Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #13 of Genesis, chapter 22.  We are continuing to read the first two verses, in Genesis 22:1-2:

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

I will stop reading there.  We have been looking at the word “tempt,” and God’s tendency to tempt His people, as He did from the very beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  And the Lord tempted Abraham.  That is typical.  God tempts or tests His people.  We have seen that. 

We have also seen this in regard to Judgment Day, for which the Biblical evidence is mounting for a 40-year time period for the outworking of Judgment Day in both of its aspects: 1) judgment beginning at the house of God; and 2) judgment transitioning to the judgment on the world.  We are seeing how Judgment Day was really pictured by the “day of temptation” in the wilderness when the Israelites came out of Egypt with a great deliverance.  Then the Lord tried them and tested them for 40 years.  Following the 40 years, they entered into the Promised Land of Canaan.

Again, the parallel is the “great deliverance” of the Jubilee year which was proclaimed in 1994.  Then there is a 40-year (inclusive) testing program.  Then, if all goes as the evidence is pointing to, in the year 2033 there will be the entrance into what the land of Canaan pointed to, the Promised Land of the new heaven and new earth.

Also, over the course of Israel’s 40-year wilderness sojourn, they were fed with miraculous food from heaven that had never before been known by their fathers.  During our present 40-year period, we are fed with “manna from heaven,” as the Lord continues to open the Scriptures to provide spiritual nourishment for His people. 

And what is the command that is highlighted in John 21 after the great catch of fish came in?  It is, “Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep.  Feed my sheep.”   It was said three times to indicate the purpose of God.  How will we feed them?  Where do we get the food to feed them?  It is the “manna from heaven,” through the continual opening up and revealing of that which had been sealed, the truth of the Word of God.  This is how we feed the sheep.

Additionally, if you recall from our last study, we closed by pointing out how God’s testing program is really a testing of our obedience to the doctrine of His Word.  It is a test of love: “Will you keep my commandments, or no?  Will you obey me, or not?”  We could really restate that to say: “Do you love me, or no?”  Christ said to Peter, “Simon Peter, lovest thou me?”   Remember, that was the emphasis in John 21 after the great catch of fish or after the evangelization of the earth was completed and the great multitude had been brought in.  They were all saved.  And then the emphasis became, “Do you love me?”  How can that be reworded?  “Will you keep my commandments?”  And what is the commandment?  To feed the sheep is the primary commandment which God has given for this time period after the Tribulation as the elect live on the earth in this Day of Judgment.

Of course, it is not an easy command to obey because it can quickly be despised, as though it is “beneath” an individual that remembers the “house in its first glory,” to use Biblical language.  They remember that glorious time period of the day of salvation in which the Gospel went forth conquering and to conquer to ransack the kingdom of Satan and to translate people out of darkness and into the light of God’s dear Son.  All that was accomplished spiritually, as they became children of God.  But now none of that activity is going on.  There is no rescue of the soul held captive any longer; there is no deliverance of the sinner out of bondage to sin and to Satan.  That has all been accomplished.  It is all completed.  Now it is sort of like a “mop up” exercise.  It is as if God is saying, “I have defeated Satan, and I have done everything I intended to do regarding those that I had predestinated to save.  They have all been saved and the salvation of souls is done.  The first resurrection is complete.  And, yet, they are still on the earth, and I have another program of Judgment Day that must be worked out over the course of 22 years.  To highlight and demonstrate and show forth my righteous judgment, I will cause both the righteous and the wicked to appear before me.  That means the elect that are alive and remaining on the earth will also appear before my judgment seat, in order to follow the pattern of their Lord.  This is my plan.  It is my intention to keep them there and, in due time upon completion of Judgment Day, I will raise them up, as it were, out of hell, and they will receive their new resurrected bodies, and their salvation will be complete.  But, in the meantime, because I love and have concern for my people, I command that you go feed them.  Use your resources, your time and your effort and go carry out this task.  Accomplish this purpose, which is my purpose.”

There are people that have actually said they see no point in this.  It is a task that is “beneath” them and not worthy of their effort.  And, yet, it is the task we have been given.  You know, if God wanted us to literally carry water for the congregation as “water bearers,” or if God wanted us to literally do some low, menial task, who are we to say back to God, “Well, it is beneath me – it insults my dignity.”  What dignity?  We are dirty, rotten sinners.  We were guilty as anyone could be guilty.  We had offended God and rebelled against Him.  We transgressed His Law, and we only deserve to die.  We deserve the wrath of God, to be destroyed forever more.  That is what we have “earned” and “deserved,” apart from the grace of God and His goodness toward us.  And now His Word has been applied to our lives, not because of anything we have done.  We do not deserve this salvation.  It is not because we were good.  It is not because God noticed us from heaven.  No - it was done before anyone had done good or bad, because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  None could do so, but before anyone had done good or bad and before the foundation of the world, God chose Jacob and He did not choose Esau.  He loved Jacob and hated Esau.  So God elected His people to salvation, and He has carried it out – He has done what He has said.  And now, are we going to “put on airs” and act as though anything is beneath us?  What can be beneath a worm?  We are nothing but worms, when we truly look at ourselves.  Of ourselves, we are lower than a worm.  We are fallen, rebellious creatures that God has given everything to, as He has richly blessed us and showered us with abundant spiritual riches forever more. 

So in response, because He first loved us, we love Him.  We love Him, and how do we love Him?  “O, Lord, I feel such warmth toward you coming from my heart.  I have such tender feelings of love for you.”  No – Christ does not buy that, and God knows the hearts of men.  According to the Bible, love is action.  Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  Keep His commandments, the same commandments He has been opening up, one after another, over the course of the Great Tribulation and over the course of this judgment period thus far, and He will continue to do so.   “If you love me, here is the truth about Sunday the Sabbath.  Here is the truth about the faith of Christ.  If you love me, hear is the truth about the end of the church age.  If you love me, here is the truth about my salvation program, spiritual judgment and the shut door I declared to the world I would shut on that date.  Now, if you love me, keep my commandments.” 

This is the chief of them, we could say, and the one Christ selected to highlight in John 21, because to feed the sheep, you cannot go forth with a message of salvation.  You cannot go forth saying, “I am going to go feed the sheep.  Cry to God for mercy that maybe He will save you today.”  You would not be feeding anybody, let alone God’s elect, because it is a lie.  It is an error.  It is something that is out of season, because the season has changed from the “day of salvation” to the “day of judgment.”  It is out of character for Judgment Day.  Judgment Day is not the time to sow the seed.  Judgment Day is the time to pluck up that which had been planted.  Judgment Day is the time of wrath, not the time of mercy and, therefore, to feed the sheep you must speak the truth.  You see, there is much wisdom of God involved with that declaration: “Feed my sheep.”  You cannot just tell them anything, but you must give them the progressive revelation the Lord has been showing us – all of it and leaving nothing out.  You must tell them about the end of the church age.  You cannot go forth and say, “Well, here is the Word of God, the Bible.  I will not tell you about salvation, but I will just share these things with you.”  Then they hear it, but you forget to mention that the church age is over.  So they receive the information and then they go into a local congregation.  Is there any feeding of sheep taking place in any congregation?  No way – because God commanded the pastors to stop feeding the flock.  God said in Ezekiel that He would “cause them to cease from feeding the flock,” because they were feeding themselves instead of the flock.  So, again, to properly feed sheep, you must share the end of the church age.  You must share that there is no more salvation.  You have to share all the things the Bible declares.  You do not hold back.

That is why this was an excellent final commandment for Christ to highlight the purpose of God, because the only way to obey it and to carry it out is to obey everything – to obey the “whole package.”  If you fail on some of these points as you tell people, “Yes, it is Judgment Day and, yes, the church age is over, but do not listen to anyone that says that Christ did not pay for sins at the cross in 33 A. D.  Do not listen to them if they come to you and start talking about Him paying for sin at the foundation of the world,”  that is failure to feed the sheep because it is error.  It is erroneous teaching.  It is a lie.  It distorts what God has done, and it takes away from the glory of God.  God, in His infinite wisdom, determined to store up that information until the time of the end and then to reveal it.  Why?  It glorifies Him to no end, but it is necessary to first understand that when Jesus entered into the world and suffered under the wrath of God beginning in the Garden of Gethsemane and ending at the cross, it was a tableau and He was demonstrating these things, and it was an example for His people.  And because we learned that first, now we learn that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”   The word “appear” is the same word used of the Lord Jesus, the word translated as “made manifest.”  We must all be “made manifest” before the judgment seat of Christ, and that is because our sins had already been paid for, so it is really like a demonstration as we remain on the earth to go through the judgment.  We are not actually being judged because we were already judged in the Person of Christ at the foundation of the world.  So, that is another truth.  By the way, if you do not understand the declaration of the Bible in Revelation 13:8 that says that Jesus is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” then you will not understand the whole idea of the elect making demonstration before the judgment seat, which is a major reason why we are still here, then you are not feeding the sheep – it requires that we disclose all that God has revealed to us. 

God is a jealous God.  And when people hold back and stubbornly resist Him on one of these points – annihilation; or the Lord making payment for sin at the foundation of the world; or the faith of Christ; or the end of the church age; or whatever doctrine it may be – it is man usurping authority over the Word of God.  And this is the time when there is one Lord, one JEHOVAH, and His name one, according to Zechariah 14.   And it is the time wherein the people of God bow the knee: “…every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”  Jesus is the Lord, and Jesus is the Word made flesh.  As we are humbled and brought low before the Word of God, the Bible, Christ receives great glory in the Day of Judgment. 

So this final test that God has developed of feeding the sheep is a big one.  It is a big one!  It really encompasses all the testing that has been going on “rolled up in one,” and it has to do with love.  It has to do with love.  Let me read in John 21 after Jesus showed Himself for the third time and after the great catch of fish had come in.  That was the second major fishing trip described in the Bible.  The first one was described back in Luke 5 and it related to the church age, and the net broke.  The second one is found here in John 21 and it relates to the Great Tribulation period when the great multitude came out of Great Tribulation.  The net did not break because God saved only the elect; that is, the Latter Rain was geared to saving individuals, one by one, outside of the churches.  There was no place of worship like the churches set up where people were “called,” but not saved.  No – this was a matter of being saved and being transported into the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, and it had nothing to do with any earthly organization or representation.  Therefore, it was a complete “catch” without losing a single one, and the net did not break.  Then it says in John 21:14-15:

This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

It was the third time, and three stanzas.  First, there was the question: “Simon, do you love me more than these?”  Then there was the response: “Yea, Lord; thou knowest I love you.”  OK, it is as though the Lord is saying to you and to me and to all His elect people, “Do you love me by keeping my commandments?”  And we respond, “Yea, Lord, you know we love you because you move in us to keep your commandments and to will and to do of your good pleasure.”  Then comes the command: “Feed the sheep.  Feed the sheep.  How are you going to do with this command?  Are you going to love me regarding this command?” 

Well, that remains to be seen because this is something different and something that had never before been done, wherein there is feeding of sheep for those that are already saved, and we are bringing the Word of God, again, even after the Word had already reached them to save them.  Just so it is not mistaken and that we get the point, Christ is saying that this is the program.  This is the main task, and if we are not involved with it or we are not interested in it and we are not doing it, there is a problem in loving Christ.

But, again, it goes on to say in John 21:16:

He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Again, it has to do with the commandments of God.  “If ye love me, keep my commandments. Do you love me?”  If you respond, “Yea, Lord, I keep your commandments – I came out of the churches.  Yea, Lord, I keep your commandments – I believe we are saved by the faith of Christ and not by our own faith.  Yea, Lord, I love you because I believe that Sunday is the Sabbath and I observe Sunday as the Sabbath Day.  Yea, Lord I love you, and I believe that baptism is the washing away of sin.  Yea, Lord, I love you, and I believe in annihilation, and I no longer believe in a place called Hell where there is eternal suffering.  Yea, Lord, I believe that we are in a time of spiritual judgment.”  

Very well – you have done well so far, but this is it.  This is the final test.  You have come so far.  You have gone through the Great Tribulation.  You may have been a part of that great catch of fish, as Simon was.  You have been involved in the outpouring of the Gospel during the Latter Rain in which that great multitude became saved.  That is wonderful – you have done well in that area.  But this is it, if you are still alive on this earth and remaining, then this is it for you and me because this is the final commandment and the final testing program to see if you will endure to the end.  It will be revealed according to how you respond to this: “If you love me, feed my sheep.”

Then it was said a third time, in John 21:17:

He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time…

Maybe someone listening now is feeling grieved because we are dwelling on this, but this is important.  It is necessary to dwell on this.  Again, it says in John 21:17:

… Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

He said nothing different.  If that was not God’s main focus, He could have mentioned three different things: “Do this, and do this, and do this other thing.”  But each time He came right back to the sheep and to feeding them: “Feed my sheep.  Feed my sheep.  Feed my sheep.”  It was all in relationship to the question, “Do you love me?”  (I am not making that up – that is what Christ said.)  “Do you love me?”  Your response: “Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love you – I was a Family Radio listener for a long time.  And now that they have fallen away, I listen to EBible Fellowship.  Thou knowest I love thee.”  But that is not the question.  The question is: “If you love me, feed my sheep.  Feed my sheep.”  This is the purpose of God, and this is what each one of us must be involved with because it is what the Lord is commanding us to do. 

This chapter is always so interesting that we can just keep going and working through it, but this has to do with the “manna from heaven” and this declaration where God reveals this information about the feeding of sheep.  It is no coincidence that it opened up early on, right after Judgment Day began.  The Lord opened up Mr. Camping’s eyes to this truth because it was so important.  It is what God wants to judge His people on.  Yes – we are being judged in the sense that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.  The Judge must make the determination if we have done “good or bad,” and if we are truly saved, the judgment is already certain and guaranteed: “I find no fault in them.”  Then we will be lifted up at the end.  And, yet, there is one event to the righteous and the wicked and, here, God is laying it out.  If we love Him, it means He first loved us.  And this will be our response as we keep the commandments of God.

Time got away from us as we were discussing this temptation of Abraham by God, and the word “tempt” does relate very much to this time period.  Lord willing, in our next Bible study we will look at little closer at the fact that Isaac was called Abraham’s “only son.”