Now let’s look at what we’ve learned. Jesus said, “Of those the Father gives me, I will not lose one soul,” but how is that possible when Hebrews 5:9 tells us He gives eternal life to those who obey Him and the commandments of Jesus, those He issues as uniquely His own, the ones associated with the commissioning of the Church, are ignored by Christians. Though John 3:16 tells us it is through belief we are saved, James has famously said, “Faith without works is dead,” and most Christians fail to produce the works required by the Church age. Eternal life was not promised with the old covenant and cannot be delivered with its fulfillment. It would take a new covenant to do so. The new covenant, however, issued in Acts 1, requires obedience of commandments deemed fulfilled by Church scholars. Moreover, it seems apparent the Church never fully implemented those commandments, which means the new covenant was never fully implemented and Jesus, Himself, didn’t correct the seven churches He dictated letters to in Revelation in this regard.
It is important to realize the book of Revelation follows the book of 1John. In this book, John repeatedly encouraged Church members to keep God’s commandments. The reason he continually advocated for this obedience is the Church no longer recognized Jesus’ commandments as valid. And in Revelation 2-3, in seven letters, Jesus does not mention obedience to His commandments to one church.
In John 10:25-30, Jesus said, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do bear witness of me, but you do not believe because you are not of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
Now, in understanding these words, we must understand there is an old and a new covenant. The Father was God and Lord of the old covenant, but made Jesus God and Lord of the new covenant. It is important to also realize, according to the words presented here, those addressed were given to Jesus by the Father, who again, was Lord of the old covenant. That means these believers believed in the Messiah for the forgiveness of sins. To believe on the Lord is a completely different faith.
Again, in Romans 9:33, these words are recorded, “Behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone.” If you remember, in one of my previous studies I considered the allegory of the two cities founded on the eastern ridge of Jerusalem. Salem, the city of peace, was founded on the southern hill of this ridge and Zion, the everlasting city, was founded on the northern hill. Now these two cities represent two kingdoms. The southern city represents the kingdom of God and the northern city represents the kingdom of heaven, or Church age. The stumbling stone was laid in the Church age.
This stumbling stone is the commandment of Jesus to wait for a baptism with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:4, Jesus explains the Father has a gift for the Church age, that gift is a baptism with the Holy Spirit. That the Church stumbles over this gift goes without saying, but really, it is the commandment mankind stumbles over. Mankind has always stumbled over God’s commandments.
Since, according to Hebrews 5:9, mankind receives eternal life through obedience, but mankind famously stumbles when it comes to obedience of God’s commandments, the Church age needed a fail-safe, something that would preserve mankind. Therefore, it was devised by God, that all those who believed Jesus was the Messiah, sent to earth to pay for mankind’s sins, would enter the city of Salem and abide there until Jesus called them forth in the resurrection from the dead. Remember, the city of Salem is the city of peace. These believers sleep in Jesus. Jesus will raise them up in that last day, the day of His wrath, and send them out in obedience. Because, they have been asleep in Jesus; their obedience will be perfect.
Consider John 10:26: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” The verse might better be understood, My sheep will hear my voice, and I know them, and they will follow me, because this is a future event. When Jesus calls the dead in Christ up from the grave, He will be calling the Father’s sheep. They will quickly realize Jesus as Lord, which will make them Jesus’ sheep.
By laying a stumbling stone at the beginning of the Church, the Father made sure none of the sheep of His pasture would enter. The reason is because mankind could lose its eternal life through disobedience and disobedience is the natural state of mankind. The sheep Jesus is talking about in John 10:30 were given to Him by His Father; in other words, they were the Father’s sheep. This means, these people believed in the old covenant; they never made the transition to new covenant faith. Simply put, they stumbled over the stumbling stone.
Now, again, there are two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. The establishment of the old covenant established the kingdom of God and the establishment of the new covenant established the kingdom of heaven. Jesus was both the fulfillment of the old covenant and the author of the new covenant. He is therefore Savior and Lord.
Jesus is not Lord if obedience is not practiced and Romans 10:10 reveals, “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness” (obtained through faith in the Christ) “and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,” obtained through faith on the Lord. This confession is made through obedience and through obedience, the baptism with the Spirit occurs. As Jesus said, “He that believes on me, out of His belly will flow rivers of Living Water.” To believe in Jesus and to believe on Jesus are two very different beliefs. Attempting to keep the Ten Commandments indicates faith in the Christ, while attempting to keep the commandments of Jesus indicates faith on the Lord.
Therefore, today, we have two classes of Christians, neither one loved any less by Jesus, but each serves a different purpose. We have one class of Christians, which are reserved till the end when Jesus will call them forth and send them out as a great army, and we have another class of Christians who have been obedient in this life. Paul said, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” but he also said, “We shall not all sleep.” Clearly two different groups of people are referenced.
So, even though all mankind was made righteous before God after Jesus’ death on the cross, only those who believe, receive the fruit of that righteousness, which is citizenship in the kingdom of Salem. These believers are sheep of the Father’s pasture and the Father protects them by placing a stumbling stone in Jesus’ Church. By stumbling over the stumbling stone, these believers are held in the Father’s pasture. In Revelation 5, when handing the scroll to Jesus, the Father is also giving to Jesus the sheep of His pasture, which Jesus will then call forth from the dead.
It has been many years ago now that I first noticed Romans 9:33 and understood the word, Zion, is synonymous with the Church and wondered, “Why in the world would God place a stumbling stone in Jesus’ Church?” This question has burned in my consciousness all this time until now, when I finally understand. Consider for a moment John 6:37: “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” This is one of those verses that has troubled me from my childhood.
Now I understand the Father gives these people to Jesus when He hands Him the scroll in Revelation 5. There is an old covenant and a new covenant and the ones the Father gives to Jesus are the ones who rejected Jesus as Lord. In my humanness, it makes sense to me that Jesus would drive these believers away. They dishonored the Lord, who gave His life to save them, in the worst possible way. This promise takes on a much deeper meaning in the light of this truth.
The promise is two fold. Those the Father gives to Jesus will come to Jesus. Now these are the sheep of the Father’s pasture; they answer to the voice of the Father. They rejected Jesus’ Lordship to submit to the Father. The fact that they will come to Jesus is remarkable. Then, even after this rejection, Jesus does not drive these believers away. Instead, He welcomes them as sheep of His pasture. Remember, Jesus said, “I and the Father are one,” so the Father’s sheep are Jesus’ sheep.
Jesus goes on to say, “I came down from heaven not do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me.” Jesus has a will, and His will looks very different from the Father’s, but He didn’t come to do His will. He came to fulfill the desires of His Father. It was the Father who placed the stumbling stone in Jesus’ Church but because of this stumbling stone; Jesus has an army of souls to call up from the grave.
Now, remember, John 3:16 tells us “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” but Hebrews 12:2 reveals, “For the joy set before Him, Jesus despised the cross.” So Jesus came to do His Father’s will but Jesus saw something on the other side of the cross. And in John 15:10, Jesus said, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” Here we have the will of Jesus and the will of the Father expressed.
The Father’s will was the fulfillment of the old covenant law. He wanted mankind to be delivered from His law. Paul explains how the law was a necessary evil, required to show the righteousness of God and the utter inability of mankind to reach God’s standard of righteousness. Having accomplished its goal, Jesus came to deliver mankind from the law. Having done so, Jesus presented Himself to the Father as a perfect man, one who had kept the Father’s will perfectly.
As such, Jesus laid himself across the altar of heaven and became the sacrifice for mankind’s sin. Jesus was now free to enact His own covenant and having received the power and authority of God from His Father, He had the ability to do so. We have the Father’s will, which was the fulfillment of the old covenant law, and we have the will of the Son, which was the establishment of the new covenant.
This brings us back to that eastern ridge of what is now Jerusalem. On its northern hill is the city of Zion and on its southern hill, the city of Salem. Once the old covenant was fulfilled, there was still one more covenant existing between God and mankind, the covenant of Noah. The covenant of Noah promises the earth to mankind as an eternal abode and after the tribulation period is done, the city of God is lowered onto the earth and God’s habitation will be with men. This is the city of Salem.
Jesus came to fulfill His Father’s wishes, but having done so, the Father worked with Jesus to fulfill His own wishes, which was to establish another, parallel kingdom, in heaven. Jesus fairly pleads with us, saying, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” and “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me, and, He that loves me will be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” I can hear the passion in Jesus’ voice as He pleads with mankind. For men to say, I love Jesus, and keep not His commandments, is ludicrous, laughable.
This is the tale of two kingdoms. The kingdom of God is earthbound but the kingdom of heaven provides for dual citizenship. Those who stumbled over Jesus’ commandments are reserved in the kingdom of God and Jesus will respect and honor that kingdom and those the Father gives Him will not in any wise be cast out. They will receive the earth as an eternal habitation, and the Father will make His abode with them. Those who keep Jesus’ commandments will establish heaven as their home and will travel freely between heaven and earth. The Father will love and respect these people and they will not in any wise be limited on earth by the Father.
It seems obvious to me the vast majority of mankind will abide in the kingdom of God on earth. The vast majority of Christians stumble over Jesus’ commandments. Those who enter the kingdom of heaven will be a select few. The sheep of the Father’s pasture will be given an opportunity to obey Jesus when they are called up from the grave. They will be sent out to preach the message of the new covenant, but the opportunity to make heaven their home will be past.
Again, in John 15:10, Jesus makes a distinction between His kingdom and the kingdom of His Father. He says, “If you keep MY commandments you will abide in MY love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Father’s covenant, so those who believe in Jesus receive Jesus’ keeping of the Father’s covenant. In other words, they abide in the Father’s love by faith. The authority of the Father, however, was given to Jesus when the Father raised Jesus from the dead. So even though believers in Jesus’ death on the cross become sheep of the Father’s pasture, He no longer has authority to give anything to them.
It certainly appears there is a provision of the new covenant whereby a believer in Jesus’ death on the cross, believers who fail to keep Jesus’ commandments and enter into the new covenant, can redeem themselves after a fashion. The promise of John 6:37 is, of those the Father gives me, I will drive none away. The reason Jesus would drive these people away is because they failed to enter the new covenant. Again, John 15:10 states, if you keep MY commandments you will abide in MY love, which means if you do not keep Jesus’ commandments you cannot abide in His love. You can, however, abide in the Father’s love and Jesus honors that contract.
Now, remember, Jesus said, I and the Father are one, but that does not mean they are the same. Obviously they are not; otherwise Jesus would not have made the distinction between His commandments and the commandments of the Father in John 15:10.