stone that is ready to be set!! Are you ready to be set? Where would you fit in the building? There is a big difference in having a pile of stones, and actually fulfilling what Hebrews chapter 10 says, where we read, "Forsake not the assembling..." Which literally means: Forsake not being built Together, One upon another Forming the Building That God Has!
Proverbs 24:3 “Through Wisdom is a House builded; and by Understanding it is established." What kind of stone are you? Then we read in II Tim. 2:19-21, "Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are His. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ Depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth: and some of honour, and some of dishonor. If a man therefore purge [or purify] himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and Prepared unto Every good work." This refers to a stone that is ready to be Set.
When the Lord put His Spirit upon these builders in these four areas, He did it to basically do three things:
In Exodus chapter 35, verse 32 we see the words "...To Devise…" To devise means, To Plan And To Weave. So that brings us to the truth that it is Spiritual to Plan. There are too many of God's people that fail to Plan. If you fail to plan, apart from the Grace of God, You Plan To Fail! The scripture never says that we should not plan. Proverbs 3:6 tells us to "Acknowledge Him and He will direct Your Path." Someone might ask "but what about the scripture that says to take no thought for tomorrow?" That does not mean "don't plan." It is simply telling us not to worry about what we will eat, drink, or wear. It says, "Don't worry,” rather then “don't Plan." The Spirit of God upon these men in Exodus helped them to Plan. We need to have our minds renewed so that we can begin to Plan!
In addition to devising the scripture also talks about Work. Exodus 35:32-33 "And to devise curious works,, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and to cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning Work"
Exodus 35:34a "And He hath put into his heart that he may teach..." We have looked at: Devising and Working, now we will explore Teaching. The best way to learn is to Teach. Isaiah 50:4 speaks of the Tongue of the Learned. We must be taught of God in order to teach others. Our tongue must be a learned tongue, if we are to build the tabernacle of God. This is the whole context of II Timothy 2:2: "Teach others who will teach others also."
Isaiah 54:4 Revised Version "The Lord has given me the Tongue of Disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with the Word: He wakens me morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as the disciple." What is the Tongue of a disciple? Of course a disciple is a disciplined one; one who has learned from his teacher; he knows how to hear his master. That is the character of a disciple; not only does he hear, but he has learned how to listen. And thirdly, he has given the Lord the right to interrupt him. The last part of Isaiah 50:4 says, "He wakens my ear morning by morning." One who is not disciplined in God's ways would say, "Oh, but Lord, I want to sleep in this morning." God has no room for lazy hearts in the building of His temple.
Song of Solomon 5:1-6 “I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk; eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. I sleep, but my heart waketh: [notice now] it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is full of dew, and my locks with the drops of the night [now listen to how she responds] I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. 1 opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone..." In other words, she was simply saying, "I put off my coat; I have washed my feet, and I don't want to get up and get them dirty anymore!" And then he teased a little bit and put his hand under the door, and that surely got to her, so she got up and went to the door; but when she got there he was gone. In other words, sensitivity to the Spirit of God is a must if we are going to be used to build the tabernacle of God in this hour. If we do not respond immediately, He's gone! Verse 6 goes on further to say, "...my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him But he gave no answer." Do you know one of the reasons why we get no answer, when we call Him? Because, when He knocks we have already gone to bed spiritually speaking. We have taken our clothes off, washed our feet, and do not want to get dirty! So now suddenly, when we wake up and call Him, we do not have the sensitivity to hear Him! We must learn sensitivity to the Spirit, giving Him the right to interrupt us, and responding when He does interrupt! And beyond that, the disciple, the learner, knows how to teach others after he himself has been taught.
Zechariah 4:11-14 “Then answered I, and said unto him, what are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlesticks and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, what be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty [or pour] the golden oil out of Themselves? And he answered me and said, knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. Then said he, these are the two Anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." It is one thing to be anointed, but it’s another thing to be a Source of oil. There are a people whom God is raising Himself in that they are becoming a Source of oil for the whole earth! The scripture says, "What are these? What are these two...?" These are two sons of oil. There is something within that is beginning to spring forth in us that is a ministry unto others. The Lord has appointed that some will be a Source of supply for others, because there is a ministry of a people who come from the Most Holy Place to minister to those in the Holy Place. Those who come from the Holy of Holies are the Sons of Oil! These are the ones God is using to build the temple.
I would recommend a study of Hebrews chapter 10, concerning the ones that are near and the ones that are far. Those who are near are those who have gone beyond the veil, in experience. Those who are far are those who have not gone beyond the veil, in their experience.
So the builders of the tabernacle were as follows, according to Exodus chapter 35: [1] Stirred In Heart; [2] Willing; [3] God Knew Their Character; [4] they had Wisdom; [51 they had Understanding; [6] they had Knowledge; [7] they Could Work On All Manner Of Workmanship.
As they put into use the attributes God had given them, they: [1] Devised or planned; [2] Worked; and [3] Taught.
Combined With All of That, They Were Sensitive To The Spirit! Every one of these characteristics is true of the builders of the tabernacle in this day of the Lord!
TWO
SUPERIOR RESURRECTION
In this lesson we will be studying the superior resurrection which is the first resurrection. We begin in Revelation, chapter twenty, verses four through six.
"AND I SAW THRONES..."
Whenever you see the phrase, "I Saw" it denotes vision. Not a natural vision, but a spiritual vision. Proverbs 29:18 tells us that, where there is no vision, the people perish. The word "perish" means that flesh is exposed. Therefore, without a vision people are nothing but exposed flesh. They abide in a natural fleshly realm.
Seeing
We must first realize that this passage of scripture in Revelation is speaking of a certain kind of seeing. It is Insight into the heart of God; Insight into the realm of the Spirit; Insight into the depth of God, where deep calleth unto deep. Many people today are not ready to see into the depth of God, but we are living in an hour, when God is revealing Himself. This is the "day of the Lord" and the revelation of God is for the controversy of Zion [Micah 6:2]. God is becoming an adversary to all the false images, false doctrines, and theories that have been brought forth about
