LET US GUIDE YOU PAST THE VEIL
January 27, 2002 pm
MF Blume
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to
shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent
and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
The New Testament is the great unveiling of Jesus Christ.
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It's the plan of salvation.
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The great change-over from 1,500 years of Old Testament ritualism and temple
worship towards God with animal blood sacrifices.
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God's masterpiece is unveiled before mankind with Jesus Christ.
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Jesus was the great sacrifice of all the veritable millions of sacrifices
that must have been offered to God since the beginning of mankind, from
the time Abel was told to offer to God the firstlings of his flock.
Not only that, but the temple that was built three times was also realized
in the true temple of the body of Jesus Christ.
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Jesus told them that if they destroyed this temple, in three days He would
raise it up again.
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And while they thought Him mad because they felt He spoke of a physical
building that took 46 years to build, He meant the temple of His body (John
2:19).
Jesus was everything!
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He headed up all that the Old Testament spoke about.
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Every story, if you can get into the Spirit of the living God and experience
Him guide you as you read, you will be blessed to be able to somehow see
Jesus in each story.
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From the story of Noah's ark, that carried so few alive through the destruction,
showing Jesus is like an ark into whom we are baptized and saved, to the
Exodus, where the blood of the lamb put around doorways of Hebrews, saved
them from the death angel, as Jesus is the lamb whose blood redeems us
back to God - its all Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:18-21 For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are
saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom
of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?
hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that
in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
One particular note came alive to me in my studies for this morning's message.
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The idea of Jesus being unveiled to us - revealed to us - pressed and pressed
itself upon my heart.
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Jesus needs to be revealed to this world.
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He needs to be unveiled.
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People have every nonsensical idea bout Him.
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The Muslims believe He is a prophet, but not the latest prophet, since
they say Mohammed came after Jesus came. And one is supposed to accept
the latest prophet.
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The problem is that a true Prophet of God will not contradict the other
true prophets of God.
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And Jesus said His blood alone can save a person.
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And Islam teaches that animal blood must continue to be offered.
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WRONG.
Jesus called Himself the ALMIGHTY.
Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was,
and which is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 1:10-13 I was in the Spirit on
the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying,
I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write
in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto
Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto
Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the
voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a
golden girdle.
The son of man is the Lord God Almighty!
How?
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God was manifest in the flesh… that is how.
And speaking of the book of Revelation, it is a revelation of Jesus Christ.
In the tabernacle was that inner room where the most holy presence of
God was said to abide.
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And it was behind a veil.
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One would walk through the outdoor region of the temple in the court.
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And then enter the building where one passed into the holy place.
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But further still within the building was the Most Holy Place - this holy
of holies.
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Being inside a building - in the holy place - the lights that were provided
so one could see where the entrance to the most holy place was, stood in
the form of the candlesticks.
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Seven branches of a sort of candelabra or Menorah.
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And the light shone from those candles.
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The temple had ten of those candlesticks, making 70 lights.
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The tabernacle had seven.
But those lights provided the means of seeing inside that house.
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The veil would be found to indicate where the most holy room stood in the
house.
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The candlesticks showed you where that veil stood.
In fact, in Exodus chapter 25 through 26 where we read of that little building
called the Tabernacle and all the absolutely fascinating furniture that
would be made for it (fascinating since each one speaks a symbolic lesson
about Jesus), we read of these objects listed in this order.
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The ark of the covenant (25:10).
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The table of shewbread (25:23).
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The candlestick (25:31).
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And then the curtains(26:1).
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And then the VEIL (26:31).
Notice the last thing mentioned before the curtains and Great Veil, was
the candlesticks.
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The last thing we read about before we consider curtains that cover and
barricade, and a veil that holds itself as the last barrier before one
gets in to see the great holy of holies, and the Grand Ark of the Covenant,
mentioned first back in 25:10, before anything else, was the CANDLESTICK.
In the book of Revelation, the very first chapter shows the first vision
John saw in this GRAND UNVEILING OF JESUS CHRIST.
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If you are going to have an unveiling, as in the tabernacle, you are going
to have to have a light by which to see where the veil is and then be able
to remove that veil and gaze on into the holy of holies, where a light
shines within that is not natural.
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You see natural light shone outside in the outer court from the sun.
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But it was day and then night and then day again.
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And a light that served to be a MEANS TO THE END OF SEEING GLORY LIGHT
OF GOD, was supplied in the candlestick through seven lamps with olive
oil for fuel.
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But light from it had to be fed and fed by olive oil.
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THAT LIGHT WAS A MEANS TO THE END OF THE PEOPLE SEEING WHERE THEY COULD
FIND GOD.
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But inside the holy of holies, God's full glorious light, Itself, shone.
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The light would never go out.
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God's glory is light that outshines the sun.
And Revelation - the book of Jesus being unveiled, BEGINS WITH JESUS IN
THE CANDLESTICKS.
Revelation 1:10-13 I was in the
Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest,
write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia;
unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and
unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to
see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I
saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks
one like unto the Son of man, clothed with
a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
As we read the last verse of this chapter, we read:
Revelation 1:20 The mystery of
the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden
candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are
the seven churches.
The candlesticks are the churches of Jesus.
And the lights of fire on each candle speaks of the angels of those
churches, which refers to the MINISTRIES of that church that PREACH THE
LIGHT OF THE WORD.
Why do these preachers preach?
Why does God have churches that preach the light of the Word?
Because Jesus needs to be unveiled to all the dark, dark world.
By the foolishness of preaching God chose to save sinners.
By the means of people working together, like we do in this church,
this candlestick, this source of light of the knowledge of God.
…will people come to a place where a veil stands.
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And if they believe….
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If they truly open their hearts…
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THAT VEIL, shown to them by the light of the candles…
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Shown to them by the preaching of the churches,…
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Will be removed.
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Unveiling will occur.
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And as they continue to open their hearts to Jesus, THEY WILL SEE THE REVELATION
OF JESUS CHRIST.
Church, that is the reason we are here.
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We're not here so people can see you in a certain position or office.
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We're not here to provide entertainment for a world that is movie-crazy
and entertainment-mad.
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We're here to show the world a revelation of Jesus Christ!
And then John is told that each of those churches, who are represented
by each of the candlesticks, must receive a letter.
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Each letter will deal with the particular situations that church is in
need of recognizing and dealing with.
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Why is this all contained in the beginning of the book of Revelation?
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It is because God is setting a precedent to us as to the need for the world
to see Jesus Christ.
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And since the churches are the means of giving forth the light so people
can see further and see God's light itself, JESUS CHRIST, these churches
must be in line and operating properly and believing what is true and correct.
The churches are the candlesticks.
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The means to the end.
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We are the means by which God has chosen you to be able to see the FULL
LIGHT OF JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.
Churches, get ready.
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Get in order.
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Get your purpose straight in your hearts.
The ANGEL of the church is told to straighten up anything that must be
straightened up.
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The letters were written to the churches' angels or ministries.
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Many ministries are in every church, but one angel is responsible.
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The senior pastor.
And the manners by which a church will be aligned to God's will is going
to be through words of God given to that senior pastor.
And then after the churches are dealt with so as to be able to shine
as the means of light they are meant to be to the end that people will
see Jesus….
We come to Rev 4.
In that book, John sees into the MOST HOLY PLACE.
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The candlestick took Him to where the veil was.
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And the veil is removed.
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The reader is being led into the room past the veil.
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And a throne sits in heaven.
And God sits on the throne.
And then chapter 5 comes and we read this:
Revelation 5:6-10 And I beheld,
and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all
the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of
him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four
beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every
one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers
of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and
nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign
on the earth.
Jesus is the lamb who is risen from the dead.
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Standing as if He was already slain.
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I call that RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.
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And He redeems us to God by His blood out of every nation!
People the glory of God is this story, because behind the old testament
veil to which the candlestick led one by its light, was the GLORY OF GOD'S
PRESENCE.
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And if you want to know the glory of God, you've got to know Jesus Christ
and Him risen from the dead for your salvation.
Let us Guide you Past the Veil!