CHAPTER #2

The Church Defined at the Sinai Experience

The Church Defined, Recalled, & Revived

#1) None of them were liars.

#2) None of them were worshippers of any other god besides the LORD, the One true God.

The Church in its beginning condition at the Exodus Generation was acceptable to God by faith and obedience, thus the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai to dwell among them! The Lord looked upon them and found no fault with them, saying, “Surely they are My people, children that will not lie: so He was their Saviour” (Isa. 63:8). For this reason God called Moses up the Mount (Ex. 24:18) to receive all the legal ordinances whereby God might very well dwell among them forever, because the people said, “All the words which the LORD hath said will we do”, and they weren’t lying (see Exodus 24:3-8).

“And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, all the words which the LORD hath said will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.” – Exodus 24:3-8

According to scripture Israel was not lying (Isa. 63:8), “So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him” (Deut. 32:12). The Lord did not say to Israel, “I will not dwell among you”. He could have, but He didn’t. Why didn’t He? The LORD could have said, “Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My Covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also…”, or, “There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel” (Josh. 7:11, 13), and thus justifiably He could have said, “neither will I be with you” (Josh. 7:12)… but He didn’t! The Lord did not relate to Israel as an accursed people, saying, “neither will I be with you” (Josh 7:12), because Israel was ALL saved and perfected in holiness! There were no Achans or accursed things in the camp! Instead of the Lord repelling the Israelites, the Lord called the seventy Elders of Israel partway up the Mountain to see God and eat and drink in His presence (Ex. 24:9-12)--what a glory! Moses abode in the Mountain for 40 days and 40 nights (from Exodus 24:18 to Exodus 31:18) receiving the Law and the dimensions of the Lord’s material housing, The Tabernacle, because God purposed to dwell within and among His beloved, liberated, justified, sanctified, atoned, and assembled people, The Church!

#3) All of them were in saving communion with the pre-Incarnate Christ.

#4) All of them, collectively speaking, were holiness unto the LORD.

#5) The Sinai Experience was one of incomparable love between saint-and-God, as the love of espousals.

#6) All of them were saints whom God loved, every one of them receiving of His words in true holiness!

“ALL” of them, Paul said, were in saving communion with the pre-Incarnate Christ (see “all baptized”, “all eat”, & “all drink” in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4). Speaking of the people in their entirety, God said through Jeremiah, “Israel was holiness unto the LORD and the firstfruits of His increase” (Jer. 2:3). This all in all collective holiness was because Israel was raptured into obedience (“thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”-Deut.6:5) because, God said, “I remember…the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness, in a Land that was not sown” (Jer. 2:2). Humanly speaking, there is no love greater than that which exists in the day of espousal, spouse-to-spouse! Therefore the Lord, “having saved the people” (Jude 1:5), calls them a planting which He planted, “a noble vine” and “wholly a right seed” (Jer. 2:21). In retrospect of this most glorious Sinai meeting of God and The Church, Moses said of the LORD, “Yea, He loved the people; ALL His saints are in Thy hand: and they sat down at Thy feet; EVERY ONE shall receive of Thy words” (Deut. 33:3).

#7) All of them were regenerated and indwelt by the LORD for, to be ALL-together-holy means to be ALL-together-regenerated.

The salvation that God performed with Israel was evident in that the Lord dwelt within them and among them, according as it was written, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be My people” (2 Cor. 6:16). This is the perfected holiness Jeremiah was speaking of in Jeremiah 2:3 and Jeremiah 2:21, a holiness the New Testament Church is charged to copy (see 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1). This interpretation is confirmed again in the apparent parallelism of Psalm 68:1-20 & Ephesians 4:1-13, a Church experience wherein both Churches in both generations had God dwelling among them via captivity, which expressly means, “One God and Father of ALL, who is above ALL, and through ALL, and in you ALL” (Eph. 4:6).

#8) Because ALL of Israel was saved, the LORD rejoiced over them to do them good.

#9) In the case that ALL of Israel was not saved, the LORD did not rejoice over them.

#10) In the event that all of Israel is finally saved, the LORD rejoices over them again like as the days of old in the Exodus Generation.

In the event of Israel’s Final Salvation (the Consummation), it was prophesied, “All Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26)… but why? In this event, when all sin, iniquity, and transgression is turned away from Israel completely (see Rom. 11:26), the Lord’s heart will be turned toward Israel without any contrary desire (without any repentances). During times of Israelite backsliding, the Lord said, “Mine heart is turned within Me, My repentings are kindled together” (Hos. 11:8), because the Lord was seeing sin and transgression within Israel and thereby was frustrated, but during the event of Final Salvation, the Lord said,

“Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul.” – Jeremiah 32:41 “For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the Bridegroom rejoiceth over the Bride, so shall Thy God rejoice over thee.” – Isaiah 62:5

No more fear - Jer. 23:4, 46:27-28, Ezek. 36:15 No more weeping - Isa. 30:19 No more uncleanness in Israel - Isa. 52:1, Zech. 14:21, Ezek. 36:29, 33 No more defilements - Ezek. 11:18, 37:23, 43:7 No more straying from God - Ezek. 14:11 No more idols - Zech. 13:2, Ezek. 20:37-42, 36:25, Hos. 14:8 No more Divine anger - Ezek. 16:42, Isa. 54:9-10, Ezek. 39:29, Hos. 13:14, 14:4 No more leaving the Holy Land – Amos 9:11-15, Jer. 31:40 No more war – Jer. 23:4-6, Hos. 2:18, Isa. 60:18, Mic. 4:3-4, Ps. 46:9

This profound and whole-hearted rejoicing and love was expressed in that Israel was completely forgiven and completely innocent, thus they were completely saved – as fearless victors, without weeping, perfected in holiness, without defilements, in a single heart devotion toward God, without idols, and thus God was without rivaling repentances rising within His heart because of the kindling of Divine anger (Ezek. 5:3, 21:17, 16:41-42, Isa. 1:24, 2 Sam. 21:14, Hos. 13:14)! In the event of “all Israel” being finally saved, when The Church will be perfected in the full volume of salvation according as it was promised, it is a reestablishment of salvation in a greater virtue than what Israel fell from in the beginning of The Church via the Exodus Generation. Speaking in reference to the heart of God toward The Church in its beginning state via the Exodus Generation, it was said,

“He [God] rejoiced over thy fathers” – Deut. 30:9

“the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you” – Deut. 28:63

So great and glorious, exemplary and definitively, did the LORD perform salvation in the Exodus Generation that the saints of every generation thenceforth looked back in longing for The Church to return to its most perfect and pure form, then exemplified. The Exodus Generation was, The Church Defined. When and if the saints of later generations backslid from the full volume of salvation as it was written, the saints lamented the memory of The Church in the Exodus Generation, to wit:

They remembered how God did effectually Shepherd the Exodus Generation as sheep. – Psalm 77:11-20, Isaiah 63:8-14

They remembered how God bore the Exodus Generation on eagle’s wings unto the heights of glory. – Deut. 32:10-12, Isa. 63:9

They remembered that such things were accomplished by the presence of Almighty God dwelling within them and among them. – Psalm 114:1-8, 18:7-19, Isaiah 63:14, Haggai 2:5

They remembered that this was manifest because of the peculiar heart condition of God-toward-Israel - “love” & “pity” (Isa. 63:9), “favor”, “mercy”, “graciousness”, & “tender mercies” (Ps. 77:5-9), “mercy” (Hab. 3:2, Psalm 119:132), “delight” (Ps. 18:7-19), and “rejoicing” (Deut. 30:9, 28:63, Zeph. 3:17, Isa. 62:5, 65:19, ) – a heart condition of God-toward-Israel that the saints desired to be revived and lamented that it had proportionately ceased.

Speaking of The Church being restored to its former glory DEPICTED and DEFINED in the Exodus Generation, the Lord said… “And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will AGAIN rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers” – Deut. 30:9

Because of all these truths and more, the final salvation of Israel can be summarized as, “He will rejoice over thee [Israel] with joy” (Zeph. 3:17), namely, “as the Bridegroom rejoiceth over the Bride” (Isa. 62:5) …and all of this is according to what was begun in the Exodus Generation, or in other words, it was the work of salvation defined and exemplified “as in the days of old” (Jer. 46:26, Lam. 5:21, Isa. 63:9, 11, Deut. 32:7, Ps. 77:5, 11, Amos 9:11, Micah 7:14, 20, Mal. 3:4, Psalm 119:132). This one memorial is, apparently, The Church DEFINED and EXEMPLIFIED! The Exodus Generation was a predecessor of the fullness of God’s desires being satisfied through salvation in full volume!

This restoration is, namely, the fulfillment of salvation according to “the bond of the Covenant”: an Israel without rebels and without idolatry, an Israel where ALL of the population in the Land does serve the LORD, this is the fulfillment of what God swore to perform when He lifted up His hand in oath to the Exodus Generation… “And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye My Holy Name no more with your gifts, and with your idols. For in Mine Holy Mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall ALL the House of Israel, ALL of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up Mine hand to give it to your fathers.” – Ezekiel 20:37-42

“For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own Land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from ALL your filthiness, and from ALL your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from ALL your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.” - Ezek. 36:24-30

 

“Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful Kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will NOT utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. ALL the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their Land, and they shall NO MORE be pulled up out of their Land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.” – Amos 9:8-15

Hereby, according to the aforementioned scriptures, we see the eternal prerogative of God to restore that which was breached and prolonged by the backsliding of the Exodus Generation (and the backsliding of the Solomon’s Generation, and so on). God was and is intent upon finishing what He has begun in the Exodus Generation, to find a people who will walk-out in the edicts of salvation in full volume to the glory of God. Thus here, in Ezekiel 20:37-42, the Lord purges from Israel ALL rebels from “the country” of the Promised Land, just as He refused the entrance of the backsliding Church in the Exodus Generation. Rebels, transgressors, and sinners were not allowed within the Land of Israel, thus God said, “I will bring them forth out of the country”. They were forbidden to dwell among the people of Israel, thus God said, “I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress against Me”. The Church in its beginning estate in the Exodus Generation was made so to be, likewise, a “wholly right seed” (Jer. 2:27), but the performance of salvation according to what was begun in the Exodus Generation was breached and prolonged because of backslidings century-to-century… unto the appointed times of its revival, that is, when holy men sought the restoration of what was lost, when holy men lamented to see God restore The Church according to the glory of the Covenant in virgin purity memorialized in the Exodus Generation before their backslidings, and this happened throughout time until, finally, God said He would perform the oath which was begun with the Exodus Generation – a rebel-free & transgressor-free Israelite people which is wholly and entirely, ALL of them, serving God in full possession of the Land of Israel according to the Covenant of oath and promise! [Note: A restoration of “the rod” and God’s Divine pleading as He pled with the Exodus Generation (Ezek. 20:36-37), this is a restoration of judgment thriving in the House of God for the accomplishment of Church Purity so that Israel might be rebel-free! This is what God performed so beautifully in the Exodus Generation, something all saints should be longing for in the Holy Ghost! “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” – 1 Peter 4:17-18]