To Rest With Him There

Book of Gad 1:1. In the thirty-first year of King Davids reign in Jerusalem, which is in the thirty-eighth year of Davids reign, the word of the Lord came to Gad, the seer, in the month of Eor, near the stream of the Kidron Valley, saying, The cry, this is the Lord, a go, run, go, be courageous, stand in the midst of the stream and cry in a great voice, tarry and hasten, tarry and hasten, tarry and hasten, for there is still a vision for the son of Jesse.

And during the cry, face the eastern gate on the east side of the city, and stretch forth your hands toward heaven. And I did exactly what I had been commanded to do. Since the Lord has us broken down into sections, were going to take this one section at a time.

Some of these are already labeled. Some of these are exactly what he wants to be expounded upon, what he wants us to know more about, and stuff like that. Sometimes the section headings in scripture are divinely prophetic and carry meaning.

When it comes to the book of Gad, each of these section headings are important. You cannot remove them, I do not believe, because, you know, it would injure the text, more than likely injure it, if not distort the meaning. So with that being said, it is important to see that this is in the 38th year of Davids reign.

The Lord knows exactly what is going on. It is his word that has gone out all along, and his word came to a very specific person, Gad the seer. Now, Gad the seer is one of those, well, there is an issue with the seers in general, which is not going to be discussed on todays segment.

However, there is something extremely important to see, because the seer was somebody who stood in between God and the people, and they saw, and whatever they saw, they would tell the king, the people, whatever major political figures God had sent them to at the time, much as did a prophet. Instead of bearing a word from the Lord, they bore a vision instead. And sometimes the vision came with words, and sometimes it was just a vision.

So when it comes to dreams and the interpretations of them, our God is the one who not only can send dreams, as we saw in Daniels case, and also Josephs as well, but he also gives the interpretation and the meaning thereof. So it is very important to note it is the word of God, no matter what form it comes in. And again, the seer is one of those interesting figures in scripture.

See, it is an often discounted book, people discount it for a wide variety of reasons, or have discounted it for a wide variety of reasons, among them being that this is one of the books that was called for during the times of the kings and the chronicles of the kings, as well as the book of Judges, as well as Samuels prophecy that did not appear. And there were a number of them. And I forget exactly how many, if you want a fun fact to remember, that is probably about as fun as it gets, and will be very important to see later on.

(5:47 - 7:43)

However, Gad the seer is one of those books that is mentioned and does not appear. And so the fact that it does not appear is suspicious in and of itself, because it certainly was called for. At the very least, it should have gone in order where it was called for.

And as the Lord had said earlier, you have in one of his parables, I believe it was, where you had the story that was told of a nobleman that had bid his guest to a wedding, and people would file in and take their seats. And as they filed in to take their seats, they would sit in certain places. And some people thought they thought themselves or more highly of themselves would come and sit up higher with in a seat with higher honor, right.

And then others that thought less of themselves would just go and sit where they were assigned to sit at, right. So and the scripture and the principle that the Lord was saying at the time was that this person, whoever cares, bid to this wedding should have gone and sat in their assigned seats, at least if not the lowest seat until they were bid to come up higher by the one that was hosting the feast by the bridegroom by the the Lord, the master or the banquet owner, whoever it was that was running the place that they should sit where they were assigned to, or in in a position of less distinction until they were called for and bid to rise up otherwise. Therefore, it is a definitely a principle to see and that and the location of where the word of the Lord came to get the seer is also important.

(7:43 - 9:32)

Perhaps the month ER is still not known of today, regardless of what it is, it, it may be may have been considered a nonsense month, a month of rebellion, whatever it was, we no longer know what that month ER is in todays day and age. And perhaps it was not found at the time in the scripture. And it was near the stream of the Kidron Valley, which is particularly important for a number of reasons, all of which are not mentioned immediately here in the text.

However, the Lord told him to go and stand in the midst of a stream and cry with it. Well, first of all, standing in the midst of a stream is foolishness enough as it is, right? Because you have the issue of the parable that was given of the house that was built on the sand, versus the house that was built on the rock and the house that was built on the sand collapsed when the winds and the rain beat on that house. And great was the fall of it, right? And the fall of it was such that it was a ruin, a complete and utter ruin.

And the Proverbs of Solomon, Proverbs of Solomon, Solomon had so much to say about the ruin of time on a house, the ruin of improper building materials and people that had no wisdom and did not follow the Lord. In fact, he is full of those stories that are told in the text. And perhaps you may not know all of them that are mentioned.

(9:33 - 14:53)

However, God knows. And that is what is so amazing going through this section. And then there is one other thing to be seen here, right? So it says, it says for him to cry and not in a loud voice, but to cry in a voice that would suggest that there is something wrong going on in the text, right? It says, Terry and Hatham, Terry and Hatham, Terry and Hatham for there is still a vision for the son of Jesse.

So perhaps you may remember the story, right? Of where the Lord had said, your Lord said to my Lord, sit here until I make your enemies or until I make your enemies your footstool, right? And how David had said that about him. And then if he called him Lord, how was he his son, right? So my friends, it is very important to see that there is some spoken of here in the text. However, our God is still Lord over all.

He is still the most high, the most holy, the most gracious, and he is on the throne looking down at the land. And in that we see, even in the evil, even in the disruption, even in the loss of identity that is mentioned here in the text and the stripping, the passage of time, still the hands are stretched forth to heaven because our God is over all. And thus our obedience to his commands is what is most important at the time, even if it seems foolish, foolhardy, or unsafe.

Because our God will never, he tempts no man. He does not lead you into sin. Thus he will never ask you to do something that is wrong or unsafe or is dangerous or outside of his will, because he just does not operate in that fashion.

And so then let us go back to the text. You have the vision of the donkey and camel. And it came to pass when I finished crying out, I opened my eyes and saw a yoke of oxen led by a donkey and a camel coming up from the Kidron stream, the donkey on the right side of the yoke and the camel on the left.

The four mixtures and a great voice like the roll of thunder was following them, crying with a bitter voice. Seer, seer, seer, these are four mixtures that confuse the people of the Lord. For the impure and the pure have been mixed, and then impurity took control over purity.

A mixture from seer, Edom to rule over them, to increase power over and betray a righteous doer, to destroy holiness, to crown wickedness, to set up impure matters in the guise of purity. And so at this time, I would like to stop for a moment. We will not spend a large amount of time on it.

However, it is important to note that when God said something, he means exactly what he says. Now, is he the voice that is crying out like this in the text? That is something that is important to see. Is there unrighteousness with God, as scripture would have said, that God forbid? There is never unrighteousness to be found with him, but yet what is this nonsense that you see here in the text? The four mixtures that confuse the people of the Lord.

So if the Lord did not plant it there, if he did not put the evil there, then how come it to be there in the first place? How do you have that issue mentioned here in the text? The moon kingdom. And after the rise, a great quake occurred that shook over the impurity and blew the donkey and the camel into the moon with a stormy wind. And the moon was opened and looked like a bow, a semicircle, and both her points reached towards the ground.

The vision of God the son came out of heaven in the shape of a man with a crown on his head and carrying over his right shoulder, a lamb despised and rejected. And on the crown on his head, three shepherds are seen shackled with twelve shackles. And these shackles were of gold plated with silver.

The Messiahs death and the voice of the lamb was heard great and dreadful like the voice of a lion roaring over his prey. Woe unto me, woe unto me, woe unto me. My image, Messiah, has been diminished.

My refuge has been lost. My loss and destiny has turned me over to my spoilers. And I was defiled until evening by the touch of impurity, the Messiahs heart.

(14:54 - 17:55)

And it came to pass when the voice of the lamb speaking, lowly man dressed in linen came with three vine branches and twelve palms in his hand. And he took the lamb from the hand of the son and put the crown on his head and the vine branches and palms on his heart. And the man dressed in linen cried like a rams horn, saying, What are you doing here, impurity? And how did you get here, impurity, that you have carved yourself a place to combine impurity with my covenant that I have set with the vine branches and palms? Gods judgment on impurity.

And I heard the lamb shepherd saying, There is a place with me for the pure, but not for the impure, for I am a holy God and I do not want the impure. I only want the pure, even though I created them both and my eyes are equally on them both. But there is an advantage to the abundance of purity over the abundance of impurity, just like there is an advantage of a man over a shadow.

For the shadow does not exist without man and only by the mans existence is the shadow given to the tired and exhausted. This implies and applies in the same way to the pure and impure. For all gates of intelligence are turned around since the death of the eight branches of the vine, as is found in words of righteousness in the true book.

But because of the wanderings of the sheep of their rest and divisions, intelligence is stopped up until I do greatly in keeping grace. And now at this time you have the most beautiful thing seen in the text. This vision that God has seen, it almost sounds like something from another world.

And indeed it is referred to as the moon kingdom because there is a somewhere that the Lord is going with this image, right? So you have the image of a donkey and camel. And if you remember the donkey that Jesus Lord had rode into going into the city, right? It was a colt, the foal of an ass if I believe it was correct. And he rode into the city on it.

And when he went to go collect it, he had told the people to tell the keepers of it that the Lord had need of it, right? So the Lord had had a need of this specific type of a creature, this specific creature. And the camel also is known for traveling long distances and hot, dry desert lands, right? At one point, this donkey and camel came up from the Kidron stream. And you had one on the right hand and one on the left.

(17:56 - 19:21)

And see there is a vision, there is an image imparted here in the right side and the left side when it comes to the kingdom of God, right? Because when he stands as to those that are on his right and his left, he will say, depart from me you walkers of iniquity for I never knew you. And he will divide the sheep from the goats. And he will say to those on one hand and those on the other hand to come into eternal life, to come into his kingdom.

And so that is the picture that perhaps is referred to here at the time. However, it may be, it is impossible, is it not, for two to walk together except they be agreed. And so in the divisions that is mentioned as it is very much mirroring what has happened to the flock of Christ, right? Where it refers to the wanderings of the sheep.

And in fact, that is harkens back to the prophecy of Enoch where it refers to a vision that is seen of the sheep as sheep without having a shepherd, just as the Lord had have mentioned as and as Isaiahs vision also had said in 53, I believe it was. And all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

(19:23 - 22:40)

He was despised and afflicted, yet he opened his mouth. And in fact, he was despised and rejected now also. And so as not to create more and add more meaning to the Lords words than he already said, but yet he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hear it as it from him. And so you see in this text that a strange thing is seen that the son should be referred to as a person and it is indeed carrying over his right shoulder, a lamb that is despised and rejected. And he is wearing a crown with three shepherds, shackles with 12 shackles.

And now if you know anything about the numbers and the meaning of the scripture, the three can refer to a lot of different things, can refer to the body, the soul and the spirit, right? It can refer to a good many number of things, particularly the three people groups, the three kingdoms, but not more than the seven churches, right? So you have three shepherds that are mentioned, but they have 12 shackles, right? And the 12 shackles can actually refer to the 12 tribes of Israel, since that is a more common use of that number. And notice that they were of gold plated with silver. So you have a betrayal matter, just as Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

And as Solomon had said in Solomons song of songs, that they had a little sister in their breast and they would build her a house bordered with studs of silver, right? And so the silver speaks of betrayal and a trial that is seen in the gold. And now that when he has tried me, I will come forth as gold, right? And so you have the vision of the lamb appearing as the lion. It sounds like a lion, does it not? Ready to rend and tear its prey apart.

However, it is in the form of a lamb. And how are you going to reconcile the two images, one with the other? One that sounds like a terrible issue, does it not? And the other that is just as meek as can be, that was despised and rejected, and yet he opened not his mouth. And so we have an issue very much in the text that as some had said, how was the Lords rejection, right? When you think of the Lord and what all he had suffered that some of us go to complain before him.

(22:40 - 27:19)

We ask ourselves, how could it be that God had allowed such things to come upon us, whether sufferings and all the bad things that had followed in the darkness that we knew, right? God did not create that, you see. As you see here in the text, he did not create that at all. In fact, he too was defiled until evening by the touch of impurity, right? And his refuge had been taken, it had been diminished, it had been stolen, right? And so therefore, you see in the text, how was his rejection, where he was counted just as the evildoers.

It had said in the prophecy that you would not have been able to tell him apart from those that did wrong except by the fact that he did right of himself. And even when he came to this, or they saw him eating and drinking and they thought, oh, a winebibber, and he eats with the publicans and sinners, right? And so you see in the text, it is very much an image of the strangest thing of all, this lamb that is so holy there also, and the man that came out, right, that took the lamb from the hand of the son, and he cried like a rams horn. And what did we know about the rams horn, right? Well, it is what the text will tell us later, and also the prophecy of Enoch that it referred to in the same vision of the sheep that had been seen.

There was mentioned one sheep that had arose, or a couple of sheep actually that had arose to become the leaders there over, but yet they had grown horns and they had pushed, right? And they had destroyed some of the flock of the Lord, right? And they had caused divisions or, or whatever that had meant at the time. So their nature was not as the wolves, but as a ram, right? And so that could have meant that they were more, had a good nature inside of them, or any number of things that you see in the text. And so that, that even if the Lord can still use someone like that, and even have a service purpose for them, and so you have the strangest thing of all, how is the Lord going to use any of this for his glory, right? And then you have the lamb shepherd, and it almost sounds like a contradiction, does it not, in the text.

And so you do not know what is going to happen as you see this thing to be seen. And it is the strangest sight to be seen. Though he, as he said, he is a holy God.

And the lamb shepherd is speaking in the first person saying, I am, and if you know anything about the Lord, how often he had come to his people and said, I am that I am, or he had showed off his power and his glory, he had said that he was the one that they had sought, and all the soldiers had fell over backwards there in the garden, or when the angel had come to roll away the stone from the tomb, and all the guards around the sepulcher became his dead men, right? And so you you have a number of issues that are spoken of in the text, but yet the Lord is a holy God, and he is the one speaking now at the time, which is what we want to be able to hear from is a word from the Lord and not all of our nonsense and all of our divisions and our wanderings and our lack of rest and opinions, right? But we want to be able to get to the place where we can hear that word from the Lord. And in fact, the shadow is mentioned of how there is purity and impurity, seemingly both at the same time, and theres a shadow of impurity. And God can use the shadow, even if something like that, to point out a mans sinful nature and their need of a savior.

(27:20 - 28:01)

But yet when he comes to him, he is holy there also. And so he does not want anything to diminish his character. He does not want anything to come in between him and the sheep and their knowledge of him.

Thusly, as the scripture has said, he is a jealous God of visiting the iniquities of the fathers on the children of the third and fourth generation of them that hate him. And you know, he came to turn the hearts of the children on back to the fathers, lest he smited the earth with the curse. And so the Lord is a good God, as always now for his people.

(28:01 - 29:30)

And in fact, this only gets better here out from there, right? But yet there is a lot of words to be said. And there is a true book also that is mentioned, as we will see later in the book of law of Moses, that there is a true book that is mentioned just as there are many false books. There is one true book, the Lambs book of life.

And this is the one from which we read now at the time, because our God is holy and in all things divine. Thus you cannot imply, you cannot impugn his nature, you cannot get away with it, right? With slandering him, his character, without the Lord having to put a rebuke on that and to say something more on it than what has already been said now at the time. And so let us come now before him.

Let us seek the Lord of the sheep. Let us seek our master and saviour, who has made us far more than that, but is our refuge there also, who is our rest and let us find out how to enter therein. Just as it had said in the rest of the Lord.