for sin. Therefore, brethren, having confidence to enter into the true Holiest by the blood of Jesus” (vs 18-19). That is the new way! That’s something! That is exciting, when you understand that. That is thrilling!
Verse 20: “By a new and living way, which He consecrated for us through the veil... [which was rent asunder] ...(that is, His flesh), and having a great High Priest over the house of God, let us approach God with a true heart, with full conviction of faith, our hearts having been purified from a wicked conscience, and our bodies having been washed with pure water. Let us hold fast without wavering to the hope that we profess, for He Who promised is faithful” (vs 20-23). God lives forever—the Age-lasting, Eternal, Almighty God!
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Colossians 1:20: “And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in heaven.” There’s an interesting verse; think on that one for a while. What does He have to reconcile in Heaven?
Verse 21: “For you were once alienated and enemies...” Think about how you would treat your enemies. Think about it! Think about what Jesus went through:
- the crucifixion
- the life that He lived
- being rejected of all
- despised
- hated
- shamed
“...enemies in your minds by wicked works; but now He has reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, to present you Holy and unblamable and unimpeachable before Him; if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel...” (vs 21-23). That is the message of this age. This age in which God is dealing with mankind.
“...which you have heard, and which was proclaimed in all the creation that is under heaven; of which I, Paul, became a servant. Now, I am rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and I am filling up in my flesh that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the Church” (vs 23-24).
Paul is just telling us very nicely, that he understood that all his sufferings and everything that he was going through, was part of what Jesus told him when He first called him. Remember:
- Jesus knocked Saul (Paul) off the horse when he was going to Damascus
- then the light of the vision came
- Jesus told Ananias—after three days blindness for Saul—‘You go here to this house where Saul is, for he’s a chosen vessel of Mine
- I’m going to reveal to Saul the things that he will suffer.
Paul suffered! That’s what he is saying here, that he understood that those things of suffering were for his own good.
That’s another thing to really think on. We don’t rejoice in suffering. I don’t want to rejoice in suffering. I don’t want to go out and look for suffering, I really don’t! It gets me down when I see people suffering; it really does! Yet, there’s something in suffering—that with the Spirit of God we’re able to learn, that we can’t learn any other way, unfortunately—because God suffered!
Verse 25: “Of which I became a servant, according to the administration of God...” This new age, the Gospel age, lest some think I’m saying ‘new age’ referring to the world. I’m not. I’m referring to this present age of God, which, at the time Paul wrote, was the new age, the new dispensation.
“...that was given to me for you in order to complete the Word of God;even the mystery that has been hidden from ages and from generations,but has now been revealed to His saints” (vs 25-26). In Ecclesiastes we find that Solomon did not understand about the resurrection. All you have to do is read it and you’ll understand that he didn’t understand about the resurrection. It was hidden.
Verse 27: “To whom God did will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” That’s a fantastic message! These are powerful and inspired words.
We’re living in the time when hopefully, we’re going to understand the Scriptures at the end of this age, that those at the beginning of the Gospels did not understand.
Remember what it says in Matt. 24 where it’s talking about all the things coming in the end, and it says, ‘And when you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the Holy place, he who reads, let him understand.’ Even when Matthew wrote that, he knew there was more to understand, so, he said, ‘he who reads, let him understand.’ I hope, brethren, that we can understand some of these prophesies at the end. I hope that God is merciful to let us know in the way that we can be under God’s protection. I don’t want to be out there and be ‘clobbered’ by all this stuff that comes on.
1-Corinthians 2:7: “Rather, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom that God foreordained before the ages unto our glory which not one of the rulers of this world has known (for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory); but according as it is written, ‘The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit...” (vs 7-10). That’s what’s so important and fantastic in understanding about the Day of Pentecost and God’s Spirit.
“...for the Spirit searches all things—even the deep things of God” (v 10). It wasn’t known then.
Here’s another Scripture that we are going to read, which may have been a little perplexing in the past, and in the King James Version it’s not made clear.
Hebrews 9:24: “For Christ has not entered into the Holy places made by human hands, which are mere copies… [types/reproductions] …of the true...”—because God revealed to David how to make the Temple. God gave him the plans. I wonder what that was like. I just wonder what that was like when David went up to his little architectural bench, had the papers there and everything he need to draw up the plans for the whole temple.
- I don’t know how God inspired him
- I don’t know if He sent an angel to tell him directly
- I don’t know if He put it in his mind
- I don’t know how long David spent in prayer praying about it to understand what it would be
Here were all the plans of God and these things were made after the things that are in Heaven. They’re a type of them.
“...rather, He has entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself many times, even as the high priest enters into the Holy of Holies year by year with the blood of others; for then it would have been necessary for Him to suffer many times since the foundation of the world... [earth] …But now, once and for all, in the consummation of the ages...” (24-26)—that ended with His crucifixion. That’s not the end of the age, i.e. the second coming of Christ. We’ve never understood that. I never understood it until I was studying it through.
Obviously, when that age ended, He entered into heaven for us. Now we have a new means of being taught of God. Where it says, “…in the consummation of the ages…” or the end of the world,’ that’s not talking about our day; that’s talking about His day:
- when that age came to an end
- when He died on the cross
- when the veil was rent open
Now we have a new and living way to come into the very presence of God.
“...He has been manifested for the purpose of removing sin through His sacrifice of Himself. (v 26). The rest of the sentence confirms what I just said, “…through His sacrifice…”
Hebrews 8:1: “Now here is a summary of the things being discussed: We have such a High Priest Who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord set up, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer both gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it is necessary for this One also to have something that He can offer. Now, on the one hand, if He were on earth He would not even be a priest since there are priests who offer gifts according to the priestly law” (vs 1-4).
Notice the difference between what came before Christ and what came after, v 5: “Who serve as a representation and shadow of the heavenly things, exactly as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to construct the tabernacle: ‘For see,’ says He, ‘that you make all things according to the pattern that was shown to you in the mountain.’” But on the other hand, He [Jesus] has obtained a supremely more excellent ministry, as much greater as the superior covenant of which He is also Mediator, which was established upon superior promises.... [eternal life] ...For if the first covenant had been faultless, then no provision for a second covenant would have been made” (vs 5-7). There is the change of the age.
You’re not throwing away the Old Testament. What you have to understand is this: A covenant is your agreement of relationship. The laws in the Old Testament told them how they should maintain their lives in that covenant relationship. The New Covenant also tells us how we are to maintain that with the laws written in our heart and in our mind. It’s the relationship that is different. The laws actually are more binding, in the sense that they are now spiritually binding. It doesn’t do away with the laws of God, because they’re Holy and Spiritual. It is the covenant that has changed; the relationship that has changed.
If you’re working for a man, your covenant relationship is this: I will work for you if you will pay me so much an hour. The boss says, ‘I agree’ Or, he comes to you and he says to you, ‘I will pay you so much an hour. Will you work for me?’ You say, ‘Yes.’
- you’re to be honest
- you’re to work hard
- you’re to be trustworthy
It’s the relationship that you have—how you’re going to work.
The boss comes to you and says, ‘You’re such a good worker, that I want to enter into a partnership with you.’ Now your relationship has changed. You’re in a partnership. In this partnership, you will share in the profits. The boss says, ‘Since I was here first, I’ll take 60% and you 40%.’
- Do you still follow all the rules of working? Yes, you do!
- Are you still honest? Yes!
- Do you still do good quality work? Yes!
Maybe even a little better because now you’re going to share in the profits.
It’s the same way with the Old Testament and the New Testament. It’s not destroying the Law, it’s the change in the relationship. That’s what it is. That’s the thing that Protestantism has not understood, so they end up doing away with the Sabbath and coming back and reclaiming nine of the commandments. They realize that even though there’s a change in the relationship, or covenant, you still have to have laws to live by.
Verse 7: “For if the first covenant had been faultless, then no provision for a second covenant would have been made.” What was the fault with the first covenant or the Old Covenant? Was God at fault? No! God is perfect; God was not at fault! The people were at fault. If we change the word ‘fault’ to deficiency, I think it might be more easily understood.
- Why was the Old Covenant deficient?
- Deficient in relationship to what?
- Was the Old Covenant deficient in relationship of neighbor to neighbor? No!
- Was the Old Covenant deficient in relationship to the temple worship and things like that? No!
- What was the Old Covenant deficient in? It couldn’t give life, eternal life!
- Why couldn’t it give eternal life?
- There is no law given whereby eternal life can be given!
Verse 8: “But since He found fault with them...” What is the fault with all human beings? Sin! The law of sin and death within them! The first covenant was deficient in the people, because of the law of sin and death in them, and deficient in as much as it could not provide eternal life. That’s the ultimate goal of God, to provide eternal life.
Since it was deficient, how is God going to take care of that deficiency? The second resurrection! That’s why in this New Covenant, we only have one chance, because God gives us of His Spirit. We have all sufficiency in Christ!
“...He says, ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will establish a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt because they didnot continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them,’ says the Lord. ‘For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the Lord: ‘I will give My laws into their minds, and I will inscribe them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people’” (vs 8-10). That is a better covenant with better promises. When we go from one covenant to the next covenant, it doesn’t change the laws, it changes the relationship to God and the application of those laws.
Instead of having it on a table of stone and you write it on a doorpost and keep it always with you that way, physically, you put it in your mind and it becomes a very part of your being. That was not possible under the Old Covenant because they didn’t have the Holy Spirit; it was deficient. They didn’t receive the Holy Spirit. God had to make it deficient, until Christ, because He did not give His Holy Spirit. They already determined, before the time, that He wouldn’t give the Holy Spirit until after He was resurrected.
It’s the same way with our children. Do we teach our children things in deficiency—from our knowledge—but still tell them the truth? Yes, we do! Why? It isn’t time for them or it’s not time for us! How many times have your children asked you a question and you say, ‘I’ll tell you later when you’re able to understand it.’ That sort of ‘bugs’ them a little bit.
It’s the same thing with the covenant. God did not make it full of fault. God made it deficient because it was not perfect. It’s the same way in anything you do. Henry’s a printer. When he first started printing, his printing, though it was acceptable, was deficient from what he does now, because of what he’s able to do and know. If you build a house and you drew the plans to build a house. What happens? After a number of years you would sit down and your wife would say, ‘Well, if we had to do it again, we would do this our that.’ What you did and when you did it, you didn’t know it was deficient.
God knew the Old Covenant was deficient. What did He say after giving the Ten Commandments, when the people said, ‘Oh Lord, we’ll do whatever You say?’ He said, ‘Oh, I would that there were such a heart in you, that you would keep my commandments always, in fear of Me.’ He knew they were deficient, because it wasn’t time. Maybe this will help us understand the need for the second resurrection even more.
How would like to be resurrected standing in the Lake of Fire? You would actually say a thing of truth when you would say, ‘God, You didn’t let me know!’ That’s okay. I’m going to throw all these people in the Lake of Fire. You only get one chance and if you didn’t hear it in your lifetime, you’re a dead ‘dodo. NO!
- if God’s mercy endures forever
- if God would that all men be saved
- if He deliberately put them into a deficient relationship because it wasn’t time
He has to make up for that deficiency by giving them the opportunity.
One thing that the Protestants believe—in their dispensational way of looking at things—is that is the way God dealt with Adam and Eve, and those before the Flood. That they had their chance for salvation then. That’s not true! And that God dealt with the patriarchs and they had their chance for salvation then. That is true, the patriarchs did! ‘You shall see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and you, yourself thrust out.’
In the dispensation with Israel, Moses, certain of the prophets and certain of the kings qualified for the Kingdom of God, but not the rest of the people. We come down to the time when God began dealing with all the nations of the world through the preaching of the Gospel. Now, it’s a totally different thing. Paul talks about it here.
Ephesians 3:1: “For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the ministry of the grace of God that was given to me for you; how He made known to me by revelation the mystery (even as I wrote briefly before, so that when you read this, you will be able to comprehend my understanding in the mystery of Christ), which in other generations [ages] was not made known to the sons of men... [it was deficient; God did not make it known] ...as it has now been revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles might be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel, of which I became a servant according to the gift of the grace of God, which was given to me through the inner working of His power. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, was this grace given, that I might preach the Gospel among the Gentiles—even the unsearchable riches of Christ; and that I might enlighten all as to what is the fellowship of the mystery that has been hidden from the ages in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the Church to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, according to His eternal purpose, which He has wrought in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vs 1-11). El Olam, the Age-Lasting God!
1-Timothy 1:14: “But the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with the faith and love that is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (vs 14-15)—a primary sinner.
Verse 16: “But for this reason I was shown mercy in order that in me first Jesus Christ might demonstrate all long-suffering, for an example to those who would afterwards believe on Him unto eternal life. Now to the King of eternity, the incorruptible, invisible, and only wise God, be honor and glory into the ages of eternity. Amen” (vs 16-17)—forever and ever into the ages of eternity.
In Rev. 11 we will see the next age that is coming. Is God going to be God in that age? Yes, He is! Now, you understand why Satan is called the god of this present evil age.
Revelation 11:15[corrected]: “Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign into the ages of eternity.’ And the twenty-four elders, who sit before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come; for You have taken to Yourself Your great power, and have reigned’” (vs 15-17).
The age that is coming is going to be the rule of God and the saints. It’s going to be a totally different set up, completely different. That’s going to be great! Look at all the evil that’s going on. You get it instantly on television. What are you going to do with the evil where this insane, lunatic, raging, evil woman walks into a second grade classroom, pulls out a gun and says, ‘Kids, I’m going to show you about guns.’ Click, click, BAM! BAM! killed two of them and wounded five. She ran out of there, ran in somebody’s house and ended up killing herself.
I am thankful that they don’t have to try her. I think that that was so evil that God let her kill herself and get it over with. It’s awful! How would you like to get a phone call from the school saying that this was one of your kids?
What’s going to happen in the new age? You get the wrong thought and it’s going to be: ‘You don’t go to the right hand or the left hand; here’s the way, walk in it.’ You know who’s going to be telling them how to walk in it? We will! Hopefully, as spirit beings we will have much more mercy and understanding than we have now. I’m afraid at this point I would not be so kind in some of these things.
Verse 18: “For the nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and to give reward to Your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to all those who fear Your name, the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
Rev. 5 will actually springboard us into the next sermon in this series, which is: ‘Yahweh Sabaoth’: the Lord of Hosts. It has to do with this age—the world at this time now—which is under the jurisdiction of angels (Heb. 2).
The world, or the age to come, is not going to be under the hand of the jurisdiction of angels, but under the hand and jurisdiction of Christ and the saints. Notice this scene of the throne of God:
Revelation 5:11: “And I saw and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne, and the voices of the living creatures and the elders, and thousands of thousands.” That’s the host that God controls. He is Lord of hosts!
Verse 12: “Saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory and blessing.’ And every creature that is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and those that are on the sea, and all the things in them, I heard saying, ‘To Him Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and sovereignty into the ages of eternity.’” (vs 12-13).
‘El Olam’: the Age-Lasting, the Age-Ruling God, or the King of all ages. That’s what the Everlasting God means!
All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter.
Scriptural References:
- Psalm 90:1-2
- Isaiah 40:28
- Genesis 21:33
- Psalm 106:47-48
- Psalm 41:13
- Psalm 93:1-5
- Jeremiah 10:1-15
- Daniel 2:19-23
- Isaiah 9:6-7
- Romans 16:25-26
- Matthew 11:11-13
- Mark 1:14-15
- Matthew 27:50-51
- Hebrews 10:16-23
- Colossians 1:20-27
- 1-Corinthians 2:7-10
- Hebrews 9:24-26
- Hebrews 8:1-10
- Ephesians 3:1-11
- 1-Timothy 1:14-17
- Revelation 11:15-18
- Revelation 5:11-13
Scriptures Referenced, not quoted:
- Haggai 2
- Ecclesiastes
- Matthew 24
- Hebrews 2
Also Referenced: Books:
- The Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes
- The Septuagint LXX, Greek Translation
FRC:nfs
Transcribed: 03-23-14
Proofed: bo—3/23/14
