Passover to Tabernacles - Part 28

Ga 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Today we will look at matters concerning our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

The full text of this message and supplementary study questions can be found on our website with the remaining parts of this study.

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1). Eph 5:30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

We have seen in our past weeks of study that the marriage relationship is at the heart of God’s Divine plan for rulership. A marriage that will take place between Christ and His bride and God the Father and Israel at the conclusion of the redemption of the inheritance that will usher in the Millennial Kingdom.
a). And this with respect to Christ and His bride, we had seen laid out for us in the foundational type of Adam and the Woman and the Seventh Day.
b). We will also realize that this marriage relationship is not about gender but about qualification for rulership. Because of what has been set in place in the foundation, it will only be those Christians taken from the body of Christ who will have this position in the Age to Come.
c). After a similar fashion, we know that only firstborn sons can rule in Christ’s Kingdom. But again, this is not about gender but about qualification for rulership. All Christians are sons of God because of being a new creation in Christ - Ga 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

But not all Christians will be adopted as a firstborn son – Mt 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

To be a part of the bride/wife for Christ is to be adopted as a firstborn son. Or to look at that from the other direction, to be adopted as a firstborn son, is to be a part of the bride/wife for Christ. Both positions, the bride/wife for Christ and the adopted firstborn son, are expressions of the right to rulership as a joint heir with Christ that the individual Christian has gained through faithful obedience to the Scriptures, through doing the will of the Father, in response to the gospel of the glory of Christ which he has received and believed - 1 Co 3:14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.

Those Christians who will attain this glorious position as an intimate companion alongside their Lord are seen in Genesis Chapter 2 as the rib, which through a Divine work was built into the bride for Adam.
d). This process we have also seen pictured through Abraham’s oldest servant’s ministry to Rebekah in Genesis Chapter 24, Ruth’s experiences from Moab to Boaz’s threshing floor, and the works of gold, silver, and precious stones built upon the foundation, in 1 Corinthians Chapter 3.
e). And we had also seen last time that this process is part of the present continuous salvation with which we are engaged every day –
1 Co 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

It is this salvation that is spoken of in - Php 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling……..

And in - Heb 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him……

And defined in – 1 Pe 1:5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time…………9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

And we have seen the Divine hand in this process through the provision of the two elements that came from the Lord’s opened side after His death 
Jn 19:33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

And as the Divine hand works upon us, it is the hand of a Father upon His son - Heb 12:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening [child training] of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

From the moment of our new birth onwards our Heavenly Father, out of His love for us, trains us as a son, trains us as a child in His house, in anticipation of adopting us as a firstborn son to rule as a joint heir with Christ in the Millennial Kingdom.
f). Not only does the child training come through the written Word, but, in conjunction with that Word He has also provided us with, the example that we are to follow through the Word made flesh, the One described in Isaiah Chapter 9 as ‘Everlasting Father’ – Lu 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

1Pe 2:20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example [a copy for imitation], that you should follow His steps: 22 "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

It is then solely within the context of the coming Kingdom of Christ that the Lord engages with us in child training and relates to us as our ‘Father’ in anticipation of being our Husband in the Seventh Day. Throughout the time in which we are to work out our own salvation we are to be trained in this Father/son relationship. Another way to describe the process necessary, through the blood and the water, to build the bride for Christ.
g). And this child training relationship between us and our Heavenly Father can find a parallel in the role of the human father within a human marriage relationship.
h). For the Christian father seeking first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, the raising and training of his children must be seen with the same end goal in view as that which is His Heavenly Father’s goal for him – Pr 22:5 ¶ Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards his soul will be far from them. 6 ¶ Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

1Pe 1:9 ………receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls.

2). It is in the Book of Ephesians that we had found the great mystery concerning Christ and the church and it is also in this Book that we can find instructions given to Christian fathers - Eph 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

So, we see that there is one thing fathers are not to do – ‘do not provoke your children to wrath’, rather they are to bring them up in the child training and admonition of the Lord with a view to Christ’s coming Kingdom. Now to do this, is not only for the benefit of the child but also for the father, as it is an act of faithful obedience on his part to the command of Scripture.
a). And to bring about the training and admonition of the Lord, fathers will not only take the responsibility for making sure that the truth of the Scriptures is taught within their family, but they are also to model a life of faithful obedience to those same Scriptures as they run the race of the faith in full view of their children, thereby providing them with a tangible connection to the One who is our Father in heaven.
b). And within the ebb and flow of daily life there is no better opportunity for the child to witness his father’s life of faithful obedience as he works on the salvation of his soul, than to see it in operation within his parents’ marriage, a relationship which is itself to parallel and picture the relationship between Christ and His church, which we have previously seen – Eph 5:31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her……

So then, God the Father has provided the pattern through the ‘Everlasting Father’, that the earthly father is to follow as he works on the salvation of his soul, under the child training of the Lord.
c). And in this, the earthly father provides the pattern that his children are to witness as he brings them up in the training and admonition of the Lord, the example that they are encouraged to follow.
d). And Paul adds another layer to this father/son relationship in – 1 Co 4:15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.

Paul here describes himself as a ‘father’ in the Spirit, who, through the gospel given to him by the Lord, the gospel of the glory of Christ, has brought forth those given into his care, with Timothy described as Paul’s beloved and faithful son in the Lord. And we can add more Scripture to help explain this spiritual birthing process – Ga 4:19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,

Through the transforming work of the Spirit, through the Word of God, the whole counsel of God which he preached Paul had continued in labor to see Christ formed in those to whom he preached. Using the metaphor of the birth of a child to describe the process. And this has been set in foundation for us through Adam and the Woman – Ge 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

In the Seventh Day, if we have allowed the child training of the Lord in our life, allowing Christ to be formed in us, then we will become ‘one flesh’ with Christ. Everything we do will be aligned with Him and His purpose for the age. We shall be just like Him.
e). And within the context of Paul, the spiritual father, bringing forth those to whom he preached, so that Christ would be formed in them, he urged those in Corinth to ‘imitate me’.
f). And the call from Paul to those in Corinth to imitate him is qualified in 1 Corinthians Chapter 11 – 1 Co 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

God the Father has provided through His Son the pattern that those seeking first His Kingdom and righteousness are to follow, and Paul, as a spiritual father to those to whom he ministered followed the example set by the Son and encouraged those in Corinth to imitate him as he did so.
g). The Scripture broadens the scope of this still further in – 
Heb 6:10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Here then is ministry within the body of Christ, as the saints minister to one another, and the writer of Hebrews admonishes his readers not to become sluggish in doing this. And that which is the safeguard against the possibility of sluggishness, is to ‘imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.’
h). And as we think about this, we will realize that there is a catalogue of faithful saints in Hebrews Chapter 11 who we can imitate, because we know the outcome of their conduct. But in addition to these there are also those within the body of Christ now, who provide an example to be followed, as they exercise faith and patience in anticipation of inheriting the promises – Heb 13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

And this must begin with remembering, constantly calling to mind, those who rule over you, who have spoken the Word of God to you as a spiritual father, whose faith is to be followed as you observe accurately their manner of life. We could say, imitate them as they also imitate Christ.
i). Clearly then, we can find a parallel between the way those who ‘rule’ within the church are to conduct themselves and the Kingdom seeking father and his children.
j). And the importance of this parallel is seen in the criteria given to Timothy for church leadership - 1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);

The way in which a father, the husband of one wife, conducts the affairs of his house in anticipation of Christ’s coming Kingdom, is readily transferable to the role of ‘spiritual fatherhood’ within God’s assembly. The very thing the Scripture has shown us with respect to Paul and the Corinthians.
k). If the father is not focused on the outcome for his family at the Judgment Seat, then the same could only be true with regards to those under his care, should he become a leader in the church.

3). All of that which we have seen here is process. The father, who is the husband of one wife, cannot bring up his children in the training and admonition of the Lord apart from himself being subject to the Lord’s child training. And he cannot then transition into taking care of the church of God unless he has progressed in spiritual maturity as a result of being trained – 1 Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

And this verse is sandwiched between two verses that deal with the incompleteness of our comprehension of the Christ in the present that will be rectified at His appearing. And implicit here is the need for us all to grow up and be serious about the Word and His coming Kingdom.
a). And in the phrase ‘childish things’ is an echo of the condition Moses found in the camp of Israel upon his return from the mountain –
Ex 32:3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” 5 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.” 6 Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

And this incident Paul referred to in his first letter to those in Corinth –
1 Co 10:7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”

We are still waiting for our Lord to return to call us into the heavens, but His absence does not provide us with license to do as we please in the meantime. This by now we know very well. But let us also be serious about the admonition not to become sluggish as we wait – Eph 5:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

These are of course familiar verses but nonetheless we will give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard through them, because what we see here once again is that the body of Christ is likened to a child who is to grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ. There is to be a corporate progression to spiritual maturity that contains individual responsibility – 1 Co 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

There is then an individual responsibility for us all to receive the equipping necessary for the work of ministry through being trained by the Word, so that those in the body alongside us can be edified. There is an individual responsibility for us all to progress to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, so that we might all speak the truth in love to one another. Which is why the writer of Hebrews warns us – Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

And from the head, Christ, we are to receive that which will cause the whole body to be joined and knit together by what we all supply to one another as we each do our share of putting away childish things that we might all grow and be built up in love.
b). And to accomplish His purpose within His body Christ has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers. Not just instructors in Christ but fathers, who are to train up their spiritual children in the way they should go, so that as they grow up in the faith, they will not depart from its goal but will receive the salvation of their souls – 
1 Ti 4:16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

It is an intriguing thought to realize that all of us at the moment are, ‘children of God’, from the pastor/teachers to the newest of the new creations in Christ, and we are all continuing to receive the child training of the Lord to bring us to a place of spiritual maturity. And within this common process some have been appointed within the body of Christ, for the sake of the body, to exemplify the Everlasting Father who appointed them. And through this example of lifestyle and Scriptural teaching, so those who are Kingdom seeking fathers in the natural are themselves to be trained to be the head of their family, as Christ is head of the church, to provide the example for their household of seeking first God’s Kingdom and righteousness with a view to the salvation of their souls.
c). And through the faithful obedience of the father, so the children are to understand the child training of the Lord, to experience the love God and to see in their parents as their father leads the way, the relationship between Christ and those who will be His bride – 
1 Jn 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

More next time, if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.