“Having Done All, Stand”

[Study aired July 22, 2019]

It is inspiring to look back and see how God moved the hearts of men to accomplish the physical wonder of getting the first man to the moon, and then learn how that experience brought those who were involved to have deeper questions about their own existence after they journeyed so far from the earth. 

This short google-doodle video celebrates the fiftieth year since the first man stepped foot on the moon July 20th, 1969 and sets the stage for our study tonight entitled “having done all, stand“, which is something that each one of God’s children will accomplish through Christ knowing that “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons”. 

https://youtu.be/t6VpHyKXHBM 

I can gain perspective from the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9) of how weak I am and in need of a Saviour (Rom 7:13), and it is only those who are shown this manner of love to be called sons in this age (1Jn 3:1) whom “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” who can escape the pulls of the earth, and the pulls of the moon, that are more deeply revealed to us by the law for the lawless, because we are carnal and sold under sin (Rom 7:14). Through Christ we can go beyond them both [the earth and the moon] unto mature sons in Christ whom He is maturing in the heavenly realm today where we are gathered, predestined and sealed in the Lord to do just that.

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 
1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: [those elements can be typified by the pull of the earth’s gravity that we can only break free from through Christ (Joh 6:63, Joh 8:36)]
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

At the heart and core of these endeavours to put satellites out in space and to reach the moon there was an agenda that was premised on war, and it’s very easy to lose sight of that in the midst of such exciting events and technology at a time that was called the space race. This race to space was setting the stage for many of our existing technologies we have today, and as all things are for the elect’s sake (2Co 4:15), so these human endeavors were inspired and caused by our great Creator (Eph 1:11) and predestined to happen exactly when they did and for His overall purpose for mankind which is being revealed through the body of Christ (Eph 3:10, Col 1:27).

Knowledge has increased and men are going to and fro, but there still is no stay of bread or water in Babylon (Isa 3:1), and the knowledge and technology fo which we are grateful is a two-edged sword in the hand of Adam who has been caused to “shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end” (Dan 12:4, Jer 18:4).

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

We can learn great spiritual lessons from the moon landing which yielded great advancement in technology. If we tie these events back to our relationship with Christ as we contemplate the fact we have the mind of Christ (1Co 2:16), that far exceeds in value any physical endeavor we could experience in the flesh (Luk 10:24, Php 3:8). That mind of Christ gives us the ability to be raised in heavenly places where all earthly and lunar endeavors are transcended as He gives us peace that passes all understanding along with the ability to go from glory to glory as the veil of our heavens is ripped and we no longer have to ponder our existence and wonder why are we here on this relatively tiny blue orb called earth. It takes the power of God to rip that veil, which in turn is how we are liberated in our Lord (Eph 2:6-8, Php 4:7, 2Co 3:17-18). That physical knowledge which increases at the end of the age spoken of in Daniel is telling us what will happen spiritually in the body of Christ at the end of each of our ages, and outwardly how this will become more evident before Christ comes back (Joh 3:30, Mat 24:32-39).

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 

Luk 10:24  For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. [Dan_12:4]

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 
Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 
2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh [Rev 22:2]:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors [Joh 14:20].
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 
Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 
Mat 24:37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 
Mat 24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 
Mat 24:39  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Like the astronauts, who were being prepared their whole lives to be lifted into the heavens, God’s elect have this parallel experience but in the spirit, and now having this knowledge of Christ we learn in 2Timothy 3:10-16 how we must “continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them“. We are learning and being assured as we “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2Pe 3:18) through the church, through the body of Christ (Eph 3:10, Col 1:24) that is the vehicle or vessel where we pray he will “grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph 3:17-19) and this is all possible only because “God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1Co 2:10-12).

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 

2Ti 3:14  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 
2Ti 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 
2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 

1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 
1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

With these verses in mind, let’s consider what the moon represents to us, as well as the earth and the sun, so we can draw some spiritual conclusion as to what our sojourning in this life is all about within the body of Christ and how it is that we must do all and stand.

Above all, as we sojourn in this world, we take the shield of faith (Eph 6:16) believing and being convinced at that day (Joh 14:20) that God will be faithful to finish what he has started in us (Joh 6:28, Php 1:29, Php 1:6), and no one can take us out of His hand (Joh 10:28). We also must be armed with the mind of Christ knowing that our journey in Him has been promised to be fraught with much tribulation and persecution (Act 14:22, 2Ti 3:12), and that these things are happening unto those sons and daughters who are being received and prepared (Heb 12:6) to be kings and priests so “that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him” (Eph 1:10, 1Co 15:28).

That one small step which has already been taken on the moon by the astronauts, can be likened to the earnest relationship that we have with Christ today (Eph 1:14). We are only seeing the Sun of righteousness in part (1Co 13:9), as His kind of first fruits who are the first to trust in the living God and commit our ways unto him as unto a faithful creator who has raised us up together in this earnest relationship so that we are inspired by the heavenly perspective we have been given through Christ, a perspective that far exceeds the physical beauty and perspective we heard those brave astronauts describe in the video (Eph 1:21). We look to Him now, as the author and finisher of our faith, as we press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in him, keeping our eyes on Him, knowing He is faithful and will be found of those who diligently seek him, and strive for that mark. It is a lofty goal to obtain to say you have reached the physical moon, but that is still a physical race to space that is only a shadow of the high calling or spiritual race to which God has called each of us as the body of Christ.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 

These following verses show us more of the right perspective in regard to how the Lord would have us “run, that you may obtain”.

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

1Co 9:20  And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 
1Co 9:21  To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. 
1Co 9:22  To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 
1Co 9:23  And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. 
1Co 9:24  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 
1Co 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 
1Co 9:26  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 
1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 

The lack of technology the Apollo 11 mission had by today’s standards did not prevent them from accomplishing the incredible feat of reaching the moon, finding themselves standing where no human had ever stood before. God’s elect are in this blessed position today to be founded upon a rock Jesus Christ (Mat 16:18) so that we can one day explain to all of the world of this blessed and incredible journey we pioneered together by the grace and faith of Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8-9, 1Co 1:26).

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

We have the highest of all callings in the Lord (1Pe 2:9) and are called to go boldly where no man has gone before (Heb 4:16, Rev 15:8), being raised in heavenly places, where after we have suffered awhile, we can be established and settled in the Lord for the sake of those who will follow the footsteps of Christ in us after we endure unto the end (What was shut up from Daniel that he could not see is described in these verses that God has given the elect to be able to read, hear and keep Mat 24:13-15).

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 
Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 
Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand) [Rev 1:3]

To end this study I want to just look at these following scriptures that tell us a little more about the moon, and what God wants us to learn from this dead satellite that does not give off its own light and cannot be considered a planet because it does not orbit the sun. The moon described in the following verses of Genesis are a prophesy of the time when all the creation will one day be subject unto Christ, who is typified by Joseph as a type of the elect as well. 

Gen 37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 
Gen 37:10  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? [Rev 21:1-4]
Gen 37:11  And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying [Luk 2:10-12, Luk 2:19]. The moon or mother or church typified by Mary who keeps all these things, and ponders “them in her heart” is blessed [Rev 1:3].

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

The moon in us is now subject to Christ because we are “clothed with the sun” and not our own righteousness nor our own bread and clothing, and not just the name of Christ (Isa 4:1). We can truly identify with these scriptures talking about the body of Christ in Revelation 12:1-2 and Romans 8:21-23. There are two distinct groups being discussed: one moon which is positive and clothed with the Sun of righteousness “on that day” (Joh 14:20), and the other seven women “in that day” who lay hold of one man (Isa 4:1). The man of perdition who holds onto the idea of free moral agency and all the false doctrines that accompany “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH”, keep the world within us being found with our own righteousness, unless and until the Lord burns that out of us (Rev 17:4-5).

As always there is a process of coming out of the earth, earth, earth, or the old moon that had its own glory and was to be far surpassed by the glory that would come through Jesus Christ, and was typified by Moses when he had to cover his face with a veil (Exo 34:33). That veil is also represented by the veil in the temple that must be rent in two from the top to the bottom, representing our going from glory to glory as we go forward in Christ our hope of glory  (Mat 27:51, 2Co 3:18, Col 1:27).

We see through a glass darkly (1Co 13:12) and the veil of Moses typifies how we see through a glass darkly, or in part, with our hope of glory within (Col 1:27) which is hidden from the world (Isa 6:2, Rom 11:32, Joh 12:40). Yet we believe because the spirit searches the deep things of God that one day the resurrection will occur and that glory will no longer be hidden, and we will see Christ face to face (1Co 13:9). All of the types and shadows of these heavenly bodies in discussion will be done away with when God is all in all and this verse in Isaiah and Revelation is fulfilled outwardly for all of His creation which groans together today. There are different glories and an order to how each man will come to know God the Father and Jesus Christ (Isa 60:19-21, Rev 21:23, 1Co 15:23-26).

Isa 6:2  Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. [we are hidden in Christ as these verses declare, and this was also foreshadowed when Moses came down from the mount with a covering on his face which shone. The covering of our face at this stage is a reminder of the blindness that was always ours except for the grace and faith of Christ (Exo 34:29-33)]

Isa 60:19  The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 
Isa 60:20  Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. 
Isa 60:21  Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 

Rev 21:23  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 

In order to have done all and stand, we must clearly see the need to put off our flesh, which is the veil that must be ripped if we are going to inherit eternal life that flesh and blood cannot inherit. These last few verses of our study are connected to the veil, and remind us that there is a process and precious judgment upon the body of Christ today so “that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” giving us the ability to stand, and preparing our hearts so that one day we can be those saviours that come up on mount Zion to help others to one day “having done all stand” (Luk 2:35, Oba 1:21).

Son 5:6  I opened to my beloved [Rom 11:28]; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. 
Son 5:7  The watchmen [God’s elect (Eze 33:7)] that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. [the veil or the law can only be taken away with a deadly wound]
Son 5:8  I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love [1Pe 3:15, Col 1:28-29].

It is “within the veil” that we pray the Lord keeps us all under his wing and in His presence, and if we are predestined to be there, nothing shall separate us from our Father as these verses tell us.

Heb 6:19  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 

Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 

Luk 23:45  And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

Heb 10:20  By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh [Col 1:24];

2Co 3:10  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 
2Co 3:11  For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. 
2Co 3:12  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 
2Co 3:13  And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: [1Ti_1:9]
2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 
2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 

We can stand in Christ alone who is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13). Now the just will live by faith and not by sight, and so we are encouraged to fight a good fight of faith knowing that we can and will be saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8).

Boasting is excluded by the law of faith God gives to his little flock, and it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom and to reassure us in our hearts that “having done all stand” is speaking of what God will do through the body of Christ for all of us today!

Rom 3:27  Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Luk 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.