The Philadelphia Church

The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary are offered as openings into dialogue about the subject or concept. And the concept behind the readings for the Feast of Trumpets is the plan of God

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The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.

 

The person conducting the services should read or assign to be read Leviticus chapter 23, verses 23 through 25, followed by Numbers chapter 29, verses 1 through 6, and Hebrews chapter 8, verses 1 through 7. In addition, Deuteronomy chapter 16, verses 16 and 17 should be read.

Commentary: When moving from physical to spiritual, the high Sabbaths foreshadow—as in-advance memorials—significant events in the plan of God. Although the tendency of the visible Church is to label the high Sabbaths as “Jewish” days that “New Testament Christians” do not need to observe, the visible Church’s logic breaks down when it acknowledges that Jesus of Nazareth was sacrificed as the Passover Lamb of God. And if Jesus is the reality of all Passover lambs sacrificed between Egypt and Calvary, then the early harvest of God will be commemorated by the Feast of Weeks, making the resurrection at the Second Advent the yet-to-occur reality of the Feast of Weeks. This means that the empowerment of disciples by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was not the reality of the Feast of Weeks’ high Sabbath, but was, rather, another shadow: it was the shadow of Israel’s liberation from bondage to indwelling sin and death.

Shadows within shadows, shadows laid atop shadows—it all gets confusing for the person who has not been truly born of Spirit.

The lawless Church teaches that what is of Moses no longer pertains to born of Spirit disciples, but the writer of Hebrews labels those things of Moses a copy and shadow (Heb 8:5) of invisible spiritual realities, thereby making the things of Moses the dark glass through which disciples view the things of God.

With their eyes, disciples do not see their high priest, the glorified Christ Jesus. They must accept on faith that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding on their behalf. The only way disciples have of “observing” what Jesus does for them is through comprehending His shadow, the succession of physically circumcised high priests of Israel. Likewise, the only way disciples have of seeing themselves as the holy nation of God, a royal priesthood called for service (1 Pet 2:9-10), is through comprehending the responsibilities of the Levitical priesthood, which had no inheritance in Israel but relied upon the Lord. Disciples do not represent all of the tribes of Israel; rather, they represent the tribe of Levi, which was taken for service to God by election in lieu of the firstborns of every tribe that belonged to God.

What does God have to say about the Levitical priesthood?

But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment. They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before the people, to minister to them. Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. They shall not come near to me, to serve as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. (Ezek 44:10-13)

During Christ’s millennial reign, the Levites shall be gatekeepers and butchers—and as the Levitical priesthood between Moses and Calvary formed the lively shadow of the Church from the reality of Wave Sheaf Offering to the Second Advent, the Levitical priesthood in the Millennium will form the lively shadow of those glorified disciples who will be called least (Matt 5:19) in the kingdom of heaven. Although they have entered the heavenly realm, they shall not come near God because they relaxed the least of the commandments; they shall be gatekeepers, and they shall do what is least desirable, because when they had the chance to keep the commandments, a chance to bring an offering to God on the high Sabbaths, they found excuses for not keeping the Sabbaths of God (see all of Lev chap 23), electing instead to keep only the weekly Sabbath, or from ignorance keeping Sunday as the Sabbath … if they knew to keep the Sabbaths and did not, they were/are hypocrites and they will in no way enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:20). And this pertains equally to the Seventh Day Adventist who knows to keep the high Sabbaths but won’t as it does to the Mennonite who knows the seventh day is the Sabbath but strictly keeps Sunday as the Sabbath.

The principle responsibility of the Levitical priesthood was temple service—today, disciples are the temple of God (1 Co 3:16-17). The new nature or creature, born of Spirit, dwells in a tent of flesh as the Levite, during his course of service, dwelt in the temple of God. This new creature brings his tent of flesh before God when he appears before God on the Sabbaths, and this new creature is commanded to bring an offering to God when he appears on the high Sabbaths … the only offering this new creature can bring is the tent of flesh in which he dwells; for it is the hand of the tent of flesh that would bring gold or grain as a offering. The flesh brings the things of this world to God. The new creature owns nothing in this world and is as a Levite was in Israel. So all the new creature can bring is his service in the tent of flesh in which he dwells.

The only acceptable offering any disciple can bring to God on the high Sabbaths is fulltime service to God; to teach the knowledge of God that has been given to the disciple.

Investing in another disciple’s ministry by giving tithes and offerings is the absolute minimum expectation of every disciple who would be glorified. Anything less makes the disciple an unprofitable servant. But investing in another’s ministry isn’t bringing an offering to God three seasons a year. The temple doesn’t pay tithes or give offerings to the temple. A disciple doesn’t pay tithes to God; indeed, a disciple cannot pay tithes to God, but only to another disciple. And the disciple is commanded to bring an offering to God when the disciple appears before God on the three high Sabbath seasons (Deut 16:16-17).

Since those who are reading this high Sabbath message most likely keep/kept the high Sabbath day, it shall here be said that you brought yourself before God on the holy day. You may have also brought moneys, but those moneys are not your offering to God. You are. You presented yourself to God and whether knowingly or not, you committed yourself to being a servant of God for the remainder of your life. You have broken away from those disciples who, if glorified, will be gatekeepers and excluded from the presence of God. You presented yourself inside the temple for service.

The heavenly realm is timeless: your service doesn’t stop tomorrow or the next day. Once it begins, it continues forward through Christ’s millennial reign and into the age beyond when all that is physical ceases to be.

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Collectively, the fleshly tabernacles in which the spiritually circumcised new creatures born of Spirit dwell is the temple of God the Father (1 Co 3:16-17; 2 Co 6:16). These fleshly tabernacles are living stones (1 Pet 2:4-5) sculpted off-site [not in heaven] in a manner analogous to how the stones for Solomon’s temple were shaped off-site. Tears, now, are spiritually as the sound of hammers and chisels were when Solomon’s stone masons shaped stones for his temple. And as the stones for Solomon’s temple were brought to Jerusalem after being formed, disciples are brought to heavenly Jerusalem when glorified.

The temple in heavenly Jerusalem is, from the perspective of being within time, unassembled even though the glorified Christ Jesus sat down at the right hand of God in this temple … it takes spiritual maturity on the part of disciples to realize that what hasn’t yet occurred in this earthly realm is known in the heavenly realm for there it has already happened, the reason Paul writes in the past tense concerning predestination and glorification (Rom 8:29-30), and the reason Ezekiel writes in past tense concerning fire coming from the belly of the king of Tyre (Ezek 28:18-19), and the reason why Jesus said He saw Satan fall like lightning (Luke 10:18), an event that doesn’t happen until Michael and his angels cast Satan from heaven (Rev 12:7-10) halfway through the seven endtime years of tribulation. Without the passage of time, all things occur in the same moment. So iniquity being found in an anointed cherub and fire coming from the belly of this anointed cherub occurs in the same moment in the supra-dimensional heavenly realm, but are separated by all of time. Visualization of this comes from seeing Korah and friends (Num chap 16) swallowed by the earth. From the perspective of Moses and Aaron, the earth opens and closes almost instantly. Very little time passes. But from the perspective of Korah and friends, their entire lives pass before them as they will seem to fall forever. A human being’s perception of time and its passage is dependant upon the situation in which the person finds him or herself. The rate at which time passes, expressed as a function of gravity, is mentally perceived to differ in a manner determined by the level of trauma experienced. While the passage of time is nearly a constant for any one geographical location, with human beings time is perceived to pass at differing rates, slowing down with increased trauma and speeding up when little trauma is experienced. Thus, for Korah, time would have seemed to slow to a near standstill as he fell into the abyss. This slowing has been experienced by many in automobile accidents. Therefore, Korah’s perception of time in the abyss would have been analogous to humanity’s perception in the bottomless pit, where the creation is located.

How can disciples know anything of the bottomless pit?

·  When Christ comes, the dragon, Satan the devil, will be seized, bound and cast into the abyss or bottomless pit (Rev 201-3).

·  When Israel dwells in peace—which doesn’t occur until Christ comes—the nation will take up the taunt of Isaiah against the king of Babylon, “How have you fallen from heaven … you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms’” (Isa 14:12, 15-16).

·  Unless Israel is also in the abyss when it dwells in peace, no one would be able to stare at this fallen Day Star who said in his heart that he would ascend to heaven, above the stars of God to set his throne on high (Isa 14:12-13).

Korah rebelled against God when he told Moses and Aaron, “‘You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them’” (Num 16:3). Yes, all of Israel was holy (Ex 19:5-6), and Korah as a Levite was of the priesthood. But not all Israelites or even Levites within the congregation were known to God as those who were His (Num 16:5). The Apostle Paul wrote, “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring” (Rom 9:6-7).

Korah wanted democracy, a democratic determination of the will of God. Korah did not believe that God had selected only Moses and Aaron to deliver His words—and Korah ably represents the ministry of Christendom that, by consensus, has determined Christians need not, and should not observe the high Sabbaths of God.

When Israel left Egypt, God spoke only through Moses, who was as God to his brother Aaron (Ex 4:16). Moses promised Israel that God would raise up another like himself, a prophet from among them (Deut 18:15-18), because Israel did not want to hear directly the voice of God. And YHWH, Israel’s Elohim, through Moses, said, “‘And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him’” (v. 19). … This prophet was the man Jesus of Nazareth (John 5:46-47), and God will require the life of every disciple who, like Korah, says that Jesus went too far when He said, “‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished’” (Matt 5:17-18).

All has not yet been accomplished. Within this realm, the resurrection of the firstfruits has not yet occurred. The Second Advent has not yet occurred. The great White Throne Judgment has not yet occurred. And the heavens and the earth remain—they will remain until death and the grave have been cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14-21:1).

Therefore, the Law and the Prophets remain.

The false teacher, false minister who teaches that the law has been abolished, that Jesus fulfilled it and thus abolished it at Calvary, speaks presumptuously—speaks as another Korah. This false teacher recognizes neither Moses nor Jesus as spokesmen for God. And as Korah stood defiantly before Moses, this false teacher now stands defiantly against God, who will have him cast alive into the lake of fire where his perception of time will cause him to believe that he is tormented by flames forever and ever.

In the reality of the heavenly realm, the lawless person no longer exists even though within the bottomless pit the person has not yet been cast into the lake of fire.

The above is not doublespeak, or confusion caused by great learning as Festus said of Paul (Acts 26:24). It is the reality of faith. Disciples are as the stones Solomon commanded to be shaped into the foundation and walls of the house of God he built. Disciples are being shaped and sculpted with hard tools in anticipation of glorification, when they will be assembled without the sound of iron striking stone being heard. Those disciples who are of Philadelphia will be pillars (Rev 3:12). The forming of them into pillars will be accomplished prior to their resurrection or change.

The two stone tablets upon which the commandments of God were written by the finger of YHWH [singular in usage] were not first housed in a stone temple, but in a perishable tent of fabric. King David desired to build the Lord a more permanent house, and he received permission to assemble materials, metals, and moneys—David’s reign began with him seeking God and bringing again the ark of the covenant to Israel (1 Chron 13:3). But David was a bloody man. His son Solomon was a man of peace, and the man to whom YHWH gave rest (1 Chron 22:9). So it was during Solomon’s reign that work began on rough stone and timber in the hill country outside of Jerusalem.

There were three kings of Israel before the nation was broken into two houses: these three were Saul, David, and Solomon, whose name means peace.

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The reader should read 1 Samuel chapters 7 & 8.

Commentary: Israel rebels against God in the wilderness of Paran when the spies return from the Promised Land (Num chap 14); Israel rejects God when the nation asks for a king “’like all the nations’” (1 Sam 8:5) have. And on both of these occasions, Israel is a physically circumcised nation.

But Israel is not, today, a physically circumcised nation: Israel is a nation that has been circumcised inwardly, by the Spirit, not by the letter (Rom 2:28-29), not by hands (Col 2:11), with this circumcision of the heart promised by the covenant mediated by Moses and made on the plains of Moab (Deut 29:1, 30:6).

Israel of today is an invisible nation, for the tents of flesh in which this nation dwells are of all peoples and all languages. Because Israel is not the nation that has descended from the patriarch Jacob but a nation that was not before a people (1 Pet 2:10), the acts and actions of Israel cannot be seen directly by human eyes. The acts of endtime Israel can really only be seen through the play of shadows, with the spiritually lifeless natural nation forming the lively shadow of the invisible holy nation.

God will give rest and peace to Israel following the Second Advent … in the shadow, God gives peace to Israel during the reign of King Solomon. Thus, without here developing the argument further, the claim will be made that Solomon’s reign forms the lively shadow of Israel during Christ’s millennial reign—and as Solomon’s heart was not pure before God because of his many foreign wives, at the end of the thousand years Israel’s heart will not be pure before Christ because of the many ideologies that Israel embraces. Hence, Satan will be able to lead some astray when he is released after the thousand years (Rev 20:7-10).

If Israel rejects God 220 days into the seven endtime years of tribulation—the great falling away (2 Thess 2:3)—and Israel will, then that rejection and rebellion against God was foreshadowed by Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness of Paran, and by Israel’s rejection of God in the days of Samuel. This means that Israel under kings Saul and David is analogous to the spiritually circumcised nation during the Tribulation. Saul had an evil spirit. The man of perdition, coming by the workings of Satan (v. 9), will reign over the saints whom God has delivered into the man of perdition’s hand (Dan 7:25) as Saul reigned over Israel. Saul’s evil spirit now equates to Satan.

The abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet (Dan 11:31) foreshadows an endtime abomination that desolates (Matt 24:15), who will be the man of perdition declaring himself god (2 Thess 2:4). Again, this man of perdition will reign over Israel as Saul reigned over natural Israel. And as Saul sought to kill David, the man of perdition will seek to kill those disciples who bear the mark of God: Sabbath observance, including high Sabbaths.

The man of perdition’s reign over Israel will be broken when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ (cf. Rev 11:15-18; Dan 7:9-14). And for the next forty-two months, the 144,000 will follow the Lamb of God wherever He leads (Rev 14:1-5), and the third part of humankind (Zech 13:9) will hear and follow the remnant (Rev 12:17) as this third part endures to the end, thereby being saved (Matt 24:13). So during the second half of the Tribulation, the Lamb of God and the remnant, together, function as David functioned as king over Israel.

In the period immediately preceding Israel rejecting God as the nation’s king, Samuel judged Israel.

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The reader should read 1 Samuel chapter 2, verse 12, through chapter 3, verse 21.

Commentary: Eli was of Levi (2:30), the tribe taken in lieu of the firstborns of Israel (Num 3:41, 45), but God rejects Eli because he honored his sons more than he honored God. So the household of Eli was replaced by Samuel, who was of Ephraim (1 Sam 1:1), and Samuel judged Israel all of days of his life (1 Sam 7:15). And Israel had been judged by Samuel for twenty years when “Samuel said to all the house of Israel, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines’” (v. 3).

Disciples are today in the endtime period foreshadowed by the prophet Samuel.

If disciples will, today, put away the many pagan ideologies that are dear to their hearts; if disciples will repent of their idolatry and their lawlessness; if disciples will turn to God, believing not just in Him but believing Him, then God will enlarge the boundaries of the mind, giving understanding to those who love Him, and peace to those who are weary.

The knowledge of God that was taken from the spiritually circumcised nation shall be restored as the geographical territory taken by the Philistines was restored to Israel under Samuel. But this knowledge isn’t restored by being centered in “self.” A tenfold increase in knowledge doesn’t mean that one person has ten times as much knowledge as before—this would be knowledge centered in “self’’—but that ten people who had no knowledge of God before now have knowledge of God. So an increase in knowledge is as a lateral increase in territory rather than as a vertical increase of one person’s private knowledge.

Under Samuel, Israel had no king but God; today, spiritually circumcised Israel has no king but Christ, no high priest but Christ, no priesthood but that which God has chosen as He chose Samuel. And God has not chosen anyone as priest or prophet who does not teach Israel to keep the high Sabbaths of God.

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The reader should read Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 through 30.

Commentary: Again, the visible Christian Church teaches that Jesus abolished the law, but that isn’t what Jesus taught. Rather, He taught that murder, conducted with the hand, becomes or equates to anger, a production of the heart. He taught that under the spiritual covenant, what was outside a person—a physically circumcised Israelite was “under” an outside law initially spoken from atop Sinai and written by the finger of God on two stone tablets—moves inside the person. Hence, Jesus taught that the inside of the cup should be cleaned, and the whole cup would be clean.

Adultery, committed with the body, under the spiritual covenant equates to lust, committed with the mind. And so it is with all of the laws of God. Breaking the Sabbath through doing work with the hands moves to breaking the Sabbath through the desires of the hearts and the thoughts of the mind being on subjects other than loving God and loving neighbor. The weekly Sabbath doesn’t go away, nor does it change from the seventh day to the eighth day. Likewise, the annual Sabbaths don’t dissolve into nothingness with the passing from the physical covenant governing the physically circumcised nation to the spiritual covenant governing a spiritually circumcised nation. The movement of the law from two stone tablets in a stone temple to two tablets of flesh in a temple of flesh doesn’t abolish the law. Jesus confirmed this: Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets (v. 17). Thus, if a person will not hear the words of Moses, who wrote of Jesus (John 5:46-47), the person will not hear Jesus.

 

The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.

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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

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