The Oil of the Spirit

So, welcome back. Good to see you all. And today we're going to continue our discussion about the sign of the Son of Man.

Last week we talked about what? Who can tell me? Ah, that's right. We talked about Zechariah chapter 4 and it was a vision of what kind of trees? Olive trees, exactly. Two olive trees and in between were the seven lamps and oil draining from the trees into the lamps.

So, we saw how that corresponds to the sign of the Son of Man, where on the two sides we have the two clocks, the Horologium clock and the Orion clock. We've seen how that is actually an hourglass and it has a lot of significance as well for a different kind of clock. And in the middle is the dove of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and that is representing the oil.

And of course, we saw how that is distributed to the seven churches, which are symbolized in different places around the sign. So, today we're going to talk about the oil of the Spirit a little bit more. So, here we have the churches and you remember how there's a path through these churches, just like there was on earth.

These are towns in what today is the nation of Turkey and there's a path, like a mail route. Somebody would actually walk along this path connecting the different churches or the different towns where there was a church and then they would come back to the beginning. So, we see the same arrangements in heaven and in the middle there is the dove of the Holy Spirit, who is distributed to the seven churches like the seven lamps.

Every church should be like a light to the community. Therefore, they are represented with the lamp with seven lights, burning the oil of the Holy Spirit. And this was explained in Zechariah, chapter 4, verse 6. There we go.

In verse 6, he says, Then he answered, that's the angel, and spake unto me, and saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit. This is when he saw the olive trees, he saw that vision with the oil, and then the Lord said, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. So, God was defining what this symbol means.

The oil is the Spirit. So, let's look at that a little bit more because there is another story in the Bible that talks about oil. And it's a more common one.

We heard it for the scripture reading. So, let's look at that again. The parable of the 10 virgins.

So, it's in the setting of a wedding. And in Israel, they would have the wedding hall, and then they had the groom, the man, would come and call the guests into the room where they would enjoy the evening. And the parable describes the virgins, part of the wedding party, waiting for the groom.

And that's just like the church is waiting for Jesus. We're waiting for him to come. And, of course, an important symbol in the Bible is of a woman.

She represents a church. This comes from Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25. It says, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.

So, it compares husbands with Jesus and wives or women with the church. So, there's that husband-wife relationship. And in the parable of the virgins, it's that same relationship.

It's a wedding environment. And the churches are represented by those virgins. But in the parable, it talks about there being wise and foolish virgins.

And I'm at the wrong one. I want Matthew 25. There we go.

So, there's 10 virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish. What was the difference between the wise and the foolish? One had oil and one not.

So, what couldn't they do if they didn't have oil? What was the problem? Right. They had a lamp, but in order to make their lamp shine, they needed oil. In those days, their lamp was similar to this, except it was like a bowl, and it would hold the oil.

And then they had a wick where they could light it. So, it was basically like a bowl with a flame on the end. We'll see it a little bit later.

But without the oil, they couldn't burn the oil to make the light. Now, that was an important thing. You know, if it's dark, you need light.

And God made it so that the church is the light of the world. That's what Jesus said. And so, we need to have the oil in order to shine.

So, we are in the position of those virgins. We are the church. And the parable therefore makes a question to us.

Are we wise virgins with oil? Or are we foolish virgins without oil? Now, Jesus started this parable saying, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto. So, He said, this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. It's like these ten virgins, and then he tells a story.

Now, when Jesus says, the kingdom is like something, today we can understand that in light of the sign of the son of man. Because in the sign of the son of man, there are many symbols. And they talk about, they describe the kingdom of heaven.

So, the question is, in the sign, we have the seven churches, but where are the five virgins, the five wise virgins? Because the foolish virgins, well, they're not part of the kingdom. But there should be five wise virgins in this sign. Because this sign describes the kingdom of heaven.

It illustrates it for us. Now, if we look at this, there's a clue. Because we need five of something.

And we have seven points where we have a church. And there's a clue down here in the river. Because how many rivers are there? Just one river.

But there's two churches illustrated by that one river. One church, Philadelphia, is inside the sign of the son of man, inside this boundary. The other church is outside.

So, in the context of the ten virgins, which one would represent the wise and which one would represent the foolish? Inside would represent which one? The wise. Because they're inside, they have the oil of the Holy Spirit. And outside is the foolish.

They're the foolish virgins. Exactly. And both Philadelphia and Laodicea talk about the door in Jesus' letter to those churches.

Why don't we just look at that? This is in Revelation chapter 3. And to Philadelphia, Jesus says, he introduces himself in verse 8. He says, I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

So, they have an open door. And then if you look down in verse 20, Jesus speaks now to Laodicea. And he says, behold, I stand at the door, and knock.

And you don't knock usually at an open door. If any man hear my voice and open the door, because it's closed, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me. So, we see that contrast.

With Philadelphia, Jesus presents an open door. With Laodicea, he's standing at the door, and he knocks, because it's closed. And Jesus didn't have anything positive to say about Laodicea.

But for Philadelphia, he didn't have anything negative to say. So, this gives us a contrast between Philadelphia, like the wise virgins, and Laodicea, like the foolish. But I think there is more to it than just saying that the wise are in the church of Philadelphia, and the foolish are in the church of Laodicea.

Because Jesus said there are five wise and five foolish virgins. So, we should see five. And we know that the virgins are our churches.

So, we need to explore a little bit to see where those five virgins might be represented. First of all, when we look in the book of Revelation, Revelation is all talking about the revelation of Jesus Christ is appearing. And it leads us to the time.

It gives us an understanding of the time. The whole book, the book of Revelation, is about the time of Jesus's appearing. And even these letters to the churches, they describe a time frame.

And this is well understood by many churches of various denominations. They understand that since the time of Christ, these seven churches represent periods of time. So, there was the early church of the apostles and the people that they brought to the church.

And they were described in his letter to the church of Ephesus. So, that means in that letter to the church of Ephesus, those things applied especially to those people at that time when the church was young, relatively speaking. It was only for a couple of hundred years or so.

And then came the time where Smyrna, Jesus's letter to Smyrna was very relevant. And that was a time when there was a lot of persecution in the church. Christianity wasn't well liked by the Roman pagan religion.

And so, there were many Christians who were killed just for being Christian. And in Jesus's letter to the church of Smyrna, that's in Revelation chapter 2. And Jesus introduces Himself. He says to the angel of the church in Smyrna, write: These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive.

So, He's identifying with their experience because many of them had died and He's giving them hope. He says, I know thy works and tribulation because they had a lot of persecution from the Romans, their poverty. And then He says, but thou art rich.

Now, that's interesting. We'll come back to that in just a moment. And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan.

And then He encourages them and says, fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried and ye shall have tribulation 10 days. And indeed, in that time period that Smyrna represents, there were 10 days or rather 10 years because it's symbolic.

And so, a day represents a year. And there were 10 years, especially when the people of Smyrna were, or the Christians rather, were very persecuted. The Roman emperor had many of them executed.

And so, there were many martyrs in that time. And this was actually, I believe, at the end of that period until about 313. In those last years, that was when they had that great tribulation.

That's not so important. The important thing for what we're talking about today, it's not so important. For them, it was very important.

And that's how it is with Jesus' letters. They're very important when you're going through that experience. So, for all of us, we can learn something from those letters.

But for our experience, there's one or another that will reach us more, more closely, and be in a way more important to us than some of the others. And that's what it is, what it was like in this time frame. If you look at it in terms of just time, from the time of Christ until now, the letter to each church was especially significant to the people of that time.

And you get all the way until today where it's the era of Laodicea, if you will. And it's interesting because there's kind of a progression through the letters. From the beginning, the apostolic church with Ephesus, Jesus says, He says, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and has found them liars.

So, He repeats some of the good things that they did. And He continues there. I won't read everything.

But then He says, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee. This is verse four. Because thou hast left thy first love.

So, they were working for the Lord. They were letting their light shine. But something happened.

They left their first love. That means they got sidetracked. They went, started going on the wrong way.

And instead of keeping Jesus in the forefront in all that they were doing, they started going off of that way and lost sight of Christ. And Jesus says, therefore, remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come to thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. Now, one of the things He mentions as we continue, He says, but this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

So, we see this theme coming up again in different forms through the churches. For example, in the church of Pergamos, this is now the third church. He doesn't have anything bad to say about Smyrna, but from Ephesus to Pergamos, we see this theme with the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

Let's start in verse 14, chapter 2, verse 14. He's speaking to Pergamos, the church of Pergamos, and he says, I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So, Jesus was saying, you're teaching the people to go astray, just like Ephesus went astray, but even though they were starting to go astray, they still hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans.

It's not entirely clear what that is, but we get some hints. And here, he talks about the doctrine of Balaam, casting a stumbling block. A stumbling block is something in your way, and you want to walk, and then suddenly, you trip over that.

It's a problem that would be in the way for the children of Israel, or for the church, spiritual Israel. And that problem was eating things sacrificed to idols, and committing fornication. And then he says, so thou hast also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

So, he connects these. This putting of the stumbling block in front is like the doctrine, or it leads to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. So, Ephesus hated it also, but by the time we get to Pergamos, they have that doctrine.

And then when we look to the next church, it gets a little worse, maybe even a lot worse. Because here, in verse 20, he says again, notwithstanding these good things he mentioned, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess. So now, there's somebody who's speaking, a prophetess is a woman who speaks with whose authority? With God's authority.

They claim to be a prophet, or a prophetess for a woman, and they're speaking with God's authority. But then Jesus says, they're teaching and seducing my servants to again commit fornication, and eat things sacrificed to idols. So now, they're teaching those false things with the authority of God, supposedly the authority of God, calling themself a prophet, calling herself a prophetess.

So, that makes things worse, because in this church, and this church had the longest time frame. I don't have a timeline in history to show you, but Thyatira spanned hundreds and hundreds of years, during the time when the church was even above kings in the world, and the church, the pope of the church would appoint emperors and kings in different nations, and it was a long time that these things happened. Many errors came into the church during that time.

There was idolatry that came in, there was Mary, Mary worship, Marian worship, indulgences, going to confession instead of confessing our sins to God. They would have a confessional, and you would go to the church, and confess to the priests. They introduced celibacy in the priesthood, so that the priests wouldn't marry anymore.

Originally, that wasn't the case, but all of this came during this time represented by the letter to the church of Thyatira. So, this was a long time when many things became degraded in the church, and Jesus even says in verse 21, I gave her space to repent. So, that corresponds to that long time Jesus gave, a long time, many years of time for the church to repent of that fornication, of the things that, you know, spiritual fornication is when you go away from God, and receive all those false doctrines.

That's included when he says fornication, and eating things sacrificed to idols. But despite that time, she never repented. So, what we see through the churches is this degradation.

It gets worse, and worse, and worse. Revelation chapter 3, and verse 1, Jesus speaks to the church of Sardis, and at the end of the verse, he says, I know thy works, that thou hast the name that thou livest, and are dead. So, he said, you look like you live, but the reality is you're dead.

And then in the end, he says, be watchful, in verse 2, be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. So, this is the picture of a church that is dead, and ready to die, barely hanging on. He says, strengthen the things that are left, what remains, because I have not found your works perfect before God.

It's not satisfactory what they were doing. And finally, in the end, there's Laodicea. And we already looked at that, where Jesus, he stands at the door.

Where is it? Verse 20. He stands at the door, and knocks. He wants to come in.

Let me read in verse 16 and 17. This is Revelation chapter 3. So then, because thou art lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.

So, they were pretty satisfied with themselves, but they didn't know, Jesus said, and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. So, Jesus had a bit of a different perspective on their condition than they did. They felt pretty good about themselves, but Jesus, he had words to describe them that were not very nice.

But he invites them also to repent. Now, notice this. He says, I counsel thee to buy of me gold.

Gold tried in the fire. Now, why would they try gold in the fire? What does it do? They would put gold in the fire, and what would happen? Whatever that wasn't gold in there would get burned off, and then you would have pure gold in the end. So, gold tried in the fire, it's been refined.

It's pure. And then he says, I counsel thee to buy of me this gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. Remember when we saw that in the letter to the church of Smyrna? Jesus said, I know your works, and tribulation, those are the trials, like when you put the gold in the fire, from the perspective of the gold, it's very hot, it's uncomfortable, it's a difficult experience.

And that's what Jesus is connecting that with. Their trials, their persecution, their poverty. But then he says, but you were rich.

Why were they rich? Because they had that gold tried in the fire. The same gold that Laodicea was counseled to buy of Jesus. To get that experience, that trial, that would purify their character.

Now, in the sign of the Son of Man, we see how Laodicea, here's the fish, and the mouth, and Laodicea is like the water spit out of the mouth. So that's why we put Laodicea in this place, because the imagery shows it being spit out of the mouth. And with Smyrna, this is the church that went through the trials, and that was rich, because it had that gold tried in the fire, that character of gold.

And so it's represented by the golden fish. And so we see these relationships that confirm also the position of the churches in the sign. And then the heavens teach us a little bit more about those churches.

So we see something interesting. We have seven churches in a sequence. In the time of Jesus, or the time of the apostles, the church of Ephesus, or the letter to the church of Ephesus, represented that time that began then, and then progressed through all the churches until our day with Laodicea.

And we saw how that was a degradation. Things got worse and worse throughout. But there are these two churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, that don't seem to fit the pattern, because Jesus had nothing bad to say about either one.

At the beginning, Ephesus starts going the wrong way. They left their first love. Instead of getting worse with Smyrna, they're good.

Jesus has nothing bad to say about them. But then it gets worse with Pergamos, worse with Thyatira, almost dead with Sardis. Then suddenly Philadelphia is good.

He has nothing bad to say about them. And then comes Laodicea, where they live in complete denial. They imagine themselves wonderful.

They love God. They have a good life. And Jesus has a completely different picture of them.

So, the trend, that degradation, that degrading trend, skips over Smyrna and Philadelphia. Now, that gives us a clue, especially in light of the sign of the Son of Man. Remember, we're trying to apply this to understand where are the five virgins, the five wise virgins mentioned, or where do they show up in the sign.

So, we have seven churches, but two of them have nothing bad that Jesus said about them. So, they would be, not just Philadelphia, but also Smyrna, would count toward the wise virgins. Because they're churches that Jesus had nothing bad to say.

They have the oil of the Spirit. Many gave their lives for Jesus. They were faithful unto death.

And Jesus said he would give them a crown of life. And this is where our clue comes from the sign. We see they're on the same river.

It's one constellation. Both Philadelphia and Laodicea are, they're on the same river, which is all one big constellation. And that's similar to something else that we see with Smyrna and Ephesus.

Now, these are two separate constellations, but they're related. The constellation for Smyrna, I mean Ephesus, is called the reticulum. Now, that's just a fancy word that means a network.

Much like the apostles of Jesus were fishermen. They used a net to catch their fish, like that. This network is what that constellation is named after.

It's called the reticulum because it's a little tool that has a network of lines in it. But really, in the context of the churches, it fits very well to think of it as the fisherman's net. Because that was the apostolic church where the fishermen, you know, Jesus said that he would make the apostles fishers of men.

So they would catch people and not just fish. So here in the sign, we see the fisherman's net and the fish. The fish, is it good for him to be caught in the net? No? Are you sure? Let's look at something that Jesus said.

Jesus liked to tell stories. And one of the stories that Jesus told, a different story, also about the kingdom of heaven. He told a parable about the kingdom of heaven.

But in verse 47, again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, a fisherman's net. And they cast that net into the sea and gathered all kinds of fish, every kind of fish. Then what did they do? Which when it was full, they drew it to the shore, sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

So they had the good fish. And of course, when you use a net, you catch other things, maybe crab, starfish, whatever. Maybe you don't want those things, but so they would have to separate it.

Now that's interesting because in light of the sign of the son of man, if we see these together as the fish and the net, Jesus likened the church to catching fish in the net. And in that sense, it's not a bad thing to be caught in the net. We want to be fish caught in Christ's net.

But there is also an evil net. The Bible talks about an evil net of those who don't know the time that catches them off guard. That comes from Ecclesiastes.

But here we see the net with the fish. And then also Jesus said they would bring it in and sort it out. And that's what we see with the comet.

It divides through these two constellations. And then you sort those who are in Christ. Remember the sign is the sign of the son of man.

So this is in Christ. And these are not in Christ. Taking the good in the vessel, casting the bad away.

So inside is the good. This is where those who repent from each of the churches, they're represented as in Christ. Whereas those who don't repent, they're the bad fish that are cast out of the net.

We don't want those. Those are cast out of God's kingdom. So what we see is that God is using these seven churches as an illustration.

And particularly at the beginning and at the end. But we see a contrast between the two churches at the end. Laodicea in Philadelphia.

And also in this side, Ephesus and Smyrna. Now Smyrna, they were faithful. Jesus said, be faithful unto the end.

Be faithful until death, and I will give you a crown of life. If you're faithful to the right way, that means you haven't lost your first love. You haven't left.

You haven't gone off of the path. So it contrasts with Ephesus. And these are paired together, the fish in the net.

And these are paired together because they're two churches in one river. So in fact, what we see, like we saw before already, we have the wise virgins and the foolish virgins. Same thing on this side.

The wise virgins keep their focus. They stay on the path. But the foolish virgins are those who leave the path.

They leave their first love. And unless they repent, then they are lost. So for each of the churches, there's two parts.

There's the faithful part inside and the unfaithful part outside. But Jesus uses these two churches to draw that contrast, to show us the difference between the wise and the foolish, between the wise and the foolish. But there's only two that are represented that way in this illustration with the seven churches.

But in each case, there are those who repent and those who don't. From each church, there are those who repent and are counted in the body of Christ and those who do not. Those who repent from the errors that Jesus pointed out and those who do not.

But it's illustrated in two churches for those who repent from the river church, if you will, this virgin, those who hold the faith and those who don't. So when we see the ends paired in that way, then we see indeed five with the river, one, two, three with the ship, four with the easel, and then again these two are paired because the fish is with the net. If we turn the sign around, what do you see there? It looks like a cup, right? Or a lamp.

This is the lamp that burns. Let me, so you can see it a little bit better. Inside the lamp is the oil of the spirit and it burns with the light.

And what is the light that is shining? It shines with the light of time. And that fits to the parable of the virgins. In the very end of the parable, Matthew 25 verse 13, Jesus says, Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.

Watch because right now you don't know the time when the Son of Man cometh. And when we watch in these last days and we see the signs, when we see the signs that tells us about when Jesus comes, that's the reason for watching. Many people take that the wrong way and they say they don't really connect it with the watch.

But they just hold on to the other part and they say you don't know the time when Jesus will come. But Jesus said watch because you don't know the time. And if you don't know the time, you look at the time.

You watch. You watch for the signs and the signs tell you the time. And that is the light that is illustrated in the vessel of the wise virgins that have the oil.

So we want to be among those five wise virgins who have the oil of the Spirit, who shine with the light of time, who know the time and can share that with the world so that the world can see what time it really is. And this is a very amazing time that we live in when these things are really, we see them taking place. Everything Jesus said about his kingdom, it's all illustrated in the sign.

The things that he said about himself, they're illustrated. Yeah, it's the sign of the Son of Man and he was the Son of Man, he is the Son of Man. And so in his sign, we see all those things all coming together in different ways.

So with that, let's remember something that the Lord concluded every one of his letters with. To the letter of the church of Ephesus, he finished saying, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To Smyrna, this is now chapter 2 verse 11, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches.

To Pergamos, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches. Every one, he that hath an ear, let him hear. Each one of these churches, we have the same expression.

All seven churches, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches. Now, you know, God is an artist. And so he takes something and he likes artists like different perspectives.

And that's why we turn it upside down and look, it's something different. It's the lamp. Yes, that's what I wanted to emphasize was that the flame is the knowledge of the time.

It's the clock that we see right there. But what happens if we turn it in a different direction? And I've just taken the artwork out so you can see it more clearly. What does it look like? You give it away.

It's an ear. He who has ears? No, it said he that hath an ear. He that hath an ear.

Now, normally we have two ears. But Jesus said, he that hath an ear. Because in the sign, we see one ear.

He that hath an ear, the single ear of the sign. Amen. We see the churches, the churches are around this circle.

And that's the part that is illustrated with the ear. That's the part that shows us the ear is exactly where those seven churches are, where the five virgins are shown. And it's also the inside part.

Those are the five wise virgins. Whereas they have the ear and the foolish virgins, they don't hear what the spirit is saying. And of course, there we see where the dove is speaking directly into the ear.

Yeah, the virgins, they come back to the door. We've seen the door in the sign of the Son of Man. Here's the door.

And the door is where the clock is. And so, the foolish virgins, they don't have the spirit. And they have to go away.

In the parable, Jesus says to them, they have to go away to get their oil. Yeah, these are the foolish virgins now. They go away to get, but they go to buy oil.

But they don't get their oil from the olive trees. They get some genetically modified canola oil or something. And so, when they come back, they come to a closed door.

Like Laodicea, they have a closed door. And Jesus is knocking on that door. And that corresponds, I think that fits to those, there are some today who, they think they have more time.

Because maybe not for themselves, they think they will go in a rapture. But there is, and then there would be a second opportunity later when Jesus comes. And so, they go during that time.

And they think they can get oil during that time. But it's a warning that there is not. Because when they come back, Jesus doesn't recognize them.

He doesn't know who they are. And that's a strong hint that they're not who he created them to be. They have been changed by accepting human genetics, for example.

They didn't use, exactly, they didn't use the present time that God has given for repentance. And therefore, they came to the closed door. And so, what we see in the sign, this is the sign of the coming of the Son of Man.

This isn't the sign of a rapture. I mean, it is. But at the coming of the Son of Man, not a pre-tribulation rapture.

This is the sign of God's protection of his people. He wants his people in him, in his body. So, we see all of these signs, all of these symbols coming together that show us that he is coming.

And it doesn't allow for additional time. It's the time of his coming. And after that, there's no opportunity for more to be rescued.

The door is closed. So, we need to make sure that we hear the Spirit, and we understand the voice, his voice, that gives us the time, so that we can shine with the light of time. So, with that, let's have a word of prayer.

Dear Father in Heaven, once again, we thank you for your faithfulness. You are the true and faithful witness. And the oil that the wise have is from the olive trees, from your Spirit.

It's not our own. We shine with the light that you give to us. And we pray that many will be as lights in this world, with the oil of your Spirit to shine with the understanding of the time in which we live.

That we may all be received into your kingdom, and not counted among the foolish virgins who go on their own works to find their own spirit, because they won't come into your kingdom. So, we pray for your guidance every step of this journey. And we thank you because we see it.

We see your guidance in the heavens, as we understand it from your Word. And we pray that your children will hear your voice, and turn their ear toward heaven, and receive you.

We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, and to Alnitak the wounded one of Orion. Amen.