I want to deal now with this "time" – the TIME of His Appearing. There seems to be in "religious" circles a real controversy among theologians with regard to the Time of His Appearing. In 1 Peter 1:10, Peter is saying, "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; Searching what, or what manner of TIME the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are NOW reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into." And this word "angels" here is translated in the Greek as "messengers": these prophets, rather that winged spiritual beings. Peter said, signifying what MANNER OF TIME the Spirit of Christ, which was in them did signify. And that it was revealed that not to themselves, but unto US did they prophesy these things. And he says it is these very things which they prophesied that has been ministered to you by those who preach Christ, and in fact they are ministering unto you the very things that these messengers desired to look into, but could not!

So it makes sense to me that in the context of these verses that the word "angels" is translated "messengers, meaning the messengers of The Old Covenant, and not angelic beings. My point in dealing with the Time of His Appearing is that here we are in the Second Covenant, in the realization of Christ, and yet we are still in a quandary over time. We are still searching "what manner of time" these things should be. The Old Covenant prophets had that problem! The question of time should be, and was connected with the First (Old) Covenant. See, they knew what God said; they just didn’t know WHEN He was going to do it! They knew One had to come: they didn’t know WHEN He was going to come! For God’s sake – that sounds like what The Church is preaching today! Does that make any sense? That here we are in the New Covenant and still don’t know anything about time; still "time" is the main question. Does that make any sense to you? It shouldn’t make sense to you; it shouldn’t be a question. If we would read our Bibles, Peter answered that question. He said they were seeking "what manner of time" – the time that these things, which they prophesied, should occur. For they knew that they didn’t prophesy unto themselves; that is concerning their own time; but a time that was yet to come. Peter is saying that the time of which they spoke is fulfilled in Christ, whom we preach.

Let’s look at something else here. What is it we are talking about here? 1 Peter 1:9 says, "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." And in this study we should throw a spotlight on the word "end". We would irrefutably, without reason of doubt come to find in the scripture, and hopefully understand by The Spirit, that CHRIST IS THE END OF ALL THINGS! End of faith – CHRIST! End of the Law for righteousness – CHRIST! End of Old Covenant world – CHRIST! End of time, fulness of time – CHRIST! HE IS THE ONLY END EVER PROJECTED BY THE SCRIPTURE! "Would not steadfastly look unto the end of that which was abolished." –CHRIST! The only end ever projected by the scripture is Christ. The word "end" means "the summation of, finding its purpose in, coming to its ultimate goal" (telos (tel'-os) Strong’s # 5056); not simply cessation, but fulfillment. Christ is that, He is that. Everything comes to find that ultimate purpose in Him.

So what are we talking about here? Salvation. The scripture deals with time in reference to Salvation. If the time hasn’t come, then our Salvation hasn’t come. If our Salvation has come, then the time has come; because with regard to time, Salvation was the subject in the Old Covenant. They knew there was a Salvation to come. We read that in verse 1 Peter 1:11. See, always in the Old Covenant, when it was a true Spirit of prophecy, not only was Christ presented as a Suffering Servant, but as a Ruling King – ALWAYS! Not only was a destruction prophesied, but an immediate restoration – ALWAYS! Look at Isaiah (Is.10:5-27; 14:1-32; 26:16-21; 27:12-13; 32:1-18; 40:1-2; 45:17-25; 46:12-13; 49:13-26; 54:1-8; 60:14-22; 65:17-23), look at Jeremiah (Jer. 3:14-23; 17:1-8; 23:1-8; 24:4-7; 27:21-22; 29:10-14; 31:10-14; 33:1-16; 51:1-10). The mystery was – WHEN? The answer to that was found in CHRIST CRUCIFIED. There was the destruction, and there was the immediate restoration. There was the suffering, and there was the glory that came forth. The problem Peter said was TIME. The prophets didn’t know the time. They knew that it wasn’t in their own time: "To whom it was revealed that NOT unto themselves, but unto US did they minister these things." What things? These prophesy concerning this Salvation. "Which are NOW reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you…" And here I’ll paraphrase: make known unto you, declaring unto you the things that those prophets desired to look into – but could not for Christ was not yet come.

Refer to: Gal. 4:1-6; Heb.9:10-12

Speaking plainly to you: that THE TIME IS COME: that the time of which the prophets spoke is NOW. And yet here we are today, in the religious, church world struggling again with issue of TIME. When is He going to come? When is this going to happen? When is "that day" going to be? And it has ALREADY COME!! "That day" spoken of by the prophets is fulfilled in THE DAY HIMSELF, and "the day" is NOW! And you are children of the Day; that you might walk in the light of The Day. And yet I’m sure that throughout the world today there are sermons preached on "that day" as though it has not yet come; that "that day" has not been brought to its substance in Christ, but has been applied to events, happenings, and speculations – everything but Salvation. But clearly in the scripture "The Day" that is spoken of by every prophet, whether it is called "the Day of the Lord", "the Day of His coming", the Day of His wrath", "That Day…" over and over again; regardless of the preposition attached to it, it is THE DAY OF SALVATION that is being spoken of. And the New Covenant writers declare NOW IS… NOW is the Day of Salvation. IT IS COME! The day of which the prophets spoke (although they did not know the time) is come!

I don’t know when believers, let alone ministers and theologians are going to see the Bible as One Book, rather than a bunch of disjointed, dismantled, disassociated teachings. That "the day" in Genesis is the same as "the day" in Revelation; that "the day" in Exodus is the same as "the day" in Acts – it’s still the SAME DAY, because it’s the same story! We are not faced here with stories but the story that is promised in one Covenant and fulfilled in the other Covenant; that is misunderstood in one Covenant as to its substance and time, but is REVEALED in the Second Covenant, both as to its substance and time. I’m not telling you anything now that you can’t read in the Bible. What I’m telling you is true and I urge you to read it and search it out for yourself. I’m not here to lie to you, but my life is bound up in ministering Christ to you, through you. So we search together.

This issue of "time" must be settled in our hearts once and for all! We hear all of these references to "time" in the Bible taken out of their context, and then presented so we have New Testament Christians as much in doubt of "time" as Old Covenant prophets were. And to me – that’s not right! That shouldn’t be so. We should, in the midst of the world; in the midst of all that is around us be declaring "The Time is at hand! The Time is come! This is The Day of The Lord!" It is the Day of His great blessing, and to some it is the day of His great wrath; but it is the same Day. It is The Day of His Coming. It is The Day of which every "day" in the Old Covenant spoke. God used "days" there.

In this manner we can demonstrate that where ever days or times are the issue of the scripture, book by book, verse by verse; the end of the thing spoken of is always found in the Reality of Christ. Indeed it is He Himself who says, "…they are they which testify of Me." (John 5:39) But we would say, "They NEVER testify beyond Him."

What was the order of the day God used? What is the order of the Old Covenant day? It was a Sabbath day, a feast day, but what was the order of the Old Covenant "day"? Every day in the Old Covenant testified of "This Day" which Christ is. So what is the order of the Old Covenant day? And to find that you just go back to Genesis. It says it this way: "The evening and the morning were the first day. The evening and the morning were the second day. The evening and the morning were the third day." And it goes right through the sixth day. "The evening and the morning were the sixth day." It comes to the seventh day. There is NO evening, there is NO morning described to the seventh day! The seventh day is NOT defined by an evening and a morning. It is the day that God ended His Work; it is the end of the order of the Old Covenant Day. CHRIST IS THAT DAY! He is that Sabbath; He is the end of the order of the Old Covenant Day. What is the Old Covenant order? First evening, then morning; first night, then light. Isn’t it odd to you that the Old Covenant day is described that way? Evening – morning. Why? Because God’s order is always First and Second. He brings the Second out of the First. He always does that. God can not bring death out of Life, so He brings Life out of death. He can not bring darkness out of Light, so He brings Light out of darkness! Therefore when He describes "the day" He says, darkness – light; night – morning; evening first – morning second. Where is that fulfilled except IN CHRIST? Where we come from darkness into Light: so we come from death unto Life.

There is Sabbath. I don’t care what we take: the order and the time of it is the same – and Christ is the end of it. It always brings us to Him; it’s all fulfilled in Him! Look at all the things with Israel that were built around this order of the days. Their sacrifices, their feasts – everything. But it is interesting to note that this order was maintained right up until the seventh day. And the seventh day in the creation, and also in the Law, in Israel is always described as being OUTSIDE OF THE REALM of the other six days. In the creation it is very obvious by description. And in Israel it is obvious because it says, "And the Lord hallowed, consecrated, and set aside unto Himself that day." (Exodus 20:11, Matt. 12:8, Mark 2:28, Luke 6:5) It becomes very obvious that "this day" is considered of God to be outside the order of the other six days. And I am convinced by a great time of study on "this day" that in creation there were only six days and that the seventh day was never a part of creation; it wasn’t a creative day. It didn’t identify with anything of creation; and all the other six did. The seventh day only identified with GOD AND HIS ETERNAL REST.

Gen. 2:2-3

Hebrews tells us this. The writer of Hebrews was pretty smart; whoever he was, he was in tune with the Holy Spirit. He brings this day right in, in Hebrews 4 he brings this day right out of the natural realm and says that if this was a NATURAL day, then why did God say, "There remaineth a day, there remaineth a rest…"? He says you know good and well you haven’t found this rest in your natural Sabbath. This writer brought this day right into THE PERSON OF CHRIST. What I’m telling you is: it all comes into HIM! The Second Covenant is Christ Himself! It’s not "about" Him – it is Him! It’s fulfilled in Him. It’s not full of promises about Him – it is Him! HE IS THE "I AM" OF IT! I AM come! He is The I AM of the SECOND, and He promises that where I AM, there ye may be also; not as a location, but as a relationship. This Hebrews writer brings this day right into Christ.

I am convinced that as far as creation is concerned, there are only six days. Think of that – what happened is God took a day in the Jewish calendar; a natural day, and He called it Sabbath. You know from reading the Bible that God Himself determined the Sabbath, and determined what day would be called the Sabbath and He called it the Seventh day. The Sabbath day has always been a day of The Spirit; it’s always been a SPIRITUAL DAY. Naturally in Israel God used a natural day to symbolize it, because He used a natural tent to symbolize a spiritual tent and He used a natural priest to symbolize a spiritual priest. He used a natural mountain to symbolize a spiritual mountain, so why not use a natural day and set it aside from the other six; and He created, by doing that, a seven day week. Before God stipulated the seventh day Sabbath to Israel you can’t find a seven day week in the scripture. God created the seven day week for the Sabbath. So He took Himself a day and said, ‘This is the Seventh day.’ Now you count from this day – forward and backwards, this is the seventh day. He determined that; He said this is what you call the Sabbath. They didn’t know until He told them that. In the week of creation there are six days. The seventh day is not associated with creation. It is not described like the other six are described. It is not evening and morning; it has no such description. Can you tell me why it doesn’t? The other six do. Why would the pattern be broken then in the seventh day? It does NOT say that God rested on the seventh day "and the evening and the morning were the seventh day" (there was no such description of the seventh day. It was not according to the order of the six days). We pass from one order to another order in this day: we have gone from the First to the Second. And in the First Covenant there is the testimony of the one to come – the testimony of the Second. So there is a testimony of that Second Day, the testimony of The Second Man, the testimony of The Second World. Or you can say it this way: the testimony of The One to come, The Man to come, The World to come; the testimony of The Second Priest, or the testimony of The New – is there in the First.

My point is: We don’t need another testimony! The New Covenant, the Second Covenant is NOT another testimony; it is the FULFILLMENT of the First. Now, TIME as days, weeks, months, seasons, feasts are all associated with the First Covenant. And all speak of the substance of the Second. So, the Sabbath speaks of the substance of the Second. The feast days, the seven feasts, summed up three times a year – you know they speak of Christ. Right on down they do. So when you read in the Bible, "When the fulness of TIME was come…" we need to understand it’s the time that the prophets didn’t know about and yet it’s the time of which all of these days and feasts and weeks testified. The fulness of that HAS COME WITH CHRIST! So that now – IN CHRIST time is no longer the issue; time is of no spiritual significance. The significance of it has been fulfilled IN CHRIST! If the seventh day, if the Sabbath Day, the Jewish Sabbath – if it ever had any significance at all, it has been FULFILLED IN CHRIST. Therefore it no longer has any significance.

Paul argues that in 2 Corinthians: that if the first administration had a glory (and it did have a glory), that glory has been so diminished by the glory of the Second that it has ceased to be glory at all and is no longer significant. Is that not true concerning everything? It is true concerning the glory of the administration of Moses, the administration of death, the First Covenant and it’s also true concerning the spiritual significance of days and weeks and seasons, or buildings or lands. How many Christians today still go to Palestine, still go to the natural country of Israel and say they have visited "The Holy Land"? Not since the Cross! It LOST all of its significance AT THE CROSS! Its significance was only as a type and a shadow in the first place.

Now it has no significance at all! How many millions of billions of dollars by Christians is spent every year in these "pilgrimages"? If you want to go as a historian, archeologist – you have my blessing, but if you are going because it’s "holy"; if you’re going because you want to walk where Jesus walked and feel His presence in the tomb… when 2,000 years ago the angel said, "Why are you looking in here? Why seek ye the living among the dead? HE IS NOT HERE!" (Luke 24:1-8) Then why? You can’t turn on the television without seeing somebody mounting an expedition to the Holy Land. But that tomb, that hole in the ground has nothing in it and it hasn’t for 2,000 years! And that as well as the days is no longer spiritually significant, so why is the whole Church world still on the time and order of DAYS? Not the time and order of His Appearing, but rather the time and order of natural days. Why are they still trying to figure out when will He come? Why is the issue with them – what day? I can understand why most in the Church have their meetings on Sunday – most people don’t have to work that day, but there’s nothing "holy" about that day. Yet the whole Christian world thinks that there is! See, I’m not against what so many people do, as the CONCEPT and the reason behind why they do it.

Personally, I’d love to see the Body of Christ meet daily – break bread daily. I’m not against that concept. The more we do that, I think the better we are and the more viable is our witness in the earth. But it gets a little aggravating to me that Sunday has become something like an Old Testament ritual. We get up, and we put on our "Christian" garb; we go to "God’s House" and we get a lot of ritual then we go out as a whole Christian community and eat! Come on – it’s a ritual! But people actually think that is the way it’s supposed to be. It is amazing to me. It’s just a ritual; it’s just Old Covenant mentality using New Covenant words and terminology because TIME remains an issue. We have traded Saturday for Sunday and both are just days of the week. The True Sabbath and the Fulness of All Times, is in Christ.

Elements and Rudiments refer to the ordinances and rituals of the First Order. Also in Gal. 5:1 which uses the term "yoke of bondage."

So, The Time of His Appearing. The prophets didn’t know it. They knew He was going to come, they knew He was going to suffer; they knew He was going to be glorified. They had no idea WHEN- not Daniel, not Ezekiel, not even Jeremiah; they didn’t know when. They knew for certainty, but they didn’t know WHEN for certainty. Galatians 4: Paul gives us the "for certainty" of the issue of TIME. Would to God that this would be settled in the heart of every Christian! Verse 1, "Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all." Look at the words "differeth nothing from a servant": this is a disturbing piece of information for most Christians. I know it was disturbing for those to whom it was originally written, because of the word "nothing".

I remember when this hit me face to face and I began to "negotiate" (as most of us do) this point with God. ‘Surely there is something wherein I am different from a servant’. No – nothing! ‘Now, wait a minute, Lord. I must excel in something.’ Nothing! As long as he is a child – CHILD becomes the issue here; child becomes the key here. And the word "child" here is a reference to OLD COVENANT MENTALITY. It is a reference to natural Israel at that time, Israel after the flesh, Old Covenant Israel. They were an heir, the promises were given to them, but until they come to the "placement of a son" – which placement ONLY takes place with the revealing of Christ – they were a child in their mentality. Age is not the issue here: MENTALITY is. Paul shows that to be so in 1 Corinthians 13 when he speaks of coming from a child to a man; coming from that which is in part, to that which is perfect. You know that the Law and the prophets were IN PART. You know that The Word that comes in Christ is PERFECT. You know that the First is in part; you know that the Second is Perfect.

Again the issue is First and Second. How long do we differ nothing from a servant? As long as we abide in Old Covenant mentality, we are considered a child. Let’s look at this in Hebrews 3:1-6, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." So as long as you are a child – The Old Covenant; have not come to the acknowledgment of the Son in your heart, as being your only Life. You have not come to the acknowledgment that The Son is come, does live, and we live only by Him. Then according to Galatians 4 and 1 Corinthians 13, it is the child mentality – and the child, though loved of God, differeth nothing from a servant though he be lord of all!

See, that’s the whole shame of it. The shame of the whole picture is that if you be in Christ, if Christ is your Life – then you are The House of The Son! And you are joined with Him in Son placement, which is what Galatians 4 is all about, because "adoption" means "son placement" and you are heir of all things in Christ. But as long as you are a child, you differ nothing from an Old Covenant child. So here’s where Christians place themselves with regard to this issue of time. How are the preachers today any different than the Old Covenant prophets when their message to the people is still "When will He come? One day He’s going to come. You may just be driving down the street and ZAP – out through the roof you go! We used to call these "sun roofs"; we call them "rapture windows – keep them rolled back at all times!" Now, I’m being facetious, but this should not even be an issue in the mind of Christians.

This whole issue is like Ishmael; it should never have been born! Ishmael never should have been born; but Abraham’s mistake filled the earth – didn’t it? God said, ‘you want a son of your own? Okay, I’ll give you a thorn that will gouge you in your side the rest of your life! Remember this; he is NOT MY SON, he’s NOT my heir. My Covenant is with Isaac.’ From time to time, folks, He stops you and me in our tracks and says, ‘Okay, you’ve gone ahead, you’ve claimed the promises of God on this and that. Now you’ve created this thing and it’s going to gouge you in the ribs the rest of your life! But I’ll tell you this; it’s NOT CHRIST!’ Boy, what a rebuke! The horrible thing about that is you may turn and see Christ; you may repent, but the thing you created – the monster you created – continues! It doesn’t go away. We need to understand these monsters that have been created by misinterpreting the scripture, by not bringing all things into Christ are not going to go away. The system that is built upon this misunderstanding is not going to go away. The only answer is THE TRUTH! The flood is not going to go away; the only answer is GET IN THE ARK! The Truth remains for all who will see Him, the power of The Truth is beyond comprehension for all who would know Him and see Him. The deliverance of The Truth is beyond comprehension for all who would know Him, but the Truth delivers no one who REFUSES to know Him. "You shall know the truth, and THE TRUTH shall make you free." (John 8:32) Most Christians are in the midst of a storm and they want Christ to "rise up" and get them out of the boat when He wants us all to live by His faith (Mark 4:37-41).

The Truth doesn’t come and jump on you, and beat you down, tie you up and throw you in a corner and put restraints upon you. But these Ishmaels that we create: we turn them lose and they run throughout the world and these carnal minded doctrines just become a system of bondage of fear. Now they’ve stolen the name "Church". Christianity no longer means relationship, but religion, and it’s the Christians that have allowed that to happen. It’s the ministry that has allowed that to happen! So now the name "church" is not synonymous with a people who are in a relationship with God, a people who are in relationship with Jesus: it’s a religion based on certain concepts. My, that’s depressing, but my point is that the child mentality prevails. There’s only one answer to it: "differs nothing from a servant, but is under tutors and governors until THE TIME APPOINTED of The Father." The whole religious church world out here is still waiting for "the time appointed of the Father", and THAT TIME CAME 2,000 YEARS AGO! When you were born again, you were born into the time appointed of The Father. Throughout the whole of the Old Covenant God had an "appointed time". The prophets didn’t know when it would come; but they knew it was appointed: they knew a time was coming. They didn’t know when. So now comes THE TIME appointed of The Father. When was it appointed? Throughout the Old Covenant it was appointed – The Time Appointed of The Father. Not "a time", "some time" – THE Time appointed of The Father. All Old Covenant time elements are summed up into this. We were under tutors and governors until The Time Appointed of The Father. That Time is fulfilled in Christ.

Let me show you this in another place, in another way. Look in Galatians 3:23, "But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." That shows that it came in Christ – it’s in Him. The Time appointed of the Father – He’s already defined it. It’s the time of the Law, the Time of the Old Covenant. But the point is the Old Covenant is not just something written in stones, it’s a whole SYSTEM of things. The Old Covenant is a whole mentality that is bound up with time. And what I’m telling you is that "New Covenant" preachers have gone back into the Old Covenant and revived the "time" and made it an issue again. It’s just the whole Old Covenant mentality! If you bring any part of it alive, you bring it all alive. In my opinion this whole system that is preaching "one day the Lord is going to come" but nobody knows when: He’s going to come, but time is still a mystery" – they may as well be offering animal sacrifices also! Because I don’t see any difference in reviving one Old Covenant uncertainty than reviving ALL of them. They say, well, brother, we know He came once and died for our sins. Our question is, when is He going to come the second TIME and "take us to be with Himself"? I’m saying: HE ALREADY DID THAT!

We are in Him! It is a Spiritual Kingdom. We have it in earthen vessel, but it is not of the earthen vessel. It is in earthen vessels, in fact, so that the excellency of the power can be of God and NOT of us. He did not come and fulfill part of the First Covenant: because part does not equal whole. The Second Covenant can not come until all of the First is ended. He taketh away the First THAT He might establish the Second. Hebrews 9:15-17 says the First Covenant was a testament. It demanded the death of the Testator. Except there be a death of the testator, the testament is not in force. It can’t be partially enforced. He died once and for all! If He didn’t finish it: if there’s still something left out, that means He’s got to come back and die the rest of the way. You can say that is ridiculous, but that’s my whole point! It is ridiculous! This whole idea of Dispensationalism is ridiculous! This whole idea that the Second Covenant is not the complete embodiment of the fulfillment of the First Covenant is ridiculous. He HAS done once and for all, He HAS made the Testament perfect through His death and resurrection.

It isn’t going to get any better – it already is! It’s just that we refuse to accept Him in the fulness of the Second. Yet we want to be "Christians". We want to have our sins forgiven and say ‘one day we are going to heaven.’ We have separated; we have made a division in the Second Covenant. We’ve put another veil in the Second Tabernacle. There is NO VEIL in the Second Tabernacle! We’ve just hung one up there! We’ve said we are saved, our sins are forgiven, and one day we are going to heaven. That’s what the First Tabernacle said! The First Tabernacle said your sins are forgiven, and one day you will get to "go behind the veil". Your sins are forgiven: that’s what the First Tabernacle said, whereby they ministered day by day by day – with the blood of animals. That’s what that Covenant said, but it held them at arms length from the glory of God. It held them at arms length from the Holy of Holies, which was representatively heaven itself. Now we’ve allowed dispensationalism and dispensational minded theologians to erect a veil in the Tabernacle, which Christ Himself is, and separate us from the Glory of God, which is our birthright, which is our inheritance, which is the substance of the very House we are! We have allowed Christianity to become an "empty House"; a House emptied of the glory, a House waiting on the glory to come – one day. That’s what we’ve done. We’ve done it under different names and under different guises, but that’s what we’ve done. We’ve allowed preachers to tell us (tell us this simply by not preaching the Truth) that we are not in Christ, that He is not in us, that we do not dwell in glory, that the perfect has not come. We’ve allowed them to bring time back in and make an issue out of it.

Unfortunately, most of the ministry today falls in a category that can only be described by "thieves and robbers", who would under the cover of night, sneak into the Tabernacle of Moses and steal all of the gold cups and the golden altar, and the furniture and take it away! Well, you know when that happened: it happened under the Babylonian empire! We have allowed ministry and carnal minded theology to come in and steal THE REALITY OF CHRIST represented in all that furniture. That’s what happened: Thieves and Robbers! They leave us with a promissory note! That’s like adding insult to injury. What have you given to me for all that you’ve stolen? ‘Well, I’ve got a good sermon on "The Coming of The Lord".’ What are you giving me for what you have stolen out of the House of God? The House which WE ARE? ‘Well, I’ve given you a PROMISE that one day, when you die you’re going to heaven. Isn’t that enough? Wait – you have stolen heaven and left me with a promise? And you want me to call THAT the gospel? And give you my tithes every Sunday morning for telling me that LIE? That’s what every Christian ought to be saying!! They ought to be holding the shepherds accountable; not for how pretty the "barn" is, but for what’s in the "feed bag".

I’d like to see every honest hearted Christian just stand up and say, ‘Wait a minute! What is it you are giving us in return for ALL that you have stolen? Now if that sounds harsh, go read the words of Jesus. Go read the words when He called them thieves and robbers, bandits, blind teachers of the blind. Read Peter’s remarks and read Paul’s remarks concerning those that were still trying to come in and bring them back into the system of Judaism, the system of the Old Covenant. Those Judaizers were not stealing the PROMISES from the Church, they were stealing the REALITY! They were leaving them with promises: they were denying that they were fulfilled in Christ! Our preachers today are doing the same thing! They aren’t going to take your promises away from you. No, they’ll preach it to you every Sunday morning! They haven’t taken the promises away: they have taken the REALITY away. They’ve stolen the fulfillment of them from you. And they want everybody to thank them for doing it! But I have no thanks for that.

Galatians 4:1-4, "…differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all… But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son…" THE SON IS ALWAYS GOD’S ANSWER TO TIME. Sent forth His Son – look at that. The Second is The Son: the ANSWER to the First, but the Second is also the END of the First. Remember Hebrews 1:1-2? God spake… divers times and ways. What is the answer to that? ‘Well, He decided after a period of time to speak in another way.’ No – that’s not it! I’ve said that the New Covenant is not a sequel to the First, but most Christians seem to think it is: that the First Covenant had some promises to it and the Second Covenant has some better ones. No: the Second Covenant is the fulfillment of the ones made in the First! That’s how they are better! They are better because they are fulfilled! That’s the reason it’s a "better sacrifice", because it’s fulfilled! Better priesthood – fulfilled. It does not point beyond itself, because there is nothing beyond it. That’s how it is "better". So what’s the end of God speaking in times and ways, divers ways and sundry times? "Hath spoken IN SON!" Isn’t that basically what’s being said in Galatians 4? "But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth HIS SON, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem…" So, what Son are we talking about? CHRIST CRUCIFIED! Then, where is "time" fulfilled? AT THE CROSS! Where did "fulness of time" come? AT THE CROSS! The element of time does not proceed beyond The Cross… it can not proceed beyond its fulfillment.

We must understand that if you take it beyond its fulfillment, it immediately becomes PERVERSION. Up until the very time of the Cross, the seventh day of the Old Covenant was holy. But do we understand that the very NEXT Old Covenant seventh day after The Cross was now a perversion? Because it perpetuated the old beyond the New; it perpetuated the First into the Second. It said there are two Sabbaths. Don’t you see that? Don’t you see that any part of the Testimony of the Old Covenant, if it is taken beyond its fulfillment immediately becomes perversion? It becomes Anti Christ. The word "Anti Christ" doesn’t mean against Christ; it means substitute for Christ. It means that which is not Christ saying it is Christ. That is Anti Christ. It’s a perversion. That’s the Anti Christ system, and that’s what the scripture teaches. If you take it beyond The Cross it becomes Anti Christ. For you see, there was a time for the First, but the time of its end has come.

So back in Hebrews 9:26, "…but now, once in the end of the world hath he appeared." Now this is the same appearing, the same coming, and the same sending we’ve been reading about in Galatians. "In the fulness of the time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law…" "Hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." It is exactly the same thing. It is called "the end of the world." And it is the only end of the only world that the Bible ever speaks of. In Matthew 24 Jesus says to His disciples, "You see this temple…" And He was talking about the whole temple structure there at that time, all the whole compound, because they were showing it to Him: they were proud of it! He said, ‘You see this? Not one stone will be left upon another.’ That scared them to death. They said. ‘Lord, WHEN…’ You see, because The Cross had not yet come, TIME was still and issue. "WHEN will these things be? WHEN will the world end? WHAT is the sign of your coming? They joined all those things together with the destruction of the temple, temple complex – Old Covenant World.

Now the answer to that question is right here: "Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." When did that end come? AT THE CROSS it came! The Appearing of Christ is and was absolutely necessary to the end of the First: theologically, historically, and in you – spiritually. As I said, what He did with regard to the First, He did 2,000 years ago. But He didn’t just do it as an event, or as a historical event. He did it as an ETERNAL WORK. He actually fulfilled all that had been said, so that when you and I are born again today, we come right into the same reality as though The Cross were today. For us what He did – is done! You are born into the reality of it. He is NOT going to have to do it again. But we MUST reckon it done. You have to RECKON your sins forgiven based on His blood. You have to RECKON that we have come from death unto Life by His resurrection. And that word "reckon" is a HEART conviction, a Spirit work in your heart. We reckon by the Faith of the Son of God. (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:9)

So as to the First, He has appeared once – at the end of it. As to the Second, He appears as the beginning, as The Head, as the fulness. As to the Second HE IS EVER APPEARING! Hebrews 9:28 says that. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…" He did that, He accomplished that. "…and unto them that LOOK for him…" Here’s the ONLY prerequisite: "…and to them that look for him shall he appear the second without sin unto salvation." This is a fulfillment of the Old Covenant typology. One time a year – and the Hebrew writer has been saying this, and now he’s bringing this typology to a fulfillment. Here is the High Priest typology he is talking about, and the Jews were perfectly aware of it. One time a year, on the Day of Atonement which was part of the LAST Feast of Israel; that Feast of Tabernacles which had in it the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement and the Feast of Ingathering. One time a year the High Priest took the blood of animals and he went in bearing blood, for his sins and the sins of Israel behind the veil, and sprinkled part of that blood upon the Mercy Seat – offering the gift of his blood to God.

Now He was offering the blood of animals, but which God had already accepted in type of His Son. If a High Priest would have cut his finger and put his own blood there – he would have died in a minute! But God could not accept the blood of an unrighteous man. No, only the sacrifices carefully prepared, and then only in a representative way could they be accepted of God as righteous. So they saw the High Priest go in there – they saw that. On that day all of Israel was gathered. It was a Sabbath day, and they were all there; they HAD to be there. Not only did they have to be there to see him go in, they had to stay there until he came out, otherwise their Salvation was not sure. HIS COMING OUT WOULD SHOW THEM THE SURETY OF THEIR SALVATION. You must understand that when he went in, he had the full regalia, which means he had the breastplate on, which represented Israel, His Body. He had their names upon his shoulders, which represented the spiritual government that would come upon the shoulders of another. He had the miter of righteousness, of Eternal Life. He was girt about with the golden girdle of Truth. Do you understand? IT WAS CHRIST, but it was Christ in relation to His people. It was the High Priest in relation to Israel: Christ in relation to the Church, Christ in relation to His Body.

That’s the picture. In death, because Jesus said I must go away, but if I go away I will come again and receive you unto Myself. The High Priest went away – they couldn’t go where he went. Jesus said right now you can’t go where I am going, but I will receive you, that where I am, there you may be. So he went and they waited and waited, and…waited. THEY LOOKED FOR HIM. Now, where were they looking? They were looking where they knew he was! They weren’t looking "around". And having been accepted of God, he comes out – he comes out in type of The Resurrection! He doesn’t come out carrying blood or carrying sin. He comes out without sin – and to the JOY of all of Israel, he presents himself. And all of Israel sees IN HIM themselves accepted of God! So are YOU accepted IN THE BELOVED! "To those who look for Him, He shall appear the second, without sin unto Salvation."

THE GARMENTS OF THE HIGH PRIEST CAN BE READ OF IN EXODUS 28.

His appearing in the Second is in this order: not in the same order in which He appeared in the First, because He does NOT appear to die again. HE APPEARS AS THE RESURRECTION OF ALL WHO LIVE BY HIM.