Grace Bible ChurchPastor/Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday, October 22, 2010
PHI 3:1, to write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.
PHI 3:1b, On the one hand, to be writing the same doctrines to you is not troublesome to me, while on the other hand, it is a safeguard or a basis of security for you.
PHI 3:1, I don’t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry--so here goes.(TMB)
PHI 3:1, To keep writing to you [over and over] of the same things is not irksome to me, and it is [a precaution] for your safety.(AMP)
Point 7The Open Doors in Heaven which are the Rapture and the Second Advent or the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The book of Revelation, where these two doors are documented and revealed to us, is a book filled with a lot of typology and numerology.
Typology is the study or systematic classification of types that have characteristics or traits in common.
The serpent is used as a type of Satan,GEN 3:1, Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’"?
We know that this serpent is used as a type of Satan because the serpent is identified as Satan and the devil in REV 12:9, And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan,
2CO 11:3, But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
NUM 21:6, Serpent are a type of sin in all of its terrible effect on the people.
NUM 21:6, And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
But then in NUM 21:8, The serpent is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ when He was made sin for us (2CO 5:21) as He hung on the Cross.
NUM 21:8, Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live."
NUM 21:9, And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
The serpent represents our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the Cross.
JOH 3:14, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;"
JOH 12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth [the cross], will draw all men to Myself."
This is a symbol of a harmful, detrimental thing which the believer, in his ignorance, thinks is good and profitable.
The serpent represents a type of evil pointing to Satan, and the devil and sin and evil.
Typology is a means of expressing a principle of truth but never grounds to build a doctrine upon - the same way parables are to be interpreted.
Numerology is the study of how numbers are used in the Bible.
The number 7 is found as being representative of perfection or completion. The number 40 is well-thought-out to be a number that is associated with test or difficulties.
At least 12 numbers in the Bible stand out in this regard: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 40, 50, and 70.
1 - Represents absolute singleness and unity - EPH 4:4-6, There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
2 - Represents the truth of God’s Word; for example, the law and prophets, and in HEB 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword,
3 - Represents the Godhead - Trinity. The angels cry "Holy" three times to the triune God (ISA 6:3; MAT 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,"
4 - represents universal truth, as in the four directions (north, south, east, west) and the four winds; MAT 24:31, "And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."
REV 7:1, After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth,
REV 20:8, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth,
5 - Represents teaching and grace. First, there are the five books of Moses. Second, Jesus taught about the five wise virgins and used five barley loaves used to feed the 5,000.
6 - Represents the worship of man, and is the number of man, signifying his rebellion, imperfection, works, and disobedience. It is used 273 times in the Bible.
The number is especially significant in the book Revelation, as "666" identifies the beast.REV 13:18, Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
7 - Represents perfection, and is the sign of God, divine worship, completions, obedience, and rest. The "prince" of Bible numbers, it is used 562 times, including its derivatives.
GEN 2:1, Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
GEN 2:2, And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
GEN 2:3, Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
PSA 119:164, Seven times a day I praise Thee, Because of Thy righteous ordinances.
In Revelation there are 7 churches, spirits, golden candlesticks, stars, lamps, seals, horns, eyes, angels, trumpets, thunders, heads, crowns, last plagues, golden vials, mountains, and 7 kings.
10 - Represents law and restoration. Of course, this includes the Ten Commandments found in Exo 20. MAT 25:1 (ten virgins); LUK 17:17 (ten lepers); LUK 15:8 (silver coins).
40 - Represents a generation and times of testing. It rained for 40 days during the flood. Moses spent 40 years in the desert, as did the children of Israel. Jesus fasted for 40 days.
"What must take place after these things" refers to the divine order of things to come.
1. The Rapture or exit resurrection of the Church; 1TH 4:16-17. When the sound of the trumpet in this passage blows, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
2. Still in the clouds of the air is where the Big Genuflex occurs when the entire royal family is present, and they confess to the battlefield royalty of Jesus Christ.
The Big Genuflex is the interim event between the Rapture and the Judgment Seat of Christ when the entire Church or the royal family is present, and they confess to the battlefield royalty of Jesus Christ.
Our Lord’s victory on the Cross over Satan and the kingdom of darkness demands that His Humanity which is now royalty requires the resurrection of His royal family.
In resurrection body the entire royal family will identify the Head of the family, Jesus Christ, to the glory of the Father.
3. After this comes the Judgment Seat of Christ.
2CO 5:10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ [bema seat], that each one [members of the Royal Family] may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good [of intrinsic value] or bad worthless [human power and evil].
These things refer to:1. The Rapture2. Big Genuflex3. The Judgment seat of Christ
What is behind it?
There is a throne in heaven, and immediately when there is a throne that means that there is a system of authority, there is a hierarchy, an organization.
This is why Satan and the kingdom of darkness do everything they can to attack and discredit those who are in positions of authority.
The jasper stone is actually a transparent, translucent stone referring to a diamond which represented the strengthening of relationships and the promises and commitments made from one to another.
2TI 2:12-13, says If we endure, we shall also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.
ROM 3:3, What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?
The biblical meaning of the diamond had to do with a person’s dedication and devotion and respect toward another.
REV 4:3, And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone or a diamond, it pointed to the love and devotion of the Lord Jesus Christ toward His Church, and most of all His Father.
The Sardius was blood-red, speaking of the sacrifice of blood, pointing to the cross and the first advent of our Lord Jesus Christ who shed His blood for the remission of sins, the basis of our Lord’s victory.
The significance of the rainbow, first mentioned in GEN 9:12-16, as a manifestation of our Lord’s integrity fulfilling His promises.
GEN 9:16, "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
GEN 9:15, I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.
The rainbow represents our Lord’s integrity, the guarantee that He will never again destroy all mankind through a flood.
REV 4:3, One color is emphasized in the rainbow and that is green, the color of the emerald.
Emerald or the color green symbolizes: Rest - PSA 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; Life - ISA 15:6Growth -EZE 17:24Fruitfulness - JER 11:16Maturity - JOB 15:31-32
The color green also refers to man’s perfect environment of the Garden of Eden. Green is the color of plant life, which covers the earth in abundant luxury.
John is given a vision of twenty-four elders who are seated on thrones.
There are four inerrant marks which identify these elders as representatives of the church.
Reveal that these 24 elders are not angels, as some teach, or heads of the 12 tribes of Israel with the 12 apostles of the Church, 12 +12 equaling the number 24. These are elders from the Church-age.
1. Their position.They are sitting on the thrones which make up the rainbow around the throne in REV 4:3b.
2. The number of these elders.
Twenty 24 is the number of the choruses into which the Levitical priesthood was divided, 1CH 24:1-19.And so the number 24 represented priesthood.
3. The testimony of the enthroned elders,REV 5:8-11.
4. They are called elders, and elder-ship is a representative office for the Church-age, ACT 15:2; ACT 20:17.