THE OUTER COURT

THE OUTER COURT

                With the death of Billy Graham we are entering a new era. According to Jesus we are now facing a time unprecedented in human history.  And just like John the Baptist, Billy preached a gospel of repentance. That is to say that his ministry brought thousands of people into the outer court of the Sanctuary. Coming to the outer gate of the outer court the first thing we see is the Lamb of God who is slain for us in order to take away our sins.

                Once we have received Jesus as our Savior and we have trusted in His blood to cover our sins, we find ourselves inside the outer court. It is surrounded by white walls that represent the righteousness of Christ. In other words our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus and we are dressed in His robe of righteousness. This has been the message of Billy Graham and millions of Christians have been saved over the decades by this kind of ministry.

                Now anyone who has been saved by Billy Graham style ministry can most certainly go on from that point of salvation and experience all that Jesus came here to bring us and many people do just that. I am not in any way putting down on Billy Graham’s ministry, or the thousands who have come to the Lord in this way. But what I am telling you is that in an epic sense of God’s continuing purposes for the church, we are now being called beyond the baptism of John and into the Holy Spirit and fire of Christ that will finish His work in the world.

                In listing all of the faith heroes that have gone before us the book of Hebrews informs us saying:

               
“And all these, having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” Hebrews 11:39, 40

                Now while that something better has been offered to everyone since the writer of Hebrews penned those words, we might say that in an epic sense, the church has remained in the outer court, living within a baptism of repentance, but not going on into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.

                We have lived with the blood of Jesus and with His robe of righteousness, but we have in many ways ignored the other two pieces of furniture in the outer court. One of these is the altar of burnt offerings and the other is the laver.

                Paul was not shy about telling us what this means, for he says it in Romans 12:1, 2:  

                “I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy    sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

                So in the outer court we see not only the death of Jesus, but the death of our flesh and the washing away of our sins in preparation for entering into the Holy Place where we will be sanctified by the Word of God and by the Spirit of God  (Spirit and Truth) and we will have sweet fellowship with God through anointed prayers that are mixed with the incense of the Holy Spirit.

                It was the Law that brought us to the gates of the Outer court and to the cross of Christ where we by faith entered into Christ’s death. Thus, as Paul explains, we died to the Law in order that we may live unto Christ. Let’s read his words with new eyes for this is very important in the epic age into which we have now been thrusted:

                “But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!  For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live unto God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Gal 2:17-21

                In other words, in looking at the outer court of the Tabernacle we see that the Law, having condemned us to death, brings us to the outer gate where we receive Christ’s death in our place. This brings us into the outer court where we are surrounded by the robe of Christ’s righteousness. We are saved. We are born again. But that is the beginning of our journey, not the end of it. For the next step is to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God. Our flesh must be burned away and our soul washed clean so that we can enter into the Holy Place where we will be sanctified, by the Word and by the Holy Spirit and fire.

                So while we have been living in the age of Pentecost for nearly 2000 years, only a very small part of the church has ever entered into the Holy Spirit and fire of Pentecost. We have satisfied ourselves with doctrines and bylaws and traditions and programs that keep us busy, but we have not been sanctified by the Word and the Holy Spirit and fire.

                Jesus said in His wonderful prayer in John 17, where He is praying to the Father on our behalf saying: “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy Word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth…” John 17:17-19.

                We need to read the Word of God for more than its proof texts. It is the living and active Word of God ( Hebrews 4:12) which the Holy Spirit uses to transform us into the image of Christ.

                We are entering a specific and epic time in which the Bride is now preparing to meet the Bridegroom for the marriage supper of the Lamb and we have a church in which (if we are lucky) only half of them have any oil left in their lamps. What is Jesus going to do about this?

                Hebrews 12:26, 27 tells us saying: And His voice shook the earth then, but not HE has promised saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. and this expression “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things in order to at those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

                Don’t be fooled and don’t be deceived. We are right now witnessing the great falling away and apostasy of the church as millions of Christians abandon the fundamentals of the faith, joining with the Pope and His New world Order. They are forming a global religion that will soon worship the antichrist.

                We must remain true to the Word and to the Gospel and to Jesus Christ so that we will not be deceived by false Christs and false prophets.. .and just as a hint, if the Bible sets a precedent, true prophets are usually tasked with announcing bad news and warnings of coming doom as a nation drifts away from God, whereas false prophets usually prophesy peace and safety and prosperity. ( Just something to think about.)

                We speak in glowing terms about a great revival and a harvest, but we don’t often speak of the fact that we live in the time of the feet of iron and clay spoken of in Daniel 2. It is during the time of the ten kings, represented by the ten toes of the statue, that a stone cut out of the mountain without hands will come down and smite the statue:

                “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Dan. 2:35. “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.” Isa 9:7a.

                I am using the word ”epic” a lot in this article in order to denote time periods in history. We have now entered into an epic time called the “end time.”  It is also called “The Day of the Lord.” This time period contains the building of Satan’s final global kingdom as well as the great tribulation followed by the wrath of God that will end with the final and total destruction of every trace of Satan’s kingdom as Jesus Christ returns to set up His earthly millennial kingdom. His kingdom will fill the whole earth just as Daniel 2 says and it will be during this millennial reign that we, His saints, will reign with Him, ruling the nations with a rod of iron. Rev. 2:27 and Rev 12:5

                This coming earthly millennial reign cannot be confused with eternity when a new heavens and earth is created, for then there will be no sin and no sinful nations to rule over. So as it says in Revelation 20:4 we are going to reign with Christ for 1000 years on this earth during which time He will restore all things and rule in righteousness until his enemies be made a footstool for His feet.

                But we, the church, have a lot of maturing to do and that maturing takes place in the Holy Place of sanctification, where we have died to the flesh and we are learning to live by the Spirit as in Romans chapter 8. This is not casual Christianity that we are entering into. This is not a quick morning Bible text and a momentary prayer with our hand on the doorknob. We need to go through a baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire… and it is all for a good cause, for we are preparing to be the spotless Bride of Christ.

                We can’t do this without oil in our lamps. We can’t do this as casual Christians. We must now press in… to be sanctified and made complete in Him. Jesus has made a way. All we need to do is to follow Him by faith… live by His power and now our own… be sanctified by the Word and baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire.

               

                “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” It is time to enter into these things with our whole heart.