Welcome back...
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before the break, we were
talking about the Law of God...
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the Ten Commandments
which were written by stone...
00:00:04.70\00:00:08.17
written by God
00:00:08.20\00:00:09.60
and were placed Moses inside
of the Ark of the Covenant
00:00:09.64\00:00:14.01
and we talked about how love
is the fulfilling of the Law.
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The Law of God is a
transcript of God's character.
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On the screen,
we have a comparison
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of God and His Law
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and you will notice
that every element...
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every aspect of God's character
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is mentioned also
about the Law of God.
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Here are a few examples,
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God is spiritual...
His Law is spiritual.
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God is love... His Law is Love.
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God is truth...
His Law is truth.
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God is righteous...
His Law is righteous.
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God is holy... His Law is holy.
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God is perfect...
His Law is perfect.
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God stands forever...
His Law stands forever.
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God is good... His Law is good.
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God is just... His Law is just.
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God is pure... His Law is pure.
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God is unchangeable...
His Law is unchangeable.
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In other words, every
characteristic of the Law of God
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is also a
characteristic of God Himself.
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The Law of God is a
transcript of His character
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and the fulfilling
of the Law is love.
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Every aspect...
every characteristic
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of the Law of God
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is... is also a
characteristic of Who He is.
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It's a
transcript of His character
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and no wonder the Law
of God was written in stone
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because this is Who God is.
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He's perfect... He's
loving... He stands forever...
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He's holy... just... and pure.
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Now, we're talking
about the Ark of the Covenant,
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and whenever the
Ark of the Covenant
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was transported
from place to place,
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incidentally, the
Ark of the Covenant
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was never seen
by the Israelites.
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Only the High Priest was
able to see the... the cherubim,
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and the Shekinah glory
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and he was only able
to do that once a year.
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When the Ark of the Covenant
was being transported...
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they were not able to see
inside... to see the chest...
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all they saw was this covering
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and here in Numbers
chapter 4 verses 5 and 6,
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the Bible tells us, "When
the camp prepares to journey,
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Aaron and his son shall come,
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and they shall take
down the covering veil,
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and cover the Ark of
the Testimony with it:
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they shall put on it a
covering of badgers' skins
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and spread over that a
cloth entirely of blue,
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and they shall insert its pole.
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So, when the children of Israel
would go from place to place,
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remember the tabernacle
of Moses was a makeshift...
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I should say, a
portable tabernacle,
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it was able to be
pulled up for travel,
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and when the Ark of the
Covenant was being transported,
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it would be covered
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and all the
children of Israel would see
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was this blue covering
over the Ark of the Covenant.
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I have an
artist's depiction here,
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this is all that the
Israelites would see.
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The priest would be
holding the Ark of the Covenant
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and this blue cloth
would be over the top
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of the Ark of the Covenant.
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So, as they went
from place to place,
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the Israelites
would see the color blue.
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What did the
color blue symbolize?
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We have another text in Numbers
chapter 15 verses 38 and 39,
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"Speak to the
children of Israel,
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tell them to make tassels on
the corners of their garments
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throughout their generations,
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and to put a blue thread in
the tassels of the corners. "
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So, the children of Israel
were told to make this clothing
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and in the clothing,
they would have these tassels
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and in the tassels, they were
to use a particular color...
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it was the color blue.
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Now, why were they to put
the color blue in their tassels?
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The Bible goes on and says,
"And you shall have the tassels
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that you may look upon it
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and remember all the
commandments of the Lord
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and do them. "
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Very interesting.
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So, as the children of Israel
were going through their day,
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and they saw in their
tassels that blue cloth...
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the color blue what
was it to remind them of?
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It was to remind them
of the Ten Commandments.
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It was to remind
them of the Law of God
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so, as they went
through their day,
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and even as they
looked at their clothes,
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the color blue represented
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the Ten Commandments
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and the Ark of the
Covenant was colored in blue...
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covered in blue
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signifying also the
Ten Commandments as well.
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There's another place in
which the color blue arises
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and this is from Exodus
chapter 24, verses 9 through 12,
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"Then Moses,
Aaron, Nadab and Abihu,
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and seventy of the
elders of Israel went up
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and they saw the God of Israel,
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and there was under
His feet as it were,
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a pavement of sapphire stone,
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like the very
heaven for clearness.
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And the Lord said to Moses,
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'Come up to the
mountain and wait here
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and I will give
you the tables of stone
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with the law
and the commandments
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which I have written
for their instruction. '"
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Here they see God
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and notice that God
is standing on something,
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they see God and He's
standing on a sapphire stone.
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What a picture
that must have been
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that God is standing
on this sapphire stone.
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What color is sapphire?
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Sapphire is the color blue.
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In other words,
the very foundation
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of what God is
standing on is the color blue
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and then God says to Moses,
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"Come up here and I will
give you tables of stone. "
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Now, let's back up here,
God is standing on a stone
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and the stone is the color blue
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and God says, "Come up
here and I will give you
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tables of stone. "
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Now, there's something here
in the richness of the Hebrew
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because when you
study the Hebrew here...
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the richness of the
Hebrew brings out...
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when it says,
"Tables of stone... "
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it should actually say,
"The tables of THE stone. "
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Now, there's a difference.
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The tables of THE stone
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and when you look at the
literary context of this,
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scholars believe that
the tables of THE stone
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that Moses was
given on Mount Sinai
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came from the sapphire
stone that God was standing on.
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In other words, when God
was going to find the material
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to give Moses
the Ten Commandments,
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He wanted to
portray the significance
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of the Ten Commandments
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and what better significance
of the Ten Commandments
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than the very foundation
of what God is standing on
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and what His
throne is founded upon.
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He took it from
the sapphire stone
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and so, scholars believe
that the Ten Commandments
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the tables of THE stone
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which God took
from the very foundation
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on which He was standing on.
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In the Hebrew, the
nuance... the evidence is there
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that God took the
tables of the sapphire stone
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and gave it to Moses
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that when Moses took
it down from the mountain
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and placed it inside the Ark,
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that the Ten Commandment
stones were sapphire...
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in other words,
they were the color blue.
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There's another
place in Scripture
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where the color blue arises
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and it's 2nd
Chronicles chapter 5 verse 10.
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There was nothing in the Ark
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save the two tables which
Moses put therein at Horeb,
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when the LORD made a covenant
with the children of Israel,
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when they came out of Egypt... "
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now, Horeb is
another name for Sinai.
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Now, in the transition period
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between the
tabernacle of Moses and Solomon,
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there was only the
tables of THE stone
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that were left in
the Ark of the Covenant.
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Remember there were a
couple of other articles
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that were placed
inside the chest...
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the Ark of the Covenant,
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it was Aaron's rod that
budded and a pot of manna
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and the Ten Commandments...
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but when they transitioned
from Moses' tabernacle
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to Solomon's temple,
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only the tables of
these stones were left there.
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In other words,
the Ten Commandments
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were the only
things that were left
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inside of Solomon's
temple... this is important.
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In Ezekiel chapter 10 verse 1
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"Then I looked, and,
behold, in the firmament
00:08:39.35\00:08:41.32
that was above the
head of the cherubim's,
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there appeared over them
as it were a sapphire stone,
00:08:43.28\00:08:47.06
as the appearance and
likeness of a throne. "
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Notice that in
Ezekiel chapter 10 verse 1,
00:08:50.49\00:08:53.76
here Ezekiel is not
seeing the Ark of the Covenant,
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he's seeing actually
what the Ark of the Covenant
00:08:57.40\00:09:00.60
pointed toward and
that was the throne of God,
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here Ezekiel is seeing a
throne or the throne of God
00:09:03.81\00:09:08.41
and notice that this entity...
the sapphire stone appears
00:09:08.44\00:09:13.95
and notice, there are cherubim
00:09:13.98\00:09:16.18
that are above
the sapphire stone
00:09:16.22\00:09:18.35
just like it's depicted
by the Ark of the Covenant.
00:09:18.39\00:09:21.86
The Ark of the
Covenant had the cherubim
00:09:21.89\00:09:25.63
and inside the
Ark of the Covenant,
00:09:25.66\00:09:27.90
was the sapphire stone
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and here Ezekiel is
seeing the real thing...
00:09:29.83\00:09:33.97
he's seeing this vision of
heaven in Ezekiel 1 verse 26.
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"Above the
firmament over their heads
00:09:37.11\00:09:40.04
there was the
likeness of a throne,
00:09:40.08\00:09:43.01
in appearance like sapphire;
00:09:43.04\00:09:46.15
and seated above the
likeness of a throne,
00:09:46.18\00:09:50.09
was as it were the
likeness of a human form. "
00:09:50.12\00:09:53.96
Let's look at this,
Ezekiel sees a vision of God
00:09:53.99\00:09:58.39
sitting on His throne
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and the very throne of
God is made of sapphire.
00:10:00.33\00:10:05.77
This has special
significance, Friends,
00:10:05.80\00:10:08.60
because it indicates
00:10:08.64\00:10:10.71
that the very foundation
of God's government...
00:10:10.74\00:10:13.54
the very principles on which
God governs the universe...
00:10:13.58\00:10:17.98
the very throne room
of God is made of sapphire
00:10:18.01\00:10:21.22
indicating that
the Ten Commandments
00:10:21.25\00:10:23.35
and the principles found therein
00:10:23.39\00:10:25.45
the Law of Love and Liberty
00:10:25.49\00:10:28.09
is the very
undergirding and the foundation
00:10:28.12\00:10:31.73
of the Government of God...
00:10:31.76\00:10:34.76
the King of kings
and the Lord of lords.
00:10:34.80\00:10:37.87
It's no wonder that
Lucifer in the great controversy
00:10:37.93\00:10:42.54
made an attack
against the Law of God
00:10:42.57\00:10:45.94
because if he can strike at the
foundation of God's government,
00:10:45.97\00:10:49.78
you can undermine
all of the principles
00:10:49.81\00:10:53.42
of which God and
His kingdom stand for.
00:10:53.45\00:10:56.99
"In these verses,
00:10:57.02\00:10:58.35
Ezekiel identifies
the blue sapphire stone
00:10:58.39\00:11:00.56
that God is standing
on as the throne of God,
00:11:00.62\00:11:02.76
that means that the sapphire
stone God is standing on
00:11:02.79\00:11:05.79
in Exodus chapter 24
represented God's throne
00:11:05.83\00:11:08.53
and the Ten
Commandments were taken directly
00:11:08.56\00:11:11.20
out of God's throne. "
00:11:11.23\00:11:14.07
In Hebrews chapter 1
verse 8, the Bible says,
00:11:14.14\00:11:17.84
"But unto the Son he said,
00:11:17.87\00:11:19.81
"Thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever;
00:11:19.84\00:11:24.01
a scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of Thy kingdom. "
00:11:24.05\00:11:28.55
If God's throne is eternal,
00:11:28.58\00:11:30.69
then it also means that
God's Law is eternal as well.
00:11:30.75\00:11:34.82
The Bible says that
God's throne will last forever,
00:11:34.86\00:11:38.89
and by implication,
00:11:38.93\00:11:40.46
if the Law of God... the
sapphire stone is God's throne
00:11:40.50\00:11:43.77
then the Law of
God is forever as well
00:11:43.80\00:11:46.70
and God wants to
write the Law of God
00:11:46.74\00:11:49.37
in our own
hearts... in our own minds...
00:11:49.40\00:11:52.07
Romans chapter 13
verses 8 through 13,
00:11:52.11\00:11:54.68
The commandments: "You
shall not commit adultery,
00:11:54.71\00:11:57.41
You shall not
murder, You shall not steal,
00:11:57.45\00:11:59.48
You shall not covet
00:11:59.51\00:12:00.85
and whatever other
command there may be,
00:12:00.88\00:12:03.08
are summed up in
this one command:
00:12:03.12\00:12:05.15
'Love your
neighbor as yourself. '
00:12:05.22\00:12:08.06
Love does no harm to a neighbor,
00:12:08.09\00:12:10.93
therefore, love is the
fulfillment of the law. "
00:12:10.96\00:12:14.63
Back in Eden...
in Edenic perfection
00:12:14.66\00:12:18.03
Adam and Eve did not
have to wake up every day
00:12:18.07\00:12:21.40
and go to this Law
that was there, and say,
00:12:21.44\00:12:23.91
and say, "Oh, I
got to remember today
00:12:23.94\00:12:26.37
not to lie, cheat and steal. "
00:12:26.41\00:12:27.74
No, the Law of God in Eden
00:12:27.78\00:12:30.25
was written not
on tables of stone
00:12:30.31\00:12:33.98
but it was written on
the hearts of Adam and Eve.
00:12:34.02\00:12:38.02
They were converted,
00:12:38.05\00:12:39.42
they were sanctified,
00:12:39.45\00:12:40.79
they were naturally loving,
00:12:40.82\00:12:42.99
the Law of God was
written in their hearts
00:12:43.02\00:12:46.26
and the sanctuary message
00:12:46.29\00:12:48.10
is the message of
how God wants to bring us
00:12:48.16\00:12:50.97
into the Courtyard...
00:12:51.00\00:12:52.33
into the Holy Place...
00:12:52.37\00:12:53.70
into the
Most-Holy-Place experience
00:12:53.74\00:12:56.24
where the Law of God is
00:12:56.27\00:12:57.61
and He wants to bring
us all the way back to Eden
00:12:57.64\00:13:00.41
were Adam and Eve were,
00:13:00.44\00:13:01.78
He wants to write
the Law of God today
00:13:01.81\00:13:04.35
not on tables of stone
00:13:04.38\00:13:07.25
but on the
tablets of your heart.
00:13:07.28\00:13:10.09
He wants to write it on
your mind... on your heart...
00:13:10.12\00:13:14.92
on your consciousness
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so that you will,
by the grace of God,
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respond by loving
your neighbor as yourself
00:13:19.26\00:13:22.46
and loving God
with all your heart.
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Stay with us as
we continue our study
00:13:25.03\00:13:27.40
of the sanctuary,
salvation and our Savior.
00:13:27.44\00:13:31.34