Part 3 – I AM The Door

Firstborn From Among The Dead

We’re going to turn back to John 10:9, and we’ll focus in on ‘ I AM THE DOOR. "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Now the Door of which He is speaking is The Door that was introduced to us in Exodus 12:1-14. So we have to focus our minds on that story. We remember that in the might of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, and leading up to that, God has told Moses to go speak to Pharaoh and declare to Pharaoh, " Israel is my son, even my firstborn." (Exodus 4:22) Now to say Israel is My Son is one thing: but He defines that Son when He says, "even My firstborn"; because the firstborn has to be from among the dead. That’s how "firstborn" finally comes to be defined in Christ. Christ is the firstborn from among the dead. Christ is the only begotten of the Father – begotten from among the dead. So Christ is NOT firstborn, nor is He only begotten because of the virgin birth. The virgin birth in fact, has NO reference at all to Christ being firstborn or to Christ being only begotten of The Father, because that’s not where He was in fact begotten of The Father according to Psalm 2:7, " I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." This Day have I begotten thee… What is that all about?

Colossians 1:18 – And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

John 1:14 – And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Hebrews 1:5 – For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

Revelation 1:5 – And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

Resurrection From The Dead

Well, among the many references, Romans 1:4 says it is all about The Resurrection. " And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." It is in The Resurrection. Look at the types and shadows. Look at His baptism in Jordan: what is that a type of, except The Resurrection? Coming UP OUT of the waters completely, totally up on the bank of the waters, and the heaven is opened. Now John has declared, " …Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) prior to the baptism. But now it is after that, in what is in type of The Resurrection that the heavens open, and The Father says, " THIS IS MY SON." Then on the Mount of Transfiguration: of what is that a type if not The Resurrection? Jesus says don’t make mention of this until I have been raised from among the dead. Don’t say anything about this until after The Resurrection. So the whole thing there is a type of The Resurrection, and something is taken away. The Law and the commandments are taken away. And something is brought forth there in view of Newness of Life, and remains – and ONLY remains. CHRIST DOES! There is there a removal of the first, and there is there an establishing of the second. There is there the Testimony of The Resurrection and again, The Father says, " THIS IS MY SON." He identifies with His Son in The Resurrection. Certainly it is Christ in the virgin birth, but it is Christ born to die.

Matthew 3:16,17 – And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 17:1-5,8,9 – And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

Hebrews 10:9, 5 – Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

God Determines The Firstborn

That has nothing to do with "firstborn". It is firstborn from among the dead. Why? Because the whole New Creation comes out from among the dead. The whole New Creation is BY RESURRECTION. It isn’t by natural birth! And the "firstborn" is not by natural birth either. That is shown in the Bible in places like Esau and Jacob. Jacob was not naturally firstborn, but he was designated firstborn of God. It was the same way with Ishmael. Ishmael was in order – firstborn, but it was Isaac to whom the promises were made. God determines firstborn, and in each of those cases a DEATH was associated with it. Isaac upon the mountain laid there as a sacrifice. Hebrews 11 says Abraham received him in a figure of The Resurrection. When was Isaac truly the firstborn? When they came down off of that mountain! It was on their way to the mountain that God 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." (Genesis 22:2) When was Isaac seen as the ONLY son? What was all of that? That was all bound up in a death, burial and a resurrection. They are going to the mountain for death, burial and resurrection. That’s where Ishmael is totally counted as NON-EXISTENT!!

1 Corinthians 15:47 – The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

John 3:6 – That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Genesis 25:23,25,33 – And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger…And the first came out red, all over like a hairy garment; and they called his name Esau… And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

Genesis 16:15,16 – And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

Genesis 21:5 – And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.

Genesis 17:18,19 – And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him, for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Genesis 22:8-10 – And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

Hebrews 11:17-19 – By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Genesis 22:2 – 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.

The New Creation

Think about this: when are you and I – as the first man… when and where are you and I as the first man totally non-existent? In The Resurrection? In the New Creation the first man is NOT found. We are NOT there as the first man, because we as a first man die with Him. But The Resurrection, as we have said, is not the first man living again, but it is Christ living in my place. It is Christ living in me. That’s the Greater Life! See, Christ living in me is greater than me living! That’s greater because whenever it is me living there is a death yet coming. We must get a hold of that! Paul is saying this. In Romans 6:7 he says, " For he that is dead is freed from sin." That’s the same thing as saying where I am living there is yet a death coming. He that is freed from the Law is dead to the Law. That’s Paul saying that. If my concept of The Resurrection is ME living, then there’s yet a death. And there’s a frustration to that. The Resurrection is NOT me living: it is CHRIST living in me; it is CHRIST being my Life. It is me understanding Christ is The Living Spirit. Christ is the Life Giving Spirit: Christ is The Life Who is in me. He is The Life of my soul. My soul lives, but CHRIST is my Life! My soul lives, but Christ is The Life of my soul. HE is The Resurrection.

Colossians 3:9-11 – Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Hebrews 2:9- But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

2 Corinthians 5:14 – For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead.

Galatians 2:20 – I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Romans 7:24 – O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Colossians 3:4 – When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

1 Corinthians 15:45 – And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

John 14:6 – Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

1 John 5:11,12 – And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Dead In Egypt

So this is what we have to understand about this door in Exodus. The statement is "Israel is my son, even my firstborn." (Exodus 4:22) Well, when is Israel going to be the firstborn? When they are raised from among the dead. So let’s look at that. What does it mean: when they are raised from among the dead? Israel is considered as being DEAD in Egypt. Egypt’s god is the god of death. They are considered as being in their graves in Egypt: they have been in their graves for 430 years. It is symbolic because Joseph died in Egypt. The symbol there is that all of Israel died with him. That’s why his bones had to be carried out of Egypt. That is symbolic of the Resurrection of Israel. That was symbolic, but when it comes to Christ it isn’t symbolic: it’s in reality! It’s fulfilled in Christ. All of that in the Old Testament is figure and type and symbol, but it is fulfilled in The Lord Jesus Christ. But you just keep seeing the elements of it in the Testimony. There is a "why" to everything. WHY did Joseph die? WHY did Joseph say that? Because who was Joseph? Joseph represented all of Israel. Do you remember Joseph’s vision? In the vision all bowed; and everything was summed up in that which he was, which he represented. That’s the reason his brothers sold him and said he was killed. But all they did was just fulfil the dream! It’s like 1 Corinthians 2:8, " Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." Yes – had they known; because in doing that, they brought the whole thing upon themselves!

Exodus 12:40,41 – Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

Genesis 47:29,30 – And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee in Egypt. But I will lie with my father, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

Exodus 13:19- And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you: and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

Hebrews 3:5 – And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after.

Matthew 5:17 – Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Genesis 37:6,7,21,22 – And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf…And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him, And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

Dead In Sin/Dead To Sin

But it is symbolic, and it is here in Joseph that all of Israel finally comes to him; received of him, summed up in him. So they have been in their graves for 400 years, and they need to be raised from the dead, and come out from among the dead. But is being dead IN EGYPT the death that has at the end of it THE RESURRECTION? Now modern Christianity says yes, but I’m going to show you the difference. That is being ‘dead IN sin’. That’s being dead, with Egypt representing death. And if that was all the death that was required, and then God just raises you up out of that death, then why did THE LAMB have to die? There is an ALL CONSUMING DEATH; there is a death that consumes death! And that’s The Death of THE LAMB. There is a death that is not of disobedience: it is of obedience. That’s The Lamb. It doesn’t take any great revelation for me to identify with being dead in sin. The identification I must come to make is being dead with Christ TO sin: being dead with The Lamb, because The Lamb did not die IN sin; He died TO sin. That’s the greater death; that’s the all consuming death. That’s the death that swallows up death!

Genesis 41:56,57 - And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

Genesis 42:5,6 – And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came; for the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

Exodus 12:3,6 – Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

Hebrews 2:14 – Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Romans 6:1,2 – What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

1 Peter 1:19,20 – But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

1Corinthians 15:54-57 – So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dead In Adam/Dead With Christ

What is death? Separation from God by sin. But there is death that swallows that up, and that is THE DEATH OF CHRIST, that is The Death of The Lamb. Romans 6:3, " Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ…" Not as many of us as are in Adam: no, as many of us as were baptized INTO CHRIST. "…baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" Then there’s got to be a difference in being dead in Adam and being dead with Christ TO Adam. There’s got to be a difference! It’s a greater death. It’s an all consuming death. It is not a death brought about BY sin: it is a death TO sin. It is a death of OBEDIENCE! Romans 8:3,4, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The firstborn Son comes out of that death. The firstborn Son doesn’t come out of the death of disobedience: the firstborn Son comes out of the death of obedience. John 12:24, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." That’s the death of OBEDIENCE. That’s the death of Isaac – obedient to his father. Abraham didn’t take him up on that hill because Isaac was a bad body. Ishmael was the one who was counted of no account. Ishmael was the one who was counted not of the household. Ishmael was accounted not of the inheritance. Then why didn’t Abraham take Ishmael up there and kill him? Because that’s NOT the death that brings about Resurrection!

Philippians 2:6-8 – Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Genesis 21:10 – Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

Genesis 17:21- But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

Crucified With Christ

The death of disobedience doesn’t produce the firstborn Son! What I’m trying to tell you is modern Christianity thinks that you come from being dead in Adam to being alive in Christ. No you don’t! You come from being dead in Adam to being dead with Christ, so that CHRIST may live in your place. It is YOU who dies with Christ. He brings YOU to your end. Paul doesn’t say I’m no more a sinner; I’m a Christian on my way to heaven. No, Paul says, " I am crucified with Christ". (Galatians 2:20) He doesn’t just say my sins are paid for on the Cross, and He died so that I wouldn’t have to. No! I am crucified with Christ. That’s a whole different idea of death! It’s a whole new concept of death now: not of sin, not of disobedience – the death of Christ TO all of that!

Romans 6:8,11,13 – Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him…Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord… Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

The Blood of The Lamb

THE DOOR: We’re going to find that this Door is not an exit out of Egypt; it is an entrance into CHRIST’S Death. There is blood on it, and I’m telling you they didn’t catch an Egyptian and kill him and put his blood on the door. The blood on the door is the blood of the lamb – not an Egyptian. Killing an Egyptian and putting his blood on the door wouldn’t have done any good. Adam is already dead! You can smear his blood on anything you want to. It isn’t going to do any good! He’s already dead! He’s dead to sin. Don’t catch an Egyptian – get me a Lamb! And it’s got to be a certain kind of a lamb. You can put his blood on the door. It’s THAT death you identify with, because I’m not trying to get you out of Egypt, I’m trying to bring you forth in the Resurrection. Your way out is your way in! Into the death of The Lamb, and coming forth as The Son of God! Do you see there wasn’t a bunch of Egyptians that walked out of Egypt: it was The Son of God! This is in type, in shadow. It is HIM being raised up – out from among the dead. This is the story that is here before us.

1 Peter 1:18,19 – Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Exodus 12:5 – Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats.

The Death of Christ

So it’s His Blood, and with Christ it is His Death with which we must identify. See, we stop short of that. We say, ‘Now everybody come down to the altar and say this prayer with me. I’m a sinner…’ We go through all of that. Now that’s fine, but what does that have to do with being dead with Christ? The fact that you are a sinner isn’t going to get you anywhere! The fact that you confess that you are a sinner isn’t going to get you anywhere! Now I know that sounds hard to a lot of folks, but that is The Truth! They have their little "Salvation formulas", but we need to tear those up and throw them away! And we need to present the Truth as it is in Christ! You are already dead in sin as a sinner – there you are! But the way out of there is not Life. The way out of there is death, but it’s The Lamb’s Death! It’s The Death of The Cross. He was " …obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:8) See, it was not simply dying as a man that was so humiliating. You know: just like Tom or Joe or Pete – just died. No, the Death of Christ was something altogether greater than that. It went back beyond sin: before there was sin, though it included sin. Oh, there’s much MORE to HIS Death! It was the absolute separation of a soul from the Eternal Spirit of God. This was The Death of Christ.

Mark 15:34 – And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Isaiah 53:10,11 – Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 

Raised Up Out of Corruptibility

And if we see His death, then we have to understand that when He died – I died with Him. We claim His death as our death, with the understanding that in this situation, had The Eternal Spirit of God not come and reunited itself with His soul, and raised Him up out from among the dead, there would have been no firstborn from among the dead. And Jesus went to the Cross knowing that. He went in obedience to that. He went into that saying, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."(Psalm 16:10) ‘You will not leave my soul in hell. You will not leave me here in this place. Never will you suffer that I have to return to mortality.’ That is the true meaning of that: to corruptibility. Nor did the Father do that. "…that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father…" (Romans 6:4) "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Romans 8:11) You see, there was that reuniting, and when we understand His death was our death, we understand too that except The Spirit live IN ME, I don’t live! Except Christ, by The Spirit lives in me, I don’t have any Life!

2 Corinthians 5:14- For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead.

Romans 6:8 – Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

Life More Abundantly

When He died – I died. When He died – beyond sin, He brought humanity to its end! He executed the judgment of God upon mankind. That’s what we have to come to in order to experience The New Life IN CHRIST. The New Life in Christ is CHRIST! It is The Resurrection! Newness of Life: "…even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4) That is The Resurrection. Him living – in His Body is The Resurrection. And the firstborn is out from among the dead, so the firstborn is BY The Resurrection. "… that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Romans 8:29) His Body – the many who are One Body in Christ Jesus. This is the picture. This is The Door Jesus is identifying with when He says in John 10:10, " …I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Bible scholars agree that "life" and "abundant life" are not two separate things. In other words you don’t have Life in Christ, and then Abundant Life is in all the things you can accumulate. No, it is the abundance of that same Life: it is that Life in its abundance, that Life in its immeasurable fulness. Jesus said that you might have Life, but not just that I might live in you; but that I might live in you to fulness of measure. Paul talks about "abundant life" when he says in Ephesians 4:13, " Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

Hebrew 9:27 – And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

John 12:31 – Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

John 5:26,27 – For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

Abundance Is What You Give

Abundant Life is not what you get. Abundant Life is measured by what you share. Abundant Life is the overflow! Abundant Life is not the river IN the city: it’s the river COMING OUT of the city! That’s Life in abundance! So abundance is NOT what you get: it’s what you GIVE. You give out of abundance. There is much to be said about that, but we are looking at it in reference to This Door, because there is a Door to that kind of Life. And that kind of Life can not be defined as "me" living. No, and it isn’t just Christ living in me: it is Christ living in me IN FULL MEASURE. Because until there is a full measure, nothing is coming out. It’s just all for me: it’s like the water jugs at the wedding at Cana. They had water in them to a measure: an Old Covenant measure. Jesus said fill them to the brim. Now why didn’t He just turn the water that was in them to wine? Because that’s NOT New Covenant; that’s not fulness. Fulness can not be measured. Do you know there is nobody in history who knows the measure of those waterpots, because the measure was according to a Jewish measure. And the pots would hold it, and the rest were just empty. Nobody knows what "full" was. Full was unmeasurable! Full was what they drew out of.

John 7:38 – He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Revelation 22:1 – And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Ezekiel 47:1,9 – Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar…And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed: and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.

Philippians 1:21 – For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

John 2:1,6-8 – And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there…And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

Abundant Life Without Measure

And on and on in the scripture you can see the evidence that Abundant Life is not what you can contain and what you can get. Abundant Life is what you give: it’s what you share with others. How different that is in the Church world today that preaches that through the accumulation of "things" we have Abundant Life. That is absolutely foolish: along with being unscriptural, it is just foolish. If you can get it, if you can have it and contain it, how can it be abundant? How can it be without measure? See, that’s the PURPOSE in this door. It was also interesting to me that it is this door that Jesus identified with when He said "I AM THE DOOR." It is this door that is on a little mud house in Goshen. All of it is like a tomb: all of it is like a burial, like a grave. It is made out of Egyptian dirt, Egyptian brick. It is made out of Jewish labor – the labor of the dead, the workings of the dead. Why didn’t He identify with that magnificent thing that Moses built, or better yet, that Solomon built? But He didn't. The only time He identified with what Moses built was to say that it was done away! The only time He identified with what Solomon built was to say it will all be torn down, and nothing will be left of it!

Luke 12:21-23 – So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. And he said unto his disciples, Therefore, I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.

2 Corinthians 4:18 – While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Genesis 13:16 – And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

Genesis 15:5 – And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

Hebrews 10:9 – Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.

John 2:19 – Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Luke 21:5,6 – And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Matthew 24:1,2 – And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Door and Blood

But He identified with this door in Exodus. I AM THE DOOR. And that goes to Exodus 12 because that’s the first time door and blood come together. One day I was in the library, looking at large pictures of the Tabernacle of Moses, and the Temple of Solomon, and as I did, The Spirit of The Lord said, ‘You know that’s not the first house.’ And I asked The Lord about that. I said, sure, that’s the first that was taken away. Yes, The Lord said, that was the first that was taken away, but that was NOT the first house. That’s the one that was associated with the Law, but there was one before that. And about that time I woke up and I thought, O God! And that’s when I went to John 10 and all of a sudden I saw here was the first House that was Israel, and this House was before the Law. This House had no veil: they had free entrance into this House by The BLOOD! When they entered in through this door, they themselves were The House of God, The Household of God. There was no veil over in the corner hiding anything! They were there looking upon one another’s face as The Glory of God. They were eating the flesh of The Lamb! They had free access: they came forth in the power of The Resurrection!

Hebrews 10:19 – Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

Ephesians 2:18 – For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Before The Law

And it was only after they disobeyed God and refused to walk in The Truth that the veil came into play. And they never again had access except representatively in their priesthood. But you can see every bit of that in this house in Goshen. You can see the simplicity of our Salvation BEFORE the Law complicated it: before imagery distorted it. Here it is in plain view: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:9,10) What more than that do you find in any of these other two types? You don’t. Here Israel themselves was the Priesthood that slew the lamb. But that was replaced by a Priesthood that they had to look at. I sat for two weeks and just looked at this: I wept, and I realized, My God, it’s this little mud hut. We’ve got this treasure in earthen vessels! 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, " But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." Jesus looked at the magnificence of what the Law required and said it will all be torn down, and not two stones will be left standing upon another. And yet we get lost in the grandeur of the thing! All of it is overshadowing THE LORD HIMSELF. The important thing here is The Blood and The Lamb, and the communion of eating this flesh. No one was denied access here! Let’s see when you get into Moses’ Tabernacle.

Exodus 19:5,6 – Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Exodus 34:33,34 – And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

Exodus 28:1,29 – And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons…And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually.

2 Corinthians 11:3 – But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Exodus 12:6,8 – And ye shall keep it (the lamb) up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening…And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

Leviticus 1:5-9- And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt-sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:24 – And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Access

You can’t get into Moses’ Tabernacle so easily! The Law draws the veil and says – don’t come here! Solomon’s Temple held out great promise, great prophetic promise, but really what Jesus did was just take out all of that, and He brought that little mud hut with the door that had blood on it – right into Himself! I saw that whole thing just vanish, and all of a sudden we come from the door that had blood on it on that mud hut, and we come right into the PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST – and we have entrance into HIM! We have entrance into Him … I AM! My God, do you see that? I AM The Door! He made direct identification with that door that had blood upon it. I AM The Door. And in my mind I saw all of that other coming to NOTHING. He reached back BEFORE all of that, and Jesus said, No, this is The Door that I AM – This Door, The Door with My death upon it that leads to Resurrection and Life. It is This Door that makes of you a Kingdom and a priesthood. So that is This Door that we are looking at here, and with whom He identifies with in John 10.

Exodus 26:1,33 – Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them…And thou shalt hang up the vail upon the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.

Exodus 27:16,21 – And the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four…In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

Hebrews 9:3,6-8 – And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all…Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.

Hebrews 10:19,20 – Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.

Ephesians 2:18 – For through him we both (Jew and Gentile) have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Revelation 5:9,10 – And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Salvation is NOT A Getting Out

But let’s now just look at a negative side of this Door: something that this Door is NOT. This Door was NOT, and is NOT INTO THE WILDERNESS. See, this Door did not have "Exit" written over the top of it. It was not a way OUT: it had "ENTRANCE" written over the top of it – in blood. "By me if any man ENTER IN… I am The Door…" (John 10:9) Enter IN: Salvation is not a getting out: it is an ENTERING IN. Deliverance – an entering in. See, we think deliverance is getting out. No, no – deliverance is entering in. We think Redemption is getting out: but Redemption is getting in. All of this is entering IN. One of the first times I came to realize this was in a search in Exodus and going on from Exodus 12 we come to Exodus 15:17. This just sums up the whole exodus in purpose. And this shows that the purpose is NOT getting out. See, we’ve got it wrong in our modern definition of Salvation and in our dispensational idea. We’ve got it wrong! It is not getting out… waiting to get out… or having gotten out… after you are out… then what? In most churches "The Song of the Boll Weevil" should be the only song that is sung. It’s an old song: "Just looking for a home… just looking for a home." This is how they see Salvation.

Colossians 1:13 – Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

Exodus 6:6-8 – Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the Lord.

Bring Them In

But Christ is The Door to The Home! Christ is The Door to The House! It’s not getting out. This is summed up in Exodus 15:17. Here it is with purpose: " Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." Then you come right over to 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." John 14:3, "…that where I am, ye may be also." John 14:20, " At that day ye shall know that I am IN my Father, and ye IN me, and I IN you." Yes, Christ being made the true minister of the sanctuary of God, not made with hands: not of this creation. It is not about getting out. Neither was "the exodus" about getting out: but it was about getting IN. Now therefore, we make the statement: The Door was not into the wilderness. The wilderness is the result of getting out. It was the result of unbelief and disobedience. And when I say "wilderness" I mean the 38 years of wandering there. Actually God counted the whole time as wandering. You see, when you disobey and stop short of The Truth, God just counts the whole time, the forty years; He counted the whole time as wandering. Isn’t that something? That just broke my heart when I saw that! We must understand that the revelation of Jesus Christ is not historical: it is present or it doesn’t exist at all.

Ephesians 2:19 – Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.

Hebrews 8:1,2 – Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Exodus 15:22 – So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.

Numbers 14:33,34 – And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

Psalm 107:4- They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

Hebrews 3:17-19 – But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Wandering – Not Entering In

It’s not what I knew last year. It is what of Him I am seeing right now, this hour, this day. They ceased to walk, and when they did, it is as though they never had entered in through that Door, because the penalty of not entering in through that Door was to die with no hope of resurrection. Well, they all died in the wilderness! Their bones were left there. They weren’t carried into Canaan, which is the type of Resurrection. The Hebrews writer make this clear to us saying they did not enter into that rest. They will NOT enter in. Why? Because He provided The Way: He provided it through Blood. He provided The Way! And there isn’t any other Way! We either walk in The Way or we don’t but God doesn’t have Plan B or Plan C for another Way. And somebody will say, ‘Well I don’t think that is fair!’ Well, what do you think is fair? God sacrificed HIMSELF and provided HIMSELF the Way… what do you think is fair? You refuse to walk in it, I refuse to walk in it: I refuse to identify with it – why do we think God owes us another Way? No, there is no other Way! And when they ceased there and turned around and refused to enter into fulness, God had no other Way. Do you know when they came through the Door it was the month Abib? It is the first month of the year. It is the month marked by PASSOVER.

Exodus 12:13 – And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Acts 7:38,39,42 – This is he (Moses) that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers; who received the lively oracles to give unto us: To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt… Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

Hebrews 4:1-3 – Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Numbers 13:27,28,31,32 – And they told him, and he said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there… But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.

Numbers 14:22,23 –Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.

Exodus 13:4- This day came ye out in the month Abib.

A New Time

We read this in Exodus 12. The first thing that changes is TIME. Now is a new time. Exodus 12:1,2, "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." See, God didn’t worry about what month it was in Egypt, because He’s not doing things now according to Egypt’s calendar or time. He is bringing Israel forth in The Resurrection, so time starts over: time is NEW. This is the beginning of time for you. This is the beginning: four hundred years are gone! Four hundred years are wiped out: four hundred years never existed. You are coming forth in The Resurrection. Time is altogether different now. This NOW will be to you the first month. And when the first group wouldn’t enter in and they came back and they wandered, God counted forty years. He counted even the two years that they were walking – He counted that out. After forty years He brought the second group, and again, He had raised them up – out from among the dead! Dead of disobedience – that didn’t get them anywhere. See, He raised up out from among that The Obedient, The Second Israel, The New Israel – He raised them up. Do you know the month that they entered in? Abib! The same month! It was like forty years never existed.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Exodus 12:40,41 – Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

Numbers 14:29-31 – Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun, But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

Joshua 1:1,2 – Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

Joshua 4:19 – And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.

Joshua 5:6,7- Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

Our Walk In The I AM

And if you can see that whole picture, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about ENTERING IN THROUGH THE DOOR, and going into the fulness that God has prepared for you in His Son. It wasn’t supposed to be a forty year journey. The wilderness is NOT necessary to The Eternal Plan of God in Christ. The only thing that is necessary for that is: I AM THE DOOR, THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE. Our walk is always in THE I AM. Many say the wilderness is necessary: that they learned something in the wilderness. The only thing they learned in the wilderness was – they were going to die! They died! What did they learn in the wilderness? What difference does it make what they learned? They died! No, our walk is IN CHRIST. The Way, The Truth, The Life is our walk – wilderness is not! "Wilderness wandering" is a creation in our own minds and our own hearts. It is a creation of our own UNBELIEF. What disturbs me a little is the tendency of some of us who preach Christ to more or less indicate that you’ve got to come through the wilderness. No – you’ve got to come through THE DOOR! We’ve got to get hold of this! You’ve got to come through The Door – not through the wilderness. You don’t have to wander around out there in carnality for forty years! No, that isn’t necessary at all.

Revelation 21:5 – And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Ephesians 4:1,17 – I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye were called…This I say therefore, and testify of the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.

Psalm 78:17,22,40-42- And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness…Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation…How oft they did provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy one of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

1 Corinthians 10:5,6,11 – But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted...Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Unbelief/ The Truth

Now that isn’t to say that you will not face times of trials and testings of your faith. But the wilderness has nothing to do with your faith. The Hebrews writer says it was because of their UNBELIEF. They had no faith that they were there. All that incurred was the wrath of God. So yes, there will be times of trial and tribulation, testing, but that is the testing of your faith: the testing of your obedience – not disobedience, not the conditions of disobedience. Well, the answer to the wilderness is THE TRUTH. Yes, I AM The Way, The Truth, The Life. See, they left The Truth, they forsook The Truth. Only returning to The Truth will suffice, because there’s no other way out of the wilderness. The wilderness is a creation of unbelief. So The Lord raised up – in Truth, a whole NEW Israel, and He brought them right back to the same place, in the same month as if nothing had ever happened!

1 Peter 1:7 – That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

Deuteronomy 8:2-6 – And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

Hebrews 3:17-19 – But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Back To The First Altar

I remember Abraham. He ends up in this place and the Lord appears to Abraham, and Abraham builds an altar to the Lord. And the Lord relates to the land there. Genesis 12:7, " And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him." He built an altar, but of course this is all in type of Spirit. But then right in the middle of that, hard times come, and Abraham goes to Egypt. And there he gets rich and gets all this stuff, and then he’s got Lot with him, and now the land that is prepared of God won’t hold them! See, it’s not going to hold all your Egyptian luggage and that kind of stuff. It’s made for the fulness of The Lord, but here’s my point: He had to go back to where he built the first altar and start all over again. He wasn’t able to build another altar: he had to go back to the first place, the first altar.

Genesis 12:10 – And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

Genesis 13:1-6 –And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai: Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. And Lot also, which went with Abraham, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

Come Back And Start Over Again

And I want to show you something remarkable here. Genesis 12:7, " And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him." Then he removed to Bethel and the hard times came, and off to Egypt he went. But he came back from Egypt, and the land won’t hold Lot and Abraham, so somebody has to leave, somebody has to go. And so it is Lot, and it’s like he goes after The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He goes after what looks good, and Abraham remains at the altar where he first heard from the Lord. Genesis 13:14, " And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes…" Now take that back to Genesis 12:7, and I’m telling you that the conversation that was broken off there just picks up right here! "Unto thy seed will I give this land…" "… Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward." There’s nothing here about a journey down to Egypt.

Genesis 13:10,11 – And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plan of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

The Door is INTO CHRIST

Listen, when we walk through This Door, our walk now is to be in the length, and the breadth, the depth and the height. Part of God’s Plan is NOT wandering around in the wilderness, nor is it going down to Egypt. And if you do that… you’re going to have to come right back where you left off, and start all over again because you learn nothing of Him in the wilderness. You learn nothing of Him in Egypt. I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE – that’s who I am. And that’s where you learn Him. We need to understand that. You’re not learning anything wandering around out in the wilderness – you are just dying. You’re not learning anything in Egypt except how to lie, and cheat and steal! All of that has nothing to do with what God wants to show, and what God wants you to possess, and what He has prepared for you in Christ Jesus. So it was with Abraham here, so it is now with Israel that was in his loins at the time. Now it is with Israel. So The Lord brings them back, but we must see that The Door is NOT into the wilderness: THE DOOR IS INTO CHRIST. Amen.

Ephesians 3:17-19 – That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Ephesians 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Romans 8:28-30 – And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Hebrews 7:5 – And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham.