June 19, 2011
Scripture:
Ministry:
Turn back to 2 Chronicles 3 again. Read v. 8: “And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.” This is speaking about the Holy of Holies. It was a square room: its width was equal to its length. This is where the presence of God was.
Now read v. 10 - 12: “And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold. And the wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long: one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub.” Cherubims are what God used in judgement against sin. When Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden, a cherubim blocked the the entrance. Here, that which judges sin is the same width as the Holy of Holies. When the Lord died on the cross, the judgement for sin that He endured was just enough. The cherubims’ wings where not an inch too short or an inch too long: the Lord’s work was not too short or too long either. His work for sin was perfect. God was satisfied. Read ch. 4:1: “Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof.” This was the altar of burnt offering: it was the same size as the Holy of Holies. This shows that every claim of our Holy God for sin had been fulfilled.
That third chapter also mentions a veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. This veil had cherubims woven into it, again, showing that “justice must be done.” And the Lord did that. Now, we can have—as Romans 8 says—”no condemnation.” Now, when God looks at us He sees us in His Son. This should make us want to live our lives in a way that would please Him. Surely we have done that this morning as we have obeyed that command “this do in remembrance of me.” How precious to return that love in such a way. Christ has done it all, and made us the recipients of all the blessing.
Hymn 4 - Behold the Saviour’s at the door
Prayer
Last time, we saw that Joseph had been highly exalted. He was hated, he was humbled, and then—finally—he was highly exalted. Pharaoh exalted Joseph when Joseph interpreted his dreams. As we look at the life of Joseph, we are paralleling it to the life of the Jesus. Jesus was also highly exalted (Philippians 2:9).
Genesis 41:45-57
One of the many things that Pharaoh gave Joseph was a new name: Zaphnathpaaneah. The margin says that this means “reveler of secrets.” I’ve seen another meaning: “Saviour of the world.” We can say that the Lord Jesus has reveled the secrets of man, and also that He is the Saviour of the world. Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name; God the Father gave God the Son a new name as well: Jesus. What’s the difference between a name and a title? A title refers to your position, while a name refers to your person. For example, there is a lady who lives in England: her name is Elisabeth Windsor, but her title is the Queen of England. There is also a man in Ottawa whose name is Stephen Harper; his title the Prime Minster of Canada. God the Son has the name of Jesus, and His title is Lord; actually, He has many titles, but that’s one of them.
Not only was Joseph given a new name, but he was also given a wife. Was the Lord Jesus given a wife? All those that are born again are the Lord Jesus’ wife, usually called the bride of Christ. It is a precious picture of the Lord Jesus that we see in the life of Joseph.
In Pharaoh’s dream, there were two periods of seven years. The meaning of the number seven is divine perfection. There are similarities between that and the time we’re living in. Right now is the day of grace, which corresponds to the seven years of plenty. The tribulation is coming and those are like the seven years of famine.
So the seven years of plenty began; they weren’t just good years: they were bumper-crop years. When Joseph was talking to Pharaoh, he suggested to store some of the crops from the seven good years, so that they could use them during the seven bad years. That is what they did: as the crop would come in, they would count how much they had and store it. Soon, they had so much that they had to stop counting!
We were talking about the seven good years and we said that they are a picture of the day of grace. Joseph had two sons that were born in the seven good years. This is a picture of salvation: “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
When the seven years of famine came, it did not just come to Egypt: it affected the surrounding countries, too. One of those countries was Canaan, where Joseph’s brothers and father were. When the other countries came to Pharaoh to buy food, he told them to go to Joseph. Likewise, we should be telling people to go to Jesus.
We can have to do with Jesus in the time of plenty and go to Him for all his fullness. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.”
Luke 5:17-32
Last time we saw the crowds being healed, and Jesus praying in the wilderness. What a resource we have in prayer! It’s precious to see the Lord use it in His ministry.
Now we have another crowd around our Lord. They didn’t come for healing; but, as we’ll see, they came to criticize. The people in crowd one were healed; in crowd two the power was present to heal, but no one was healed. Can you imagine missing out on such blessing? Despite the crowd’s unbelief, though, Jesus still healed the palsied man.
The leprous man was defiled with sin. This palsied man was helpless. The leper could come and ask for healing, but this man could not. If it wasn’t for his four friends, he could not have come. It’s a precious picture of bringing people to Jesus. These men brought him to the house where Jesus was, but they could not get in because of the multitude. These men, however, were very much in earnest. They knew that, “If only we can get him to Jesus, he’ll be healed.” Eventually, they went through the roof. V.19 tells us that they had to take off some tiling to get through. In some places - like certain parts of England - roofs can be made by hanging clay tiles on pegs. These tiles can be removed very easily. Apparently, this was the situation on this house; so these men didn’t destroy anything, they just removed some tiles.
After the men removed the tiles, they lowered their sick friend down in front of Jesus. The Lord understood that these friends were bringing this man for healing. “And when He saw their faith” He said to the man, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” What about the palsy? And whose faith was it that He saw? It was the faith of all five of them. We expect faith in the man that was healed, but there was also faith in the men that brought him. It’s precious. Those that preach the gospel tell the listeners to put their faith in Christ, but the preacher himself must have faith that the message works in order to give it. It takes faith in order to give the gospel. These men had faith that the Lord wouldn’t fail, if only they could get to Him.
Here in Luke the Lord addresses this man as, “Man”, because Luke is emphasising the humanness of the Lord; presenting Him as the Son of Man. “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” We see how important this was to the Lord. He had come to seek and to save the lost. It wasn’t His mission to heal all diseases, but it was a way to show His heart for people.
It’s interesting how the Lord zeros in on forgiveness. Salvation is a package deal. This morning we were thinking about justification. Redemption, remission, and being born again are all part of the package. We can think of each of these in relation to salvation, or how it applies. We need to be forgiven because we were guilty. We need to be redeemed - bought back - because we were slaves of Egypt (the world and sin). We need to be born again because we were dead. An excellent book on this is F.B.Hole’s “The Great Salvation” (available on STEM publishing). This man needed forgiveness. Forgives clears you of guilt. Guilt can paralyse a life. If we see what we truly are, and what God truly is; it will leave us as helpless as this paralysed man.
We also need to learn to forgive others. If we see all that we have been forgiven, that will help us.
God doesn’t have trouble forgiving on the ground of faith. He saw the faith and helplessness of the palsied man and forgave his sins. It reminds us of that verse in Romans, “When we were without strength [hopeless]…Christ died.” The scribes and Pharisees heard that and said, “Who is this that blasphemes? Who can forgive sins but God?” If they had had faith, they would have said, “This is God!” To prove that He had the power to forgive sins, Jesus then healed the palsied man. This man had trouble getting into the house, but he didn’t have any trouble getting out! He rose, took up his bed, and went out. Jesus did this, “that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins”. God has given us certain things - like the witness of the Spirit - so that we can know, not wonder, not murmur, but know that we are saved. How many other people in that house needed their sins forgiven, but were just murmuring?
Hymn 220 - I am not told to labour
Prayer