Restoration Through Christ: A Journey to Divine Fellowship

From the literal beginnings of time, God has sought to have relationship with mankind. He had it for, you know, chapter or two. Like if I pull it up and this is all the intro, you know, like the what books are there and all that. Like I get about this much of me and him, you know, or I shouldn't say me and him, but him and mankind. Two or so chapters, we see Adam and Eve walking in the garden side by side in the coolness of the evening. [00:01:47]

But then of course we know the story. They messed up and they sinned at that moment of time. It was as if the clock of time that had began from the very first moment that night and day were combined or separated from each other and created to be one day. That clock that had been still ticking now began to ring louder. Suddenly, the heart that had been beating beforehand suddenly took on more emphasis within the chest of Adam and Eve. [00:02:33]

Because now this heartbeat had a stop date. Now the boom boom would eventually have a flatline. The heart that had had the potential to beat on forever. Limited number. Thorns broke out from the ground. Woman was cursed with the pain that would not only accompany childbirth, but would even remind her of the fruit that Eve had ate throughout every year of her life, whether she could bear children or not. Whereas man could once just go out and bring forth a bountiful harvest. [00:03:23]

And didn't have to really put his hand to do anything called work. You know it it was fun. Imagine that. Any men or working women in the house today that just imagine what it would be like to not have that word in existence? I have to have fun today. Like what's for supper? Whatever we grab outside, it's free range. Do we have need of anything? Nope. That was paradise. Then after this fault of their own, they are cursed and weeds. [00:04:02]

A thing that I don't really think Adam had named before. We see named a bunch of stuff. Now there's, I believe, a new word created. Weeds. Suddenly plants that maybe had been there before now took on a different meaning. Now they choked out life. Now they tore hands. They bruised legs. They choked out whatever you were trying to grow. But worst of all, more heartbreaking than all of this, more heartbreaking than that of the stop of a heart or the loss of a child. [00:04:47]

More painful than the sting of a nettle while you're trying to harvest your crop. The cool walks in the evening that they had once known would be no more. Done. Stopped. You're kicked out. Literally, they're kicked out of the garden. But thankfully for us, we know that the story does not end right there. It continues for a whole lot of pages. In fact, we come today to celebrate a risen savior. An act that would be a part of God's divine plan. [00:05:32]

To once again bring us together in unity with him just as Adam and Eve had had, just as he had with his disciples. Oh, what a God to take the time forming each story found in this compilation of 66 books. Yes, we consider it the Bible, the book, but it's 66 books covering 3600 years written by around 32 authors. That's what our God did to try to bring us back together. All of this to just one day have you there again. [00:06:22]

To have things as it were before innocence was truly lost. That's my assignment for today. It's to tell you, oh what a God. What a God we serve. What a God we serve that he would take the time for you and for me. I would take the time to formulate and plot and plan and then not only that but accept pain so that you and I could once again have life so that this mortal body could put on immortality. [00:07:12]

So that this corruption could put on in corruption. So that one day, even if our heart does stop beating, it will start again in eternity. What a God. What a God. And we see finally in Exodus, as it were, he gets to the nitty-gritty. He's made it through time talking with some people, pulling them out of darkness into light. He works to save people like Noah. And he he he tries to get people to walk as close as they can. [00:08:02]

And then we see Exodus finally a people chosen by God pulled out of Egypt to be free so that we could now not only like it was a blessing all around. It was a blessing for them because they were slaves now made free. But then it's a blessing for us because we can see that if we are slaves, we can be made free. And he I I I I just wonder, brother Massie, if there wasn't a smile on his face when the day suddenly arrived. [00:08:52]

That he would be a burning bush. It finally comes into play. Finally, I'm going to work out a plan. Every passage before has pointed to Calvary. Every passage before, don't get me wrong, has pointed to redemption. But now, he has a chosen man that he's going to give a plan to. And within this plan would be the very cross. Now, I don't have time to give you a Bible study on the tabernacle, but as we talked about earlier. [00:09:42]

Please see Reverend Skyler Massie and he will hook you up with somebody that can or we will do it ourselves. But let's just suffice it to say with what we had read, there was a plan given, a plan that now it would be as if God had encamped among his people again. It was no longer a wandering with a, you know, a random Abraham. Go. What I said go. It it was no longer the Jacob. Man, that was a crazy dream with that ladder and angels. [00:10:32]

That was Man, this angel about beat me up. No more would it be these random just encounters with God, but now there would be a divine plan put in place called the tabernacle. And within the tabernacle, we see what we read called a door. The door had a gate, the door to the holy place. And then there was a veil that separated you from the holiest of holies. There was only one way to get into the presence of God. [00:11:22]

And these openings were layered with blue, purple, and scarlet colors that would represent something more meaningful. Blue meaning heavenly. You look at the sky. Thank God it I see some sunshine right now. At least it's blue. Lord, keep it that way a little longer. It's blue. Heavenly. Then we have scarlet which represents the earthly. Scarlet, which represents the blood in your veins, the red. But then we see purple, which is a color that has always represented royalty. [00:12:12]

If it was a king, he had purple. If it was a, you know, a what to do with magistrate that, you know, that one guy that probably collected a little more taxes than he needed to, he probably had purple. It was a fine color. It was something that had to be made. And in fact, to get purple, you had to entwine the other colors together. You had to put blue. You had to put scarlet. You had to intertwine these colors unless you could find the perfect dye. [00:13:02]

That was rare and costly. Once again, pointing to the fact that it would belong to royalty. Before the tabernacle, the door would be just that. A representation of John chap 10 verse 9 where Jesus says I am the door by me if any man enter he shall be saved. He makes it plain that he has been the door. That he is the door and he ever shall be the door. That in fact if you try getting through any other way, you're the same as a thief and a robber. [00:13:52]

But he is the door. He fulfills this this this role as it were between the outer court of man and the inner court of God's presence. The door was made blue, scarlet, purple. You see, Jesus wasn't just part God and part man. He was fully God and fully man. He was the perfect fusion of the colors blue and red. He wasn't just a symbol of access. This wasn't just a symbol of access, but it was a prophecy within the fabric. [00:14:42]

That now the door walks, talks, heals, and even rises from the dead. That speaks royalty. That speaks divinity. There's a story of the widow of Naine. I'm going to read just a few verses. It's Luke 71 and verse 12 as well. Jesus, I want to just kind of show you how he fits his role, how he fits his purpose, and also how he just likes to mess up a good funeral. Luke 7:11 says, "Soon afterward he went to a town called Naine. [00:15:32]

And his disciples and a great cl crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out. The only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. We see this that he comes in to the situation. We always focus, and you can leave it there, sister, because we're getting ready to go to verse 13. But we we see this focus, all right, on the child that's dead. [00:16:22]

But sometimes we forget the fact that she is a widow. It's not the story of the dead son of the lady of Naine. It's the story of the widow of Naine. You say, "Now, Brother Smith, what are you talking about?" This lady had lost everything that was dear to her. Her husband is dead. Now, in this numb and griefstricken state, she looks out and sees her child, possibly her only child. I don't know. But nonetheless, a child being carried in a beer. [00:17:12]

It's a it's a casket. It's a procession. It's the grave being taken to the grave. And then Jesus shows up in verse 13. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then he came up and he touched the casket and the bearers stood still. There's a couple reasons for that. One, he has broken every rule that you should keep as a Jewish man. You don't touch a dead body. Now, the people that were involved in a procession, they can do it. [00:18:02]

The family, they they have a little bit, but there's this thing called cleanliness that they believed. And Jesus, he he goes out of his way, as it were, to make himself ceremoniously and within their eyes unclean. He reaches out, as it were, and grabs the boy, the dead boy. This after just looking at the mother who's apparently crying. Okay, get this in your head for a minute. I'm sorry. I'm going to just linger for a second. [00:18:52]

It's a messed up situation. She's crying her eyes out. Would you mind being the widow of Naine for just a second, sister? Okay, you can cry your eyes out. Stand up. You're crying your eyes out. Hey woman, don't weep. That's probably the response she had. Like what? You'd sit down. What right do you have? Is probably what would have came into the mind. My kid is dead. I'm a widow. Hello. Been through some stuff. Hashnot my best day. [00:19:42]

And this dude wearing sandals and a beard walks up to me and says, "Hey woman, sorry. Don't weep. It's more fun to do it to you than her, woman. Just wait. Don't cry. That's probably what she did. What staggers back a little bit, but all in one scene, like her her mind is probably checked out by grief. Her her mind is probably stricken by PTSD. And then in that moment, she's told, "Don't cry." Huh? And then she sees this same dude walk up and grab her dead child. [00:20:32]

What is going on? And the dead man sat up after he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." I know there's not much time in that sentence, but when you just get done walking to the mother and saying, "Quit crying." And then you walk over to the casket and put your hand on it. There's at least a couple seconds. And then the time taken to say, "Young man, what is he doing? He's not a relative. He doesn't know my son." I say to you, he's talking to a dead guy. [00:21:22]

Arise. But in that moment, the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them. And they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited his people." And this report about him, it spread through the whole of Judea and the surrounding country. But you know what? And it's the verse I don't think I gave you, sister. Jesus looks at them like does this miracle, shows off his glory. [00:22:12]