Journey & Destination
or
Two Environments, Two Campaigns & Two
Gospels
The poor state of Christian doctrine can be attributed to a failure to properly interpret the New Testament Scriptures. This can be attributed to the lack of the 'prophetic mind' by the teachers and expositors of Scripture. Pastors and Teachers see the world from a 'pastoral mind' and therefore interpret Scripture accordingly. That has been sufficient for most of 2000 years of Christian history. However, that is about to change. The prophetic content of Scripture is now coming clear. The NT Scriptures cannot be understood prophetically without seeing the prophetic structure that frames them. There is a consistent and familiar motif that explains so many NT concepts and ideas. It is the pattern of journey and destination. More specifically, Israel's journey through the wilderness and into the 'promised land'. This basic pattern must be superimposed upon the NT to understand its prophetic message correctly.
Before a number of NT concepts are 'rightly divided' into the two pattern lets review the events in question. In Nehimiah 9:19-21 (NIV) we read:
"Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. {20} You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. {21} For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.
Here is a summary of a very special environment:
The Supernatural Environment |
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After 40 years we see the the next step
(Josh 5:2-12 NIV) At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again." {3} So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth. {4} Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt--all the men of military age--died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt. {5} All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not. {6} The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. {7} So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. {8} And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed. {9} Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." So the place has been called Gilgal to this day. {10} On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. {11} The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. {12} The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.
These events reveal the beginning and end of a very unusual period of supernatural sustenance. This special environment began on Passover as the Israelites left Egypt, continued for 40 years as Israel wandered in the wilderness, and ended precisely on Passover just after crossing the Jordan River in the 'Promised Land'. Was this remarkable provision only for Israel's survival, or is it a pattern that was given to instruct us as well? The journey pattern is clearly a prophetic rehearsal for the benefit of today's believers. It most naturally represents the period of Christianity's 'journey' from its first Passover, the death of Jesus Christ, to the beginning of the
Two Campaigns, Two Environments, Two Gospels
(James 5:7 NIV) Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.
(Heb 4:9-10 NIV) There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; {10} for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
(Acts 2:41 NIV) Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
(John 15:5 NIV) "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
(2 Cor 1:21-22 NIV) Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, {22} set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
(1 John 3:2 NIV) Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
(Mat 24:14 NIV) And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
(Mat 9:37,38 NIV) Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
(Mat 13:39b NIV) ... The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
(Heb 12:11 NIV) No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
(Mark 16:15 NIV) He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
(Mat 24:45-46 NIV) "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? {46} It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.
(Eph 2:21 NIV) In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
(Mat 13:52 NIV) He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."
Two Campaigns, Two Environments, Two Gospels |
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Journey |
Destination |
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40 Jubilees |
14 Years |
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Wilderness | Promised Land | |
Former Rain |
Later Rain | |
Work |
Rest |
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Power Source - Baptism |
Power Source - Vine | |
Power Dosage - Deposit |
Power Dosage - Full |
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Nurturing Environment |
Harvest Environment |
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Childhood | Adult | |
Gospel of the Journey |
Gospel of the Destination |
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Gospel of Salvation |
Gospel of the Kingdom |
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Harvest of Souls |
Harvest of Righteousness | |
Great Commission |
New Commission | |
Church |
Temple | |
Old Treasure |
New Treasure |
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Old Wine |
New Wine |
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Old Winskins | New Wineskins | |
Non-Compliance to Law | Compliance to Law | |
Faith |
Faith + Works |
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Elementary Doctrine |
Advanced Doctrine | |
Authored Faith |
Perfected Faith | |
Matthew, Mark, Luke |
John |
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Know Son, Spirit |
Know Father |
(Heb 5:12-14 NIV) In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! {13} Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the [advanced] teaching about righteousness [perfection].
(Heb 12:2 NIV) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
(John 16:23 NIV) In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
(John 4:23 NIV) Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
'end of the age' and the coming kingdom. The end of the age is the 14 year period represented by the conquest of the promised land. If that is so, we are lead to ask, "what than does this 'supernatural environment' that we have enjoyed for 2000 years represent?" "And why does it end on Passover, just as the end of the age begins"? The answer to that question reveals one of the most shocking surprises of the end of the age. In brief, the environment represents the 'work' and provision of the Holy Spirit in nurturing and providing for the church during its journey. But why than does it disappear on Passover? Why does Pentecost end? This environment change is the trigger event that prepares the world for the end of the age. The 'Jordan River' is the end of the journey and the beginning of the destination.
Journey & Destination
Something ends, something begins
Israel's journey through the wilderness is a very important prophetic pattern. It shows the beginning and end of a very unusual period of supernatural sustenance. This special environment began on Passover as the Israelites left Egypt, continued for 40 years as Israel wandered in the wilderness, and ended precisely on Passover just after crossing the Jordan River in the 'Promised Land'.
Was this remarkable provision only for Israel's survival, or is it a pattern that was given to instruct us as well? The journey pattern is clearly a prophetic rehearsal for the benefit of today's believers. It most naturally represents the period of Christianity's 'journey' from its first Passover, the death of Jesus Christ, to the beginning of the 'end of the age' and the coming kingdom. The end of the age is the 14 year period represented by the conquest of the promised land. If that is so, we are lead to ask, "what than does this 'supernatural environment' that we have enjoyed for 2000 years represent?" "And why does it end on Passover, just as the end of the age begins"? The answer to that question reveals one of the most shocking surprises of the end of the age. In brief, the environment represents the 'work' and provision of the Holy Spirit in nurturing and providing for the church during its journey. But why than does it disappear on Passover? Why does Pentecost end? This environment change is the trigger event that prepares the world for the end of the age. The 'Jordan River' is the end of the journey and the beginning of the destination.