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The Method and Message of God.
by R.T
We do
not know ahead of time what new light God will give His people,
otherwise it wouldn't be, "new light". Although this information is
hidden from us, God has shown us how to recognize whether new light is
from Him or not. As we have emphasized, God’s messages have to be "to
the law and to the testimony" (Isaiah 8:20). God’s methods are revealed
through His testimonies, and His standards are revealed through His
law.
It is therefore important when evaluating the discoveries
of Ron Wyatt, to study how God has done things in the past, and what
are His usual methods. Ecclesiastes 3:15, "That which hath been is now;
and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which
is past." So to understand how God is working now, we can look at what
He has required in the past. Remember these words when we later
investigate how God works. Christ taught us, "Wherefore by their fruits
ye shall know them." Matthew 7:20. He said, "Even so every good tree
bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil
fruit." Matthew 7:17. So we need not fear every new thing that comes
our way, as long as we know what fruit it bears. We also have to
believe Christ will not allow us to be fooled by lies, if we have
followed this advice of His. After we have applied the biblical tests,
we must have confidence that God’s test works, and so if something has
passed the biblical test, we can accept it without fear. This is taking
Him at His word, trusting Him; this is faith.
Good fruit, bad fruit.
What fruits identify new “light” from Satan? Christ has warned us of Satan’s methods in the Bible. The devil’s fruits are;
1. preaching "peace and safety".
2. The Ten Commandments were done away with at the cross.
3. Unconditional salvation.
4. The Bible is not the infallible word of God, so some scriptures are rejected.
These fruits lead to people losing their salvation, but the opposite can be found in God’s good fruit;
1. "…the hour of His judgement is come".
2. The Ten Commandments were confirmed at the cross (the opposite of being
done away with).
3. Conditional salvation.
4. The Bible is the infallible word of God, and is our standard.
As
we are now about to test the discoveries of Ron Wyatt according to
Satan’s fruits or God’s, it is important to remind ourselves of the
message God has entrusted to us. It is a message of judgement, "Fear
God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgement is come…"
Revelation 14:7.
In a way it is easy too understand Jonah when
he fled from God’s request to preach a message of judgement. It is no
easy thing to preach a message of judgement, but as we consider Jonah’s
difficulties, we must also remember the lesson he learned from his
experience. God reveals to us the real reason why Jonah fled from his
responsibility, and we must be sure that we don’t suffer from the same
thing. Jonah did not love these people enough; he was lacking a love
for lost souls. His pride was more important to him than the lives of
all the people in Nineveh. This was revealed when he actually became
angry that God didn't destroy the city, after the inhabitants turned
from their evil ways. God’s messages are to encourage people to turn
from their evil ways, because He wants to save them.
The
message of judgement is not a threat, but a reminder of the
consequences of one’s actions. If we warn our children that they will
get bad teeth if they eat candy, and don’t brush their teeth, then
we’re not threatening them, we are warning them of the consequences. We
warn our children out of love for them, not because we want to stop
them from enjoying themselves.
Throughout the Bible, we can
see the same message from God to every generation that ever lived,
“judgement and salvation”. God has brought this message through his
faithful prophets each time, but the methods He has used to preach the
message have varied.
Let us now take a look at the discoveries
of Noah’s Ark, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Red Sea Crossing, to see if
they have the signature of God’s fruit, or of Satan’s? The discovery of
Noah’s Ark preaches a message of judgement for the wicked inhabitants
of the world, and salvation for Noah and his faithful family. The
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah remind man of judgement for the wicked
inhabitants of the cities, and salvation for faithful Lot and his two
daughters. And the Red Sea crossing site again tells us of the
judgement for the wicked Egyptians, and salvation for Moses and the
faithful Israelites.
Each one of these discoveries reminds us
of each group that experienced a “mini judgement day”, and directs our
minds to the great and terrible judgement day soon to interrupt world
history… The Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world
(1Thessalonians 4:16,17 & John 6:40,44,54).
The discovery of Mount Sinai and the Ark of the Covenant remind us of the standard by which we are judged… The Ten Commandments.
The
message of these discoveries is the very same our LORD has given to the
world in different ways since the fall of man. The very same message
God has, with tears, cried out to us, "Therefore I will judge you, O
house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD.
Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity
shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions,
whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new
spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure
in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn
yourselves, and live ye" Ezekiel 18:30-32.
The message, as
always, warns us of the consequences of sin at the same time as it
tells us God can save those who accept it. Therefore, when searching
the Scriptures, we read of God giving a message of judgement, but we
also always find with it a message of salvation. Each and every one of
these discoveries gives the warning of the majority who were judged,
and the faithful few who were saved. They tell us that there is a way
to allow God to save us- trust and obey. The message of judgement and
salvation is the Third Angels Message of Revelation 13. Judgement for
those who break God’s commandments and receive the Mark of the Beast,
salvation for those who keep His commandments and receive the Seal of
God.
These things are God’s physical "show and tell"
discoveries to reach this last generation with His Three Angels
Message. Many may ask, "Why can’t we just tell the Three Angels
Message? Why do we need these physical evidences to show too?" God’s
people have largely ignored the message of judgement, claiming that it
was not a message of love, and worried that it might offend or upset.
The church was silent, and now the stones are crying out. While God’s
people slept on, He raised up stones to cry out (Luke 19:40), but now
we can cry out with them making the message even louder. In this way,
God has awoken His people and they can preach the message of judgement
and salvation to the world.
We must recognize God’s voice.
This is not a new message, but the very same message that has come from
the mouth of God through the entire history of the Bible. If we study
it carefully we can recognize our Father’s voice and recognize the
message He preaches. What’s more, we can take this opportunity to work
with Him. Don’t you recognize Him?
Every single message that
God has ever preached, whether it be through a prophet, a parable, or a
historical account, will always have one underlying theme. That is to
turn from your sins and repent, and we find this message here in all of
these discoveries. And the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant also
calls us from our sins. It tells the world that the law of the Ten
Commandments must be kept and not broken. That by definition is telling
the world not to sin, as, “sin is the transgression of the law” 1 John
3:4.
Christ said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow Me" John10:27 To know God is to have knowledge of Him.
However, as many fear these discoveries, seeing only something
dangerous, let us not just measure them to see if they bear good fruit,
but let us see if they actually bear the marks of Satan’s fruit.
Do the discoveries preach a message of "peace and safety"?
No!
They speak of tuning from your evil ways by reminding us of the
examples of Noah, Lot, and the Israelites. Satan hates this message,
and would never call someone from his or her sins.
Do the discoveries preach that God’s law is done away with?
No!
The discovery of the Ark of the Covenant teaches us that Christ
confirmed the law, and that it was included as a part of the New
Covenant. Satan has every reason to make men fear and hate this
discovery most of all.
Do the discoveries preach that salvation is without condition?
Not
at all! By example of Noah, Lot, and the Israelites, they urge the
people of the world to "choose this day whom ye will serve". Serve God
and turn from your evil ways and live, or serve Satan and perish as the
inhabitants of the antediluvian world, Sodom and Gomorrah and the
Egyptians did.
Do any of these discoveries go against the Bible?
Quite
the contrary! They walk hand in hand with Scripture; the Scriptures
confirming the discoveries, and the discoveries confirming the
Scriptures.
As Christ said, "A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." Matthew
7:18. Christ cannot lie, but our minds can effectively use fear to lie
to us. We can have confidence in what is truth when we follow the
principle of good and bad fruit. This principle is biblical, for Christ
Himself told us to use it. Satan has nothing to gain from the fruits of
these discoveries. They have led multitudes to
Christ and to the
Three Angels Message. They have led more people to Christ than any one
of us might ever accomplish. I’m sure that when the Ark is revealed,
hundreds will believe in one day because of the seeds that are being
sown now. If we decide to hinder this work, we are in danger of working
against the Holy Spirit, and at the same time we’re being distracted
from doing the work we are commissioned to do.
Many other
biblical archaeological discoveries have not faced as much resistance
as these. Why do you think the discoveries of Ron Wyatt are not as well
received as discoveries of pottery, biblical cities, biblical
inscriptions etc? When Christ came to earth His message was rejected
and hated by so very many people, and so when He comes with the same
message today we cannot expect it to be any more popular than it was
then. Pieces of pottery, the remains of biblical cities such as
Jericho, Capernaum or Chorazim do not prove, and do not therefore
preach, the message of judgement and salvation. But these hated
discoveries do! They preach the same message that Christ was hated for.
They crucified Him because He was preaching a message of judgement and
salvation. If they crucified Jesus, what will the world do to people
and discoveries that preach the very same message? Be careful that you
don’t become one of those shouting, "Away with Him, crucify Him",
because the rejection of this message is the rejection of Him.
So
we have investigated what God stands for (His "standard", the law), and
seen that the discovery is, "to the law", because it preaches the law
as the standard by which we are judged, and the conditions upon which
we are saved. So now let us again see if it is, "to the testimony". We
have already tested the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant by the
testimonies of Paul and Moses in Exodus 24 and Hebrews 9:19, but this
time we will look at the writings of Jeremiah to test the other
discoveries of Ron Wyatt. Let us see if God’s methods are typical of
how He gives testimony. Remember Ecclesiastes 3:15? "That which hath
been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God
requireth that which is past." Has God used these very same methods in
the past, to wake people up and warn them of judgement and salvation,
so that they might turn from their evil ways?
Jeremiah’s show and tell lesson.
To
find a time in the past when God warned His people to turn from their
evil ways, we can go to the book of Jeremiah. There are many other
places where we find the method God adopts in order to reach people,
but for the sake of time, let us just take a couple of examples.
Just
as all prophets before and after, Jeremiah had to preach a message of
judgement and salvation. It could not have been much fun, or very easy
because he was laughed at, threatened and imprisoned. And all this time
there were self-proclaimed "prophets" with their own "gospels", just as
it is today. At that time, Satan’s fruits were just as much a result of
the false prophets, as they are today. We see over and over again how
they preached, "peace, peace and no danger". So let’s now hear God’s
message of judgement and salvation, and see what methods He used to
preach it.
"The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will
cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house,
and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 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.
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD.
Behold,
as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of
Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I
will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what
instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to
build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my
voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit
them. Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame
evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every
one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good."
Jeremiah 18:1-11.
Here we see how God uses a physical object
as a means of a "show and tell" lesson, to preach his message of
judgement and salvation. Also we can read in Jeremiah 19:1-11 how God
tells Jeremiah to again use a physical object to "show and tell" His
message of judgement and salvation.
So, if we know God it will
not surprise us that He now uses these physical objects in order to
preach His "show and tell" message of judgement and salvation. In the
first example God showed the people the clay vessel and said, "Cannot I
do with you as this potter?" Today, God is showing us Noah’s Ark and
saying, "Cannot I do with you as I did for Noah?" He shows us Sodom and
Gomorrah and says, "Cannot I do with you as I did for Lot?" He shows us
the chariot wheels and horse and human remains in the Red Sea and says
to us, "Cannot I do with you as I did for the Israelites?" "Please can
I save you from this coming destruction?" Isn’t this the same message
from the Discoveries? God warns us, "But the same day that Lot went out
of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them
all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed"
Luke 17:29-30.
God has used the same methods to preach the
same message in the past. He has always used physical things so people
understand His lessons. Some other examples are; the sacrificial system
(which could never do away with sin, Hebrews 10:4),
the earthly
sanctuary, the wave sheaf, Aaron's rod blooming blossoms, the pot of
manna preserved in the Ark of the Covenant as a physical witness,
circumcision etc. etc. None of these things could bring salvation, but
all were a symbol of that which could. God SHOWS AND TELLS. This has
always been His way of reaching people so they will remember His
message. Some would have us believe that God is different today, and to
use physical things today is unnecessary, compared to faith. However,
He is "the same yesterday, today and forever" Hebrews 13:8. God has not
stopped using the SHOW, to now only use the TELL. As always, He SHOWS
AND TELLS.
The reason the Jews didn't recognize the Messiah,
whom they claimed to worship, was predominantly due to their Talmud.
The Talmud contained people's own interpretation of the Torah and the
rest of the Bible. If we allow our own interpretation of the Word
become our law, we too are in danger of not recognizing His voice, or
His plan when it is presented to us. Be careful not to reject true
light when it comes because God does not work according to your
expectations. If we don't create our own beliefs, but stick to what the
plain Word of God tells us about how He works, then we will recognize
His methods at once. We need to recognize our LORD, His voice, message
and His methods. If we do not, we'll be left in the dark. We must be
sure not to set ourselves up against God in any field, if we do so,
we're no longer gathering souls, but dividing the flock.
So what about the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant?
Do
you remember the second of Satan's fruits mentioned at the beginning?
That the law of God is done away with. This is Satan's trump card in
preparing people to receive the Mark of the Beast. God is waiting to
reveal this discovery until after the passing of a religious law, a law
that forces man to break God's law, and is called, “The Mark of the
Beast” in the Bible. To understand why God waits, we need to understand
that Satan's trump card is the false doctrine that the Ten Commandments
were abolished at the cross. So when this law is passed, everyone will
get to see that in fact they must not keep this anti-christian law, but
must keep the Ten Commandments. Why is it unacceptable to some, to
believe that God will show the world what really happened on the cross,
thus destroying Satan's trump card?
The presentation of the
blood and water of Christ sprinkled above the law, on the Mercy Seat
proves that the law was biblically confirmed, and not done away with.
It's not only found in Hebrews 9:19 and Exodus 24, but also in Nehemiah
9:38 and Jeremiah 32:10-14. There we see that the biblical way to
confirm a covenant, or a purchase (1 Corinthians 7:23) is the following:
1. First make a (verbal) agreement.
2. Then a written agreement.
3. The written agreement is then sealed or signed.
4. Only then is the agreement valid and unchangeable.
There
is no other way, according to the Bible, to confirm a covenant.
Therefore when Christ said He came to confirm a New Covenant, if He
were to do it "by the book" He would use this method, the same method
He asked Jeremiah and Moses to use.
1. Jesus had to make a (verbal) agreement.
2. He had to write this agreement down.
3. The written agreement had to be sealed with water and blood (i.e. signed).
4. Then the agreement is valid and unchangeable.
Did Jesus do this?
1.
He declared the verbal agreement in Jeremiah 31:32-34, "Behold the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant... I will put my
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts".
2. Now
this covenant had to be written down BY HIM, "And He wrote upon the
tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments" (Exodus 34:28)
3.
The written agreement was signed and sealed by the blood and water of
Christ, "...but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and
forthwith came there out blood and water... and the earth did quake,
and the rocks rent" (John 19:34, Matthew 27:51).
4. THEN the
agreement, or covenant Christ made would become valid and unchangeable,
"For a testament is of force after men are dead" (Hebrews 9:17 &
Galatians 3:15, 17).
In Jeremiah 31:33, Christ identified the
New Covenant He would confirm with His people as, "My law". We know
this is the ONLY covenant He has ever written down, so this is the
covenant that had to be sealed with blood and water. It is no mystery
therefore to discover where Christ's blood and water ended up when "the
earth did quake, and the rocks rent" beneath Him. Only the Ark of the
Covenant containing the "words of the covenant" could be the
resting-place. Christ said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the
law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil" (Matthew
5:17). If Christ came to fulfil the law and the prophets He had to
fulfil this as well, and so He did. Paul leaves us without doubt that
Christ's mission on the cross was the antitype of the typical ceremony
Moses was asked to do. Paul reveals the type and antitype. This we can
see from Hebrews 9:19.
God has already used the "Tell" of His
"Show and Tell" message, by giving us His Bible. Now as He has done
before, He is using the "Show" part of His message. When God reveals
this discovery to the world, He will have used the same method that He
has always used in the past, "Show and Tell".
I recommend a
study of King Josiah's time, when the Book of the Covenant was
rediscovered. God's people had broken the covenant, and after many
years they had forgotten the contents of the covenant. When the Book of
the Covenant was rediscovered it sparked a reformation and a revival
amongst God's people. The king arranged for the book to be read aloud
to the people, and when they heard it, they were shocked. Many of them,
including the king repented and renewed their covenant with God. God
allowed the book to be rediscovered for this very reason, and now they
understood the requirements of the covenant, and followed them.
What
happened then, is the same that will happen at the public displaying of
the tables of stone. God will show people once more what the covenant
consists of, and plead with them to renew their covenant with Him and
repent, "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath
already been; and GOD REQUIRETH THAT WHICH IS PAST" Ecclesiastes 3:15.
It's
easy to see how these discoveries are just like God's way of reaching
people, but only if we compare them with the Bible, and not with our
own opinions. What a comfort to recognize His voice, seeing Him working
hard for us, helping us preach the last message of judgement and
salvation to the world. He is closer to His people than we can ever see
or understand. Every hair on our head has been counted and He knows
each one of us by name, let's work with Him!
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