Well, good morning. Everybody survived the holiday and the turkey, I see. I only gained two pounds. I felt very good.
Glorious sunshine day. I have learned to appreciate sunshine. You know, I guess that is one of the values of dark, cloudy, rainy days: when the sun does shine, boy, you really do appreciate it.
This morning, we will be sharing once again on sonship, and this will be the concluding message—at least, I think it is—on this matter of sonship.
In the past, we shared on:
Today will be the conclusion: bringing many sons to glory. After all these times of ministry, we are finally going to see these sons of God brought to glory.
Could we pray?
Lord, as we come this morning, I ask simply, Lord Jesus, that Your Holy Spirit would anoint our time. Lord, we cannot hear without the Spirit.
Lord, I know the Spirit is gentle, but I pray that the Spirit will be bold in our lives today, to awaken us to the age that lies ahead of us; Lord, to our calling in Jesus Christ; to Your desire that we might be joint-heirs with Jesus Christ in this age to come.
Lord, give us some vision in Revelation today, that we will see clearly. I ask, Lord, that I will be able to share what You have given to me, Lord, without any cloud in it.
I pray, Lord Jesus, You will bless our time together this morning and bless this word to our spirits. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Let’s begin this morning. I just want to—I think I feel like I have to say this from the start this morning. It is not very eloquent, but look: this is a big deal.
This matter of sonship is a big deal. What has been an area of Christianity, of theology, that has come to light in the last hundred years is this matter of the kingdom age and how that ties in to our inheritance in Jesus Christ.
The kingdom age, brothers and sisters, is absolutely critical. It is that thousand-year period. Time has not yet come to an end. This is a period that God has ordained as time to carry out His eternal purpose.
It will not come to an end when we are resurrected at the rapture. That is not the end of time. There is another thousand years, and that thousand years is absolutely critical, as we will hopefully see today, to God’s purpose and plan.
That is the time in history in which the Lord will reconcile everything back to God. All things will literally be reconciled back to God—not only us lost sinners, but the whole creation will be reconciled back to God.
That is the age in which, as we shared last time, the lion will lie down with the lamb. It is the age or period in which there will be no more war. Men will turn their swords into plowshares.
It is an age in which Jesus Christ will literally reign upon this earth and over the nations, and rule with a rod of iron. In other words, He will rule in righteousness, and whenever there is any unrighteousness, it will be immediately dealt with.
It is a time in which everything has been reconciled. God did not create man in order that he might sin. He never purposed that man would sin, but He had to give man the choice in order to test and try him. When man took the test, he failed, and that has created all of the issues and problems of sin that we have today.
God set about to reconcile the whole world through Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. One day, even creation itself will be restored. This fallen creation in which we are living right now will be restored for a thousand-year period, and Christ will reign and rule during that age.
The nation of Israel will be the lead nation during that period, and they will be the ones sharing about God during that time. It will be an amazing time, and yet it is a time that we could miss. That is what we do not want to do, brothers and sisters.
It is a marvelous, wonderful time that the Lord intends to bring to the consummation everything that He intended when He created this universe.
Now, that is still not the end. That, of course, is not heaven as we would refer to it. We know that at the end of that thousand-year period, the heavenly Jerusalem will come down, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Then we will go into eternity, and we do not know too much about that.
But what we do know is that before the new heaven and the new earth, God will see to it that His purpose for creating this particular creation is fulfilled. That will be done during the kingdom age, in which we have an opportunity to participate.
I cannot explain to you how important that is to God.
About a week ago, I was reading because I am going to be sharing on the mystery of God when I go to Seattle. In Revelation 17, it says the mystery of God is completed, and that is right when the kingdom age is coming in. The mystery of God—what God intended for this universe—will be fulfilled. So praise the Lord. There is a great day that lies ahead of us.
Okay, we need to read some Scriptures to get some background here.
Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet.
For in that He subjected all things unto Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him.
But now we see not yet all things subjected to Him.
But we behold Him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour.
For it became Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
It became Him, for whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory.
At the end of these days He hath spoken unto us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.
He has established Jesus as heir of all things.
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him.
Romans 8:17 is saying that we are destined to be joint-heirs with Christ. But it also says that if we suffer with Him, then we may also be glorified with Him.
And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations:
And he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him,
Unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ.
For the administration of the fullness of times, to head up all things in Christ.
And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having His name, and the name of His Father, written on their foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
And they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth.
These are they that were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb.
And in their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish.
And I saw, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud I saw One sitting like unto a son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Send forth Thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is over-ripe.
And He that sat on the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped.
And another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the altar, he that hath power over fire; and he called with a great voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth Thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great winepress, of the wrath of God.
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
We covered a lot of verses this morning, but all of them are very important to what we are doing.
Last time, when we shared on the manifestation of the sons of God, I said that this is a Father-and-son business that we are called into, with Christ being the elder Son. Christ is the One who has prepared everything, and He has gone to the cross that we might also become sons of God—adopted sons of God—through His shed blood.
He is to inherit all things, and, as I said before, He is to reconcile all things. All creation will be reconciled back to God.
There will be that day mentioned in Isaiah 11:5-10, when the lion will lie down with the lamb. In Micah 4:3, it says the swords will be turned into plowshares. The whole creation is groaning and waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Peace will rule over this earth during that thousand years, and Christ will rule over what we would think of as utopia. You know, man has been looking for utopia down through the ages, and this is the utopia. This is the thousand-year period where Christ will reign and rule.
He will head up the administration of the fullness of time. This is the fullness of time, brothers and sisters. The fullness of time has come, and Christ will be the One who is the Head. He is going to be the Head of that government, to reign and rule—to be the administrator over the fullness of times.
In other words, all things will be headed up in Jesus Christ.
It is God’s intention, brothers and sisters—and this is what is so critical for us to really grasp today—that many sons be brought to glory; that many sons participate in the administration of the fullness of times with Christ, joint-heirs with Him during that thousand years.
In Ephesians 1:5, we have been marked out beforehand for adoption. This word adoption means “placed as a son.” It is not that we are to remain children all of our lives, but we are to grow and mature in the Father’s business and learn the Father’s business.
First, we have to learn who the Father is—what His nature is, what His character is—before we can really understand the Father’s business and actually participate in it.
But we have been adopted by God. He is so pleased with His Son, Jesus Christ, that He desired to have many sons. His Son is going to come to glory, and He wants many sons with Him coming to glory.
In Revelation 12, when I shared on the manifestation of the sons of God, we see the overcomers. They actually break through the stronghold of the enemy.
We know that the stronghold of the enemy is the atmosphere, in which he and all his demonic beings and fallen angels reside. That is where they carry out their operations. A lot of what we see going on upon this earth today is a result of heavenly warfare going on in the atmosphere around the earth, and we see it manifested upon the earth in wars and things of that nature.
But these ones, because they know the Overcomer, our Lord Jesus Christ, will also break through to the throne. If you remember, they were raptured to the throne. That rapture to the throne will initiate a number of events that we call Parousia, or the return of the Lord.
It will initiate the Lord’s return to this earth, eventually to set up His kingdom during this thousand years. These sons that were manifested will reign and rule. They will have the privilege, the right, to reign and rule with Jesus Christ for a thousand years.
You all remember the parable where the Lord says, “Good and faithful servant.” He says, “You have been faithful in a few things.” One was made ruler over five cities, and another over ten cities. Brothers and sisters, this is our inheritance. This is what we are called to.
But if you remember, as I shared last week, this group of overcomers—the group that we see at the throne—does not include all of God’s children. Yes, we are all eternally saved. We will all be in that heavenly city eventually. But not all of the children are included in this aspect of the kingdom.
These are the ones who have served God faithfully in His business, who have honored the Father and His name. These are the ones who have become mature and responsible sons in the Father’s business, serving His purpose.
What is God doing today? You need to know: He is building a house. That house one day will become the bride of Christ, and that bride of Christ is seen in Revelation 21 as the New Jerusalem. We will all be included in that.
In Revelation 14, we have a vision of the Lamb. He is standing on Mount Zion, and He has one hundred and forty-four thousand with Him.
He is on Mount Zion in heaven, and He has led many sons to glory. Brothers and sisters, through this whole series on sonship, this is God’s heart for us: that He would lead many of us to glory. Here we see them standing on Mount Zion with the Lord.
Hebrews 2:10, which has been the theme verse, says that He has indeed led many sons to glory. Revelation 14:4 says that these were bought from men as firstfruits. Those are very key words: “These have been bought from men as firstfruits.”
In Revelation 14:1, it says they have a name: the name of the Lamb and of His Father written on their foreheads.
Last time, when I shared from Revelation 12, we saw the sons manifested. Here, we see these manifested sons at the throne with the Lord. The Lord is on the throne, and they are in the heavenly Mount Zion.
Hebrews 12:22 says, “You have come to Mount Zion.” Psalm 2 says, “I have set My King upon My holy hill of Zion,” and all the nations will bow down to Him.
This is the heavenly Mount Zion. You know, the earthly Mount Zion was where King David’s palace was, and that is where he ruled from the throne. The earthly Mount Zion was the place where the throne was and where the king was.
Here we see the King sitting on the heavenly throne, and He is in the heavenly Mount Zion. Brothers and sisters, what we see on earth is only a reflection and a shadow of what actually is in heaven. That is real. This is not mythology. This is not allegory. This is real.
Our God, our Lord Jesus Christ, today sits on Mount Zion in the heavens, on the throne.
The one hundred and forty-four thousand—there have been many arguments down through the ages about what this number means—but I think, as more and more light has come to these verses in the last hundred years, we have come to understand that it is not an absolute number.
It is a representative number, and it represents fullness. We have the fullness of time; we have the fullness of number; and we have one hundred and forty-four thousand. It really means completion and fullness.
It is not literal. It is a representative number, but the Lord is saying here that He has brought His sons to glory in fullness. They are there, and they represent the sons of God before the Lord. He sees it as being complete and full.
Now, in Revelation 7, there is another one hundred and forty-four thousand, but these are not the same. In Revelation 7, it says they have the seal of the living God in their foreheads. It does not mention anything about the Lamb, and it goes on to speak of the tribes of Israel.
These are the ones who are going to be marked before Jacob’s trouble occurs, before the great tribulation: pious Jews who will be marked out by God and protected by God during the great tribulation. This is referring to the nation of Israel.
But this one hundred and forty-four thousand are the sons of God, and they have the name of the Lamb and of the Father in their foreheads. What is the significance of that?
Our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Thank God for that. If we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour by faith—and it has to be by faith—if we have really seen that, our names have been written in the book of life. We have eternal life. We will be in that New Jerusalem.
But here, these ones have His name—the name of the Lamb and the Father—in their foreheads. It shows that they belong to Him. In other words, when you see them, it is evident that they belong to Him.
It means that the testimony of their life in the Lord is clear. When you meet them, you realize they are in the Lord. They are given to the Lord Jesus Christ. They have been purchased by Him, and they serve Him. They love Him, and they stand for the testimony of Jesus, not only individually but corporately.
They realize that they have a relationship not only with the Head, but also with their brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. That relationship is precious and must be maintained. It is a living relationship because they are part of the body, and the body is organic, real, and living.
It is more than just a casual relationship. They realize that this is critical to the Lord’s having His bride. So they stand for the testimony of Jesus, and their life backs it up. Therefore, He is able to put His name in their foreheads.
Brothers and sisters, you remember that Scripture:
If ye confess Me before men, I will confess you before My Father.
But if ye do not confess Me before men, I will not confess you before My Father.
That is what we see here. These have confessed Jesus Christ by their life, and therefore He confesses them before the Father, and His name is in their foreheads.
Today we would have to ask: Is His name in my forehead?
These are firstfruits, as I mentioned from Revelation 14:4. Notice: they are already at the throne.
Then, in Revelation 14:16, the angel cries out, “Put in the sickle and reap the harvest, for the hour of reaping has come, and the harvest of the earth is dry.”
In Revelation 14:18-19, the angel cries out, “Gather the bunches of the vine, for her grapes are fully ripened. Put the grapes into the great winepress of the fury of God.”
So we see firstfruits. We see a harvest that is ready and dry, ready to be reaped. After that, we see the bunches of grapes that are also to be reaped, but they are put into the great winepress of the fury of God.
It is critical to understand these Scriptures: Christians in the Bible are always referred to as wheat. You remember the parable of the tares being sown among the wheat. The Lord said, “Do not worry about it. At the time of the rapture, We will separate that out.”
Tares look very much like wheat. They say you cannot really tell much difference between them. But the Lord says, “Do not worry about trying to pull all the tares out. I will take care of that Myself.” Interestingly enough, they look very much like wheat, apparently.
But the wheat is the Christians. They have been dried by the sun. The harvest is ready.
Wheat has to grow, and then it has to dry out before it is harvested. The grapes speak of the world—non-Christians. They are full. They are ready for harvesting too.
It says they are full, brothers and sisters. They are full of the wine of this world. Their life is this world. They are of the world. They are not of Christ; they are of the world.
You know, in a field of wheat, the firstfruits are the wheat that ripens first and is ready first. Why is it ready first? Probably because of where the field is located. Most likely, that portion of wheat receives the most sunshine and the most drying time.
It is also wheat that, for whatever reason, is able to take the nutrients out of the earth for growth. In other words, it is able to take the provision the earth offers, assimilate it, and grow. Then the sun dries it out, and it is ready.
These become firstfruits—the first ripened fruits. You remember in the Old Testament what they did with the firstfruits: they were required to take them to the temple and offer them to God.
Then they could eat them, but they had to offer them to God first. That was saying, “Lord, the best is for You. In fact, the whole harvest really is Yours, but I bring You this portion to let You know that I recognize that it is Yours.”
Firstfruits are very important to God, because when God has His firstfruits, He knows the harvest is soon to follow.
Who are these firstfruits? They are mature sons—sons who have been responsible in the Father’s business. They have suffered for the Lord’s sake. That is what Romans 8 says: we will be joint-heirs with Him if we suffer with Him.
They have suffered for the Lord’s sake. They have walked the way of the cross, and the cross has dried them out. It has dried up the flesh. The cross has taken care of the self-life in them.
But also, brothers and sisters, they have taken advantage of the grace of God. That is our nutrition in life. That is our life. We live by the grace of God.
That grace is available to all. He does not sparingly give it to anyone; willingly, He pours out of His storehouse His grace upon us. All of us can have all the grace that we can possibly take in.
But unfortunately, we do not always take advantage of that grace in our lives and allow it to work. It is His life working in you. Instead, we live by this old life, and so we do not grow and mature as fast as we should—certainly not enough to be firstfruits—because we are living for ourselves, living for worldly things, and living by our old life.
He has also given us gifts—spiritual gifts. If we do not use those gifts, brothers and sisters, they cannot nourish our lives.
In the Old Testament, the firstfruits were all taken to the temple and offered to God. Here we see that the firstfruits have been taken. Where are they? They have been taken to the throne. That is where the temple is.
These firstfruits from men have been taken to Mount Zion, to the Lord, and offered to Him.
Now, in our Old Testament analogy, later the rest of the harvest is ready, and it is harvested for the benefit of all.
So, brothers and sisters, believers in Jesus Christ—His children, those of us who are bought by Him—if we are not part of the firstfruits, what are we? We are part of the harvest that will follow. Thank God, God is faithful. His children will all be raptured.
But there is a great significance that you need to notice in Revelation 14. When the rest of the harvest is raptured, or harvested, they are not raptured to the throne. They are raptured to the cloud.
When the firstfruits are raptured to the throne, it begins the process of the Lord’s return. That rapture of the firstfruits is what the Bible refers to when He says, “I will come as a thief in the night,” in Matthew 24.
He will come as a thief. Now, brothers and sisters, another Scripture—1 Thessalonians—says, “With a shout, and the sound of the trumpet.” That is the rapture too, is it not?
But does a thief shout before he enters the house? Does a thief blow a trumpet before he enters in to take the precious goods in the house? No.
So we see what is happening here, brothers and sisters. He does come as a thief in the night. As it says in Matthew 24, there will be two in the field harvesting: one will be taken and one will be left. Two at the mill grinding: one will be taken and one will be left. Two asleep: one will be taken and one will be left.
This is the rapture of the firstfruits. The firstfruits will be taken, and they will be raptured to the throne.
The remainder—those who remain—will continue to be dried out and made ready. They will be made ready through the pressures of the tribulation.
It will be an intense time, if you read the book of Revelation—this great tribulation. They will be made ready during that time.
Near the end of the tribulation is when 1 Thessalonians 4:16 comes into operation:
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
Then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds.
First, the dead in Christ; then those Christians who are alive at that time and remain. What does that tell us? It tells us that some have already left. The firstfruits have already left.
But near the end of the tribulation, the Lord will be on the cloud, and He will shout, and there will be the sound of a trumpet. There will be a great resurrection. We will be changed in the twinkling of an eye.
Those who are dead in Christ, and those who are living and remain, will be caught up. But, brothers and sisters, they will not be caught up to the throne; they will be caught up to the cloud.
The Lord and the firstfruits are with Him on the throne. When they are called out and raptured, they break through the enemy’s territory—the air—as I mentioned last time from Revelation 12. They get to the throne, and then it says there will be war in heaven.
Michael and his angels will fight with Satan and his angels, and Satan and his angels will be cast to the earth. Brothers and sisters, at that point is the beginning of the great tribulation.
Then the Lord and the firstfruits who are with Him come down to the cloud. They come from the throne on Mount Zion down to the cloud, but they are still hidden.
Then the Lord will shout, and there will be the sound of the trumpet. All who remain—all the Christians, those dead in Christ and those who remain—will be resurrected to the cloud before the Lord Jesus Christ.
At that point, when you read Revelation, you will see that God begins to pour out seven bowls of His wrath. In other words, God’s judgment has finally come. That is near the end of the tribulation.
The church has been raptured. All the church has been raptured by that time, but when He pours out the seven bowls of His wrath, it is upon the earth.
I want to get it clear. Then the Lord will break through the clouds. It says in Revelation 19 that He comes on a white horse, and that speaks of war—and, of course, righteousness.
He will war in righteousness. He will war and bring righteousness to this earth.
Revelation 17:14 says there is an army that will be with Him, and they are the called, the chosen, and the faithful.
There is an army that will come with Him. These are the firstfruits, brothers and sisters. They are the called, the chosen, and the faithful. Remember the Scripture: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” These are the chosen ones.
I think the word faithful describes who they are. They have been faithful to the Lord and followed the Lamb whithersoever He goes.
When He comes, He will come down to the Mount of Olives. Brothers and sisters, it says it will split in two, and that pathway will allow a third of the nation of Israel to escape.
Then there will be this great battle of Armageddon.
For her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast the clusters into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood went out from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
That is Armageddon. That is the battle of Armageddon that we have heard about for so many years. This is the gathering of the grapes that we have just read about in Revelation 14.
During the pouring out of the seven bowls, before the Lord actually breaks through the clouds, there will be the judgment seat of Christ.
That is when we all know whether we get to reign and rule with Christ during the thousand years or not. You remember, I have shared some of the parables from Matthew 25 about the talents.
At the end of that, He said to the faithful servant, “Enter into the joy of thy Lord.” But to the unfaithful servant, He said there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
That is Matthew 25:26-30.
The firstfruits are those whom the Lord chooses to reign and rule with Him. That will be the reward for being faithful now.
Brothers and sisters, it is important to realize that God’s whole plan for you and me is to prepare us to be joint-heirs with Christ, to reign and rule with Him in the kingdom. That is not just going to happen at the last minute.
We are to be His disciples and to follow Christ, to allow the cross to work in our lives, and to be joined to one another in the body of Christ.
For those who are faithful to the end, it says they will be rewarded. They will be able to enter into the joy of the Lord and reign and rule with Him for a thousand years. For the rest, it will be gnashing of teeth.
These who are reigning and ruling with Christ for a thousand years—it goes on to say in Revelation 14 that they follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
Brothers and sisters, think about where our Lord went. He walked this earth. He was misunderstood. He was persecuted.
Where did our Lord Jesus go? He had to go to the garden, where He prayed. It says He sweat drops of blood. So intense were His prayers for the Father’s will to be done, and that He would be submissive to the Father’s will—which He was.
That is where He went, brothers and sisters. He went to Calvary. Have we followed our Lord to Calvary, not only for our salvation, but that the cross might really do its work in our lives? For we have been crucified with Him. We know that, but is it real in our lives? Has it been made real?
Because our Lord was willing to go to these places and suffer these things, He is now on the throne. For those who follow Him, brothers and sisters, in humility—remember, He came in a manger—we follow Him in humility.
We have our Gethsemane. We have our Calvary. Then we will follow Him to the throne.
It says that they are virgins. In other words, they do not belong to the world. They are not of the world. Yes, they are in it, but the world is not the life that they are living for.
That is what the grapes are for. These are wheat, not of this world.
It says they sing a song that nobody else can sing. They are harp singers, and that means it is out of their heart. It is from their heart.
They sing a song that they have learned through what they have gone through—through the sufferings and tribulations, brothers and sisters. Often we think that these things are just for our destruction, but God uses them, and God puts a song in our heart.
I am sure that song has to be part of their faith: God is faithful. God is faithful.
Brothers and sisters, we should not consider the kingdom age as something optional—something that, if we miss it, is okay. There will be deep regrets.
Because we have not seen it yet, it is hard for us to grasp how much it will affect each one of us in our lives. At least as you get older, there are some things that you have deep regrets about—things that you cannot alter, things that have affected other people’s lives and changed them forever in a negative way.
You cannot alter that. You cannot change it back. Yes, you can go to the blood of Christ and receive His mercy and forgiveness, but you cannot change what has been done. Great regrets.
Let me say it another way: the kingdom—the right to reign and rule with Christ—is your birthright. The blessing is the actual ability to share that thousand-year period with the Lord, reigning and ruling over the nations. That is your inheritance.
As I thought about this, I said, “Well, Lord, what is an example to really help us understand how serious You are about this?” I thought of Esau.
Esau’s life demonstrates this to us. Esau was a part of the family, brothers and sisters. Often people think Esau was an unbeliever, but as far as the picture goes, no. He was part of the family. He was the firstborn. He was to receive the inheritance and the blessing—the birthright.
Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees;
And make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed.
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright.
For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind in his father, though he sought it diligently with tears.
Now, do we understand what it means when the Lord says, “Get away from Me. I do not know you”? You think, “The Lord knows who we are.” But when we come before the judgment seat of Christ, He may say, “I do not know you.”
Why? Because when He looks at you, He does not recognize Himself in you. The character and nature of Christ are not there, so He says, “I do not know you.”
For a thousand years, brothers and sisters, we do not know much about this, but we do know that we will not be entering into the joy of the Lord. I confess, at this point in my life—and I may change my mind later—that during those thousand years, we will have to learn and suffer and go through what is necessary to bring us to the place that the firstfruits have already arrived at.
I think it will be an intense time of discipline. In one sense, it is very negative, but in another sense it is positive, because the Lord is going to bring us through.
He does not forsake His own. He disciplines us. So the firstfruits will be rewarded; the rest will be disciplined, so to speak.
It says that Esau sold his birthright. He gave it up for just one little meal. It says he despised the birthright. He thought little of it.
That is what concerns me this morning, brothers and sisters. As I have been sharing in this series on the sons of God, I myself have realized how immensely important the birthright is. I did not realize that we could lose it, but we can, just as Esau did.
We can give up that birthright. We can give up the blessing of that thousand years. That is what the picture of Esau is all about.
It says he sought repentance earnestly with tears, but could not find it. In other words, it was too late.
You know, the Lord said, “I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated.” Think about that, brothers and sisters.
He hates it when we are not taking advantage of His love, when we are not taking advantage of His grace, when we are not growing in Jesus Christ, when we are not exercising our gifts, and when we are not serving Him. We are giving up the birthright and blessing.
I share this with fear and trembling, because none of us know. If there is anyone here who says, “Well, I know I am a firstfruit,” I think we would almost be eliminated by saying that. How can anybody be so bold as to say, “Yes, I know”?
I did not want to leave us here. If it was a conference, I might do it and the next day be able to share the encouragement. But I do want to share encouragement.
In Hebrews, it says:
Lift up the hands that hang down,
And the failing knees;
And make straight paths for your feet.
Otherwise, you might get into the condition that Esau got into.
He encourages us to lift up the hands that hang down. Brothers and sisters, these are for service. That is what hands mean. Take up your service in the Lord.
Often, the hands hanging down and the weak knees describe our spiritual condition. The Lord encourages us in Hebrews, along with the warning. He says, “Do not remain in that condition. There is hope, or I would not have given you the warning in the first place.”
There is hope. Do not stay in that spiritual condition. Do not remain discouraged. Look unto Me.
Then you begin to understand Hebrews 12:22. He says, “You have come to Mount Zion,” the heavenly Mount Zion. Brothers and sisters, do you know what that means? It means that Christ is on the throne.
He is eternal. He is everlasting. He has not changed. We may change, but He has not. He is on the throne.
Brothers and sisters, the only thing I know that brings us out of a state of depression or despair is to look up. As long as we are looking down, we cannot get out of that state. We have to look up.
We have to see the throne. We have to see the Lamb on the throne. Then we are encouraged because we know He has overcome, and we can too, in Him, by His strength.
How do we get out of a discouraging state in our life? It is only by looking at the Lamb. Ask the Lord, “Lord, show me. Show me the Lamb on the throne. I cannot stay this way.”
Weak knees—to me, weak knees are a result of a lack of exercise. I have noticed as I have gotten older that my knees have gotten weaker, because I sit a lot more than I used to. I do not exercise them like I should.
When I was young, weak knees never occurred to me. It is through lack of exercise—brothers and sisters, spiritual exercise: the Word of God, prayer, intercessory prayer. The things that strengthen us are what we need in our life.
Yet we know that the cares of this life consume us.
It goes on to say that we come to the heavenly Jerusalem. What is the heavenly Jerusalem, brothers and sisters? That is God’s government in your life. That is what the city speaks of: God’s government.
All of God’s provision is in the heavenly city. That heavenly city is His provision through your brothers and sisters, not just directly from Him.
We have come to a myriad of angels, it says—the universal gathering. Brothers and sisters, we have ministering angels. They do not want you in that state. They see the state you are in. We have ministering angels before God.
It says we have come to the assembly of the firstborn. What is that? That is our family. Christ is the Firstborn. He is the eldest Son. It speaks of family. We have a family. We are to encourage one another and strengthen one another.
We have come to God, the Judge of all. He is a righteous God, and that righteousness can be worked out in our lives.
We have come to the spirits of just men made perfect. I thought about that, and I said, “Well, Lord, perfect means mature.” There are mature saints—those who are spiritual—that we can come to and receive help from.
Then it says—and this is the great one—Jesus, Mediator of the new covenant.
What does the new covenant say to you and me? It says, “It is finished.” It says Christ will accomplish what He intends to do. The old covenant did not work because we failed, but He says in the new covenant, “I am not going to let it fail. In spite of you, I will get you through.”
Now, you need to cooperate with Me. You need to cooperate.
What does it mean that He mediates the new covenant? Brothers and sisters, if you are struggling with self-life—something in your life that you just do not want to give up, something you are grasping onto—you go to the Lord and say, “Lord, I know that You said I have been crucified in Christ. This whole thing I am holding on to is gone.”
But I trust You to do it. Then He mediates. He makes real in your life that new thing which He said in His new covenant, through the work of the Holy Spirit.
He is the Mediator. Not only is He the Signer and Originator of the new covenant; He is the One who sees that it is carried out. So we should have great hope.
So, brothers and sisters, this morning, let us strengthen the hands that hang down. Let us strengthen those weak knees. There is hope. Let us not be like Esau.
As I studied this, I said, “Lord, I feel a lot more like Esau.” But you remember, Jacob was not exactly a pleasant person, was he? Jacob was a twister.
But you know what he wanted? He wanted that birthright. He tried the fleshly and man’s way to get it, and the Lord got him and disciplined him severely because of his ways.
But in Jacob’s old age, with the wound in his hip, what does it say? Jacob was leaning on his staff, worshipping God. He got through, and Jacob made it.
That should give us encouragement. We may see the characteristics of Esau, but when we look at Jacob and see how the Lord turned that man around, we have got to have hope. We have got to have hope.
So, brothers and sisters, let us encourage one another. This thousand-year period—the marriage supper of the Lamb—He said, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper.” I pray that we will be there.
I pray that we will not think little of this kingdom age; that we will not be like Esau and say, “Eh, you know, that is in the future. That is something I cannot worry about. It is not that valuable to me.”
It is extremely valuable.
Lord, we come to You today. We ask that You would really open our hearts and eyes to see how serious You are about the kingdom age and the significance of the kingdom age, Lord, to You and to Christ.
Lord, we do not want to give up our birthright. We want to be at least like Jacob, to the point that we want that birthright. Lord, we want to have that same spirit in us that will hang on and will not give up until we know we have the blessing.
Lord, we come to You today. We ask that You bless this word to our hearts. Lord, more than all, I want us to be encouraged. In Jesus’ name. Amen.