THE SONS OF
GOD BROUGHT TO BIRTH
Original Title: From
Moses To Joshua
By Dr. Stephen Jones: Jul
07, 2018
The transition from Moses to Joshua, when applied to us (the
body of Christ) can be viewed prophetically as the sons of God being brought to
birth.
God called Israel a “son” in Exodus 4:22,
22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, “Thus says the
Lord, ‘Israel is My son, My first-born’.”
Again, He
says in Hosea 11:1,
1 When Israel was a youth, I loved him, and out of
Egypt I called My son.
In other
words, Israel was born out of Egypt. Egypt was Israel’s mother, just as God was
Israel’s Father. But having an Egyptian mother meant that Israel had to go
through another step in order to be qualified as a son of God.
Hagar too
was an Egyptian, and she could give birth only to Ishmael, not to the promised
seed, Isaac. Ishmael was a “wild donkey,” the angel said in Genesis 16:12.
First-born donkeys were unclean animals and could not be given to God directly.
Every first-born donkey had to be redeemed with a lamb (Exodus 13:13). So also
Israel, having Egypt (Hagar) as his mother, had to be redeemed with a lamb at
Passover in order to be the “sheep” of His pasture.
You might
say that this was the first impediment to Sonship. God overcame Israel’s
unclean condition by providing a Passover lamb that represented Jesus Christ, “the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
I should
also note that many Egyptians celebrated Passover with the Israelites, as
provision had been made for them as well (Exodus 12:48, 49). They joined with
the nation of Israel (the tribe of their choice) and thus became Israelites by
nationality. So also is it in the church today, for all who have faith in the
blood of the Lamb are one body and are of the household of faith.
Born of
Water
Moses is
a prophetic type of believer who has experienced Passover. Because he led
Israel for 40 years to the banks of the Jordan River, the type also extends
through Pentecost. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:5,
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.”
To be
born of water and the Spirit is a two-step process. There are various layers of
meaning in this revelation, but the foundational illustration of this is seen
in Moses and Joshua. Moses was “born of water,” for that is the meaning of his
name. Recall that he was drawn from the water—the Nile River—when he was taken
into the house of Pharaoh. Exodus 2:10 says,
10 And the child grew, and she brought him to
Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said,
“Because I drew him out of the water.”
Moses
means “born of water” or “drawn from water.” Hence, Jesus told Nicodemus that
he had to be “born of water.” In other words, the first step was to have faith
in the Lamb that had been provided, for even as Israel had been born out of
Egypt, so also had Moses been born of water. This also includes the idea of
baptism, for even though Israel left Egypt at Passover, it took some days for
them to actually leave Egypt. They did not fully leave Egyptian territory until
they crossed the Red Sea (at the Gulf of Aqaba).
Hence,
even leaving Egypt was a two-step process, ending with Israel’s baptism at the
Red Sea, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:1 and 2.
The
Israelite Church in the wilderness, then, was justified by faith in the blood
of the Lamb and were baptized in the Red Sea. Then they went to Mount Horeb for
Pentecost, and after spending 40 years in the wilderness, they were ready to
enter the Promised Land under Joshua.
Born of
the Spirit
Being
born of the Spirit is another two-step process. God seems to like doing things
in two or three steps, because it is based upon the law of two or three
witnesses by which every matter is established.
At Mount
Horeb, Israel received the Ten Commandments. This was the day celebrated
thereafter as the feast of weeks, which was later known by the Greek name,
Pentecost. Israel had the potential of receiving the baptism of the Spirit at
the mount, but they were too fearful to approach God (Exodus 20:18, 19). In the
big picture, it was not yet time in the divine plan for the church to be filled
with the Spirit. That would come 1480 years later in Acts 2:1.
Nonetheless,
if we study what might have happened, we will get a better understanding of
what actually did happen in Acts 2. And when we study the feasts of the Lord as
a whole, we will see how Pentecost fits into the big picture.
The
Spirit of God is associated with all of the feasts in different ways. The feast
of Passover signifies being begotten by the Holy Spirit, followed by water
baptism. Pentecost is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is designed to
promote growth to spiritual maturity. Tabernacles is the full birth of the sons
of God, along with transfiguration and immortality.
Being
born of the Spirit is not a single event. The Greek term gennao can mean
either “begat” or “born,” depending on how it is used. When used of a man, it
means to beget. When used of a woman, it means to give birth.
When Jesus used the term in his conversation with Nicodemus, it is somewhat
unclear how the word should be translated. It appears that the word was meant
to portray a double meaning in that case. Yet the primary translation should be
“born,” because it is a reference to Moses’ birth and to Israel’s birth out of
Egypt.
Applying
this to us today, we could say that we were first born of water (as Moses).
Later, through Pentecost, we were begotten of the Spirit in preparation
for being born of the Spirit at Tabernacles.
Another
way of looking at it is that we were begotten twice, first of water (Passover)
and then of the Spirit (Pentecost), and that both of these begettings will lead
to birth at Tabernacles. The problem is that there are so many layers of
meaning, so it is hard for our minds to sort out the whole truth.
Joshua
and Tabernacles
The
prophetic pattern under Moses is only a partial pattern, because Israel broke
the type when they refused to enter the Promised Land. This happened when the
people believed the evil report from the 12 spies at Kadesh-barnea in Numbers
13 and 14. Their faith was lacking, because they had refused to receive the
baptism of fire at Mount Horeb on that first Pentecost.
So once
again we have to ask ourselves, “What would have happened if the Israelites had
had sufficient faith to enter at that appointed time?” The day the 12 spies
gave their report was the 50th Jubilee from Adam, but their lack of
faith changed that day into a Day of Atonement. It was the 10th day
of the 7th month on the Hebrew calendar.
If they
had agreed to enter the land, they would have had a five-day time of
preparation, and they would have entered the land on the first day of
Tabernacles (7/15). I believe that they would have entered as transfigured sons
of God, wielding the sword of the Spirit, and the Canaanites would have been
converted in a single week. There would have been no carnage, except for the
destruction of the flesh. Israel would have fulfilled the Great Commission
instead of adopting the Old Covenant policy of genocide.
But
Israel did not enter Canaan at that time. God sentenced the nation to spend 40
years in the wilderness. When they finally entered Canaan, it was not at
Tabernacles but at Passover. They crossed on the 10th day of the 1st
month—the day that the people were to select the lambs for Passover (Joshua
4:19; Exodus 12:3).
Israel’s
entry into Canaan, then, did not fulfill the feast of Tabernacles. That
fulfillment remains for us at this end of the age. It has been a long process.
First, Jesus had to fulfill Passover by dying on the cross as the Passover
Lamb. Then the Spirit had to be given at Pentecost in Acts 2:1. Even then, the
church was not ready for Tabernacles, so it had to spend 40 Jubilees in the
wilderness.
Forty
Jubilee cycles is 40 x 49 years, or 1960 years. The wilderness experience began
in 33 A.D. and ended in 1993. This date sparked a flurry of events that must
lead eventually to our own entry into the Promised Land under Joshua
(Yeshua-Jesus).
In a
sense, we are crossing the Jordan, but we are also entering the Promised Land
from Kadesh-barnea. To fulfill this prophetic event properly, we must do what
Israel refused to do. We must enter, not at Passover, not at Pentecost, but at
Tabernacles. Hence, there are two biblical patterns to consider: the pattern
Israel did NOT follow, and the pattern that Israel DID follow.
In the
end, we will see elements of BOTH patterns. I realize that makes it quite
confusing and difficult to sort out, but the fact is that I did not write this
story. I am only trying to understand what God has written in His plan.
There are
many overcomers who died in the wilderness. Provision has been made for them to
be raised from the dead at the feast of Trumpets—the first of the feasts yet to
be fulfilled. I believe the dead will be raised on 7/1 of some year on the Hebrew
calendar. Paul says that the dead will be raised when the trumpet sounds (1
Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16).
The
living overcomers will be transfigured two weeks later on the first day of
Tabernacles (7/15). God has made provision for both groups. The first group,
having died, must be raised from the dead, and these fulfill the pattern of the
Jordan crossing (death and resurrection). The second group, being alive at the
end of the age, need not be raised from the dead. Instead, they will simply be
transfigured, or “changed,” as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:51.
When this
change occurs, then both groups will be fully united as one body, needing only
the Head to be complete. The Head (Joshua-Jesus) will then join with the body
in the middle of the feast of Tabernacles (7/19), according to the pattern seen
in John 7:14. Jesus came to the temple in the middle of the feast of
Tabernacles.
Then the
complete and perfect “son” will be presented to the Father on the 8th
day of Tabernacles, for all first-born sons must be presented on the 8th
day, according to the law (Exodus 22:29, 30).
Every
year we must be watchful, because we do not know which year these feasts will
be fulfilled. We know only that God has established “appointed times” for these
events.
This is what happened when Passover, the wave-sheaf offering, and
Pentecost were fulfilled nearly 2,000 years ago. So we now watch for the second
set of feasts that are the appointed times for the events surrounding the
second coming of Christ.
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