390: Roger Lewis - Exhortation: The Faces of the Cheribim

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Welcome to Good Christophian Talks. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week. We post a talk. That we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk.

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   And now let’s talk. More about this week’s talk. Hello, this is your brother Chris for this week we are listening to an exhortation that was given at the Idlewild Bible School back in 2006 by brother Roger Lewis. The title of Brother Roger’s exhortation is The Faces of the Caribbean and Why I. Decided to share this.

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   Exhortation was this is an example that Brother Roger is. Very effective at. He is pulling on a theme throughout the entire Bible by looking at the character of the Caribbean and the the places where it shows up. Weaving it all the way through from Genesis 3 and then all the way through the rest of the biblical record.

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   And pulling out symbols and ideas about the Caribbean that make them stand out and make it a little bit more significant. And then dives into the way that the Caribbean reflect in the New Testament and drawing examples there that can have echoes of Christ all the way in the Genesis 3 record when they’re talking about the Caribbean, that we’re keeping Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. So I found this to be a really interesting expectation, one that really kind of makes you think and have to do a fair bit of keeping your fingers in different parts of the Bible as you’re jumping around and listening to it. But one that was very insightful and something that I enjoyed greatly.

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   I remember listening to this expectation live when Brother Rodger gave it when he was visiting Idyllwild back almost 20 years ago. So it was fun to be able to share this one and to be able to hear it again. So I hope that this exhortation encourages you and sparks some excitement about digging into a. Less.

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   Broad topic in the Scripture, so I’ll turn it over now to Brother Roger Lewis for his exhortation that he gave at the Idlewild Bible School in 2006 entitled The Faces of the Caribbean. Well, good evening, my dear brothers and sisters and the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re privileged to come again to a Bible school together. For many of us, the Bible schools are spiritual oases, are they not?

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   As we travel to the Kingdom, we earnestly desire these times together that we might spiritually refresh and renew one another to transport our minds into spiritual things. So much so that we don’t even notice the heat.

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   By the way, if it makes you feel better, I come from Christchurch, which currently is sitting at about 0° overnight because it’s our winter time. But in order to adjust, we’ve just come from Texas, which I can assure you is slightly harder. Mind you, the Texas Bible School does have one advantage over our wild, and that is that although the outside ambient air is considerably hotter, the air conditioned hall is considerably cooler.

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   But these trials notwithstanding, I’m sure that we will all be able to hopefully tonight, tired though we might be, focus for a few moments on something to bring our minds to the emblems as a marvellous way that we might begin our Bible school together. So come now to Genesis chapter 3 if you would, because do you know at the end of Genesis chapter 3, where we’re given the story of that occasion when man was driven forth from the Garden of Eden?

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    And we’re told this in Genesis chapter 3 in the last two verses, it says there that the Lord God sent man forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Kerubim and the flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.

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    Do you know, Brother Thomas translates verse 24 slightly differently, but I think probably correctly according to the Hebrew when he says this. So he drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden, he caused to dwell in a Tabernacle, the Caribbean, even a flaming sword, which termed every way to keep the way of the tree of life.

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    And here in the book of Genesis, we have the very first mention of the Caribbean in the Bible, and they’re associated with a Tabernacle for worship. They represent the Father manifested on the earth in some way or shape or form, and they’re there to guard the way of the tree, of the tree of life. And do you know that those Caribbean we believe have faces even now in the book of Genesis?

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    Because do you notice in Genesis chapter 4, we’re told that when Cain is driven out of the garden that says this verse 13 of Genesis chapter 4, when he said that his punishment was greater than he could bear, he says verse 14, Behold, thou hast driven me up this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid. And the word face in the Hebrew is panim, which means faces. It’s plural.

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    Actually. The word panim can mean either face or faces, but but I think on this occasion that probably the faces that Cain had in mind that he was going to be driven from were the faces of the Caribbean, which betokened the divine presence on earth in the Tabernacle of Genesis chapter 3 and verse 24. And Cain lamented that he would be driven forth from the faces of the Caribbean, which manifested the Father, or as it says in verse 16, Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh. Mind you, we don’t know anything about the faces here in Genesis, just that they’re there, the faces of the Caribbean. But when we come to Ezekiel and chapter 1, as we had read together tonight, Ezekiel of course is going to give us a little more detail concerning the same faces when he says this and Ezekiel chapter one, we know that the vision of Ezekiel that he saw was a travelling in a direction that came from the north.

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    Ezekiel one verse 4 says that whatever it was that he saw, it was travelling towards him from the north. And the record says concerning the four living creatures that he saw as Ezekiel one verse 5 says out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And and he says this verse 6, he said every one of them had why four faces? Not just one face, but four faces. Every Caribbean had four of them. And the faces are different because verse 10 says, As for the likeness of their faces, they 4 had the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side. And they 4 had the face of an ox on the left side. And they 4 also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces, says Ezekiel. And because they were travelling towards him from the north, and there were four of them, the first face that he must have seen was the South face of the Caribbean. After all, if it’s coming towards them from the north, it’s the South face that he’ll see first. And so when it says in verse 10 they forehead the face of a man, we presume that the South face of the Caribbean is the face of the man.

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    And when it says the face of a lion was on the right side, if Ezekiel is looking northwards, well then the right must be E, mustn’t it? And when he says that on the left side was the face of an ox that must be looking to the West, And when he says last of all, they 4 also have the face of an eagle, it’s the last face he saw because it was the last one to arrive. And so it’s the face that comes behind The North Face. So you see, now we’ve got not just how many faces, but we’ve got what the faces were, and we’ve got where the faces are. There’s four of them and they’re in different positions, one to the north, one to the east, one to the West, one to the South. But they’re all the faces of the Caribbean, you see. And now come to Numbers Chapter 2, because in the Book of Numbers and chapter 2, when the tribes of Israel were settled in their encampment as they began to March through the wilderness, we’re told this in Numbers 2 and verse one says, Yahweh spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard with the end sign of their father’s house.

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    Far off about the Tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch. Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard with the end sign of his father’s house. There were going to be flags flying in signs. But in fact, although verse 2 says that each man would pitch by the end sign of his father’s house, as chapter 2 of Numbers unfold, we’ll find there were actually only four in signs flying amidst the nation.

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    And here they are first 3 on the east side toward the rising of the sun shall be the standard of the camp of Judah.

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    So Judah is on the east, but Ezekiel said that it was on the east was where the face of the lion was. And you know, the rabbinical writers tell us that the flag that flew on Judah’s encampment to the east of the encampment of Israel had the face of a lion upon it, that this Karabic face belonged to the tribe of Judah on the eastern side.

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    And then the Numbers, chapter 2 and verse 10, the record says on the South side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their armies. But Ezekiel chapter one said that the South face of the Caribbean, the first one to arrive, was the face of a man. And so flying on the face of the flag of Reuben on the South side of the Tabernacle encampment, was the face of the man on the flag betokening Reuben, as we shall see by and by in later studies.

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    And Numbers 2, verse 18 says on the West side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their armies. But Ezekiel one had said that on the West side was the face of an ox, and on the face of the flag of the tribe of Ephraim on the West side of the encampment the ox was shown on the flying of the flag. And lastly, Numbers 2, verse 25 says the standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north side of their armies. And The North Face of the Kiriban in Ezekiel chapter 1 was the face of the eagle, which we believe answers to the tribe of Dan.

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    So you see, the whole encampment of Israel was enclosed by the faces of the Kiriban. They flew his flags on all corners to show that all Israel should be a dwelling place for the manifestation of the divine glory, because after all, that’s what the Caribbean symbolize, the manifestation of God’s glory on the face of the earth. And these flags flying around the nation were to show that the whole of Israel ought to be that dwelling place for God’s glory. And you know, if you came from the outside of the encampment, right into the very centre, into the Tabernacle, into the Most Holy Place, into the Ark, there were the Caribbean. The same four faces were right at the heart and soul of the nation as well as on the four corners to show that the Spirit should be throughout the whole of Israel’s encampment. In Isaiah chapter 49, we’re told this in an interesting prophecy concerning the suffering Servant. You’ll probably know that in the book of Isaiah there are 4 prophecies that are known as the Servant prophecies, and they are actually prophecies of our Lord Jesus Christ, but they’re woven in the midst of references to the nation of God as a servant. But this one in Isaiah 49 is individual. It’s about the individual servant. And in verse 3 of Isaiah 49, it says, he said unto me, thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. And the Israel of Isaiah 49 and verse 3 is not the nation, it’s one particular man.

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    This is the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see what Isaiah 49 and verse 3 is telling us is that God saw his Son as representative of Israel in whom He would be manifested. In this one man would be seen all that the four square encampment of Israel foreshadowed.

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    In this one man the glory of God would be seen. And if that’s true, brothers and sisters, then we wouldn’t be surprised to see the carobic symbols encompassing our Lord, would we? If he was to be that man, the faces of the Caribbean, we believe, will fly as standards in the Gospels to show that he was the one in which the Father himself would be manifested. But what the Gospels are going to do is to supply what the prophet doesn’t.

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    They’re going to give us an explanation of what the faces mean, of what the faces represent. Do you know that the Gospel of Luke, which we shan’t turn up, but the Gospel of Luke, opens by saying these words? For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth an order, a declaration of those things that are most surely believed among us, many have taken in hand, says Luke at the beginning of his gospel. Do you know what that means, brothers and sisters? It means there were many gospels written concerning our Lord, many of them lots of gospels.

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    But in the Providence of God, only four were preserved in the Canon of Scripture. And they four were preserved, we believe, for obvious reasons. And so if we were to say, well, why are there only four gospels? The answer is because there’s only four faces of the Caribbean, and all of these faces will be revealed in the life and story of our Lord Jesus Christ in the four Gospels, which alone in the Providence of God, we’re preserved for our reading.

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    And now come to Revelation chapter 4 and to the vision of the four living creatures that the Book of Revelation all also talks about. You’ll remember that Ezekiel mentioned 4 living creatures and interestingly enough, in the Book of Revelation there are two different words for beasts. When the great Dragons and manifestation of of the power hostile to the truth is is fought against in the later chapters of the Book of Revelation, it is a beast indeed. And and there’s a word used in the Book of Revelation to betoken those beasts against whom the Lord himself will come. But in Revelation chapter 4, the word beast is different. It says in verse 6 of Revelation 4, before the throne there was a sea of glass like on the crystal, and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four beasts full of eyes before and and behind.

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    And now the word beast is a word that quite literally means in the Greek why living creatures. It’s the same idea as the prophet Ezekiel. You see, these are the Caribbean. They’re not the kiribem that first appeared in the Tabernacle of Eden. This now is the spiritual community of the Saints. This is the gathering of the whole household of faith at a time yet to be revealed. And yet for all of that, this spiritual community of Israel, not the nation of Israel, but the spiritual community of Israel, will be gathered together under the banner, says the record of four living creatures. And verse 7 says, now what creatures might they be? Well, it says verse 7.

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    And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf or an ox. And the third beast had a face, a face as a man. And the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. So this is the community now of Christ and the time to come. And yet the same four faces of the Caribbean will be seen in this community of Jesus when he returns. Do you notice what it says about the four beasts? Verse 6?

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    Before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal, and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four living creatures. So the four living creatures were in the midst of the throne, says Revelation 4, verse 6, in the very midst of the throne. But do you notice what chapter 5 and verse 6 says, says, and I beheld and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the oldest stood a Lamb. So the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, and yet so are the four beasts.

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    And I think what we’re being told, you see, is that these four beasts manifest the characteristics of the Lamb. They’re like him. They’re four living creatures, and yet they’re somehow related to the Lamb because they’re all in the midst of the throne together. And I think what we’re being told, therefore, is that presumably this sequence of faces in Revelation chapter 4 is the order in which the Lamb himself has been revealed to us.

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    This is the sequence of the faces in which both the Lamb of God. And who was followed followers will be seen. See this order is different to Ezekiel. And so now this is the order of the manifestation of Christ and the Saints. So here it is verse 7. And the first beast was like a lion. That’s the Gospel of Matthew

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    that announces to the tribe of Judah. And the second beast was like an ox, That’s the Gospel of Mark, and it relates to the tribe of Ephraim. And the third beast had a face like a man, that’s the Gospel of Luke and relate to the tribe of of Reuben. And the fourth beast says the record was like a flying eagle.

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    And that must be the Gospel of John and relate to the tribe of Dan. This is the order in which Christ Himself will be revealed, and in which the care of them of the four living creatures, the Saints themselves, will in turn manifest their Lord. Do you know, imagine if there was a man, any man, who was a family man, a man who at the same time in his career was a scientist, the chemist to be precise, A man who in his spare time enjoyed walking in the mountains and at the same time for release from the intensity of his task at work, enjoyed to play the violin.

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    And now we ask 4 painters of portraits to paint portraits of this man in the various capacities of his life. And so in one portrait we might see the man with a coil of rope and climbing boots and a certain hat to scale the mountains. But we recognize the face of the man because, well, we know who he is. And yet in another portrait of the same man we will see, well, we’ll see him with his white coat on, surrounded by laboratory equipment, with a studious look on his face. And then another painting with a man surrounded with his children and his wife and the home the home scene about him. And lastly, a man with a Grenieri under his chin and a piece of Bach manuscript in the background and a music stand to show that this man has a love of music. And you see, what would be interesting about those four paintings is they’d all be true, but they’d all be focusing on a different aspect of this man’s life. Mountaineer, scientist, father, musician. And yet, despite their differences, they’d all be true, would they not?

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    And if we looked at all four paintings, we’d we’d recognize the man and the diversity of his life. Well, you see, that’s what the Gospels are about.

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    And you see it’s the same Lord in all the gospels, but each writer is painting a portrait of Christ that’s different to the others because he’s going to paint a particular portrait of the karabic face that he was asked to paint.

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    And so if we ask ourselves, well why do we have 4 gospels and not one comprehensive how many of the gospels? Well, the answer would be that if we just had a harmony of the Gospels, brothers and sisters, we wouldn’t see the faces. So in the Providence of God, we’ve been given 4 gospels.

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    Not that we might necessarily harmonize them, although that’s helpful, but that we might celebrate the diversity of the Gospels and to realise that in the Providence of God, each Gospel writer was selected to paint a portrait of Christ with different colourings and shadings on the canvas of his writing. And the Spirit would help the man paint the portrait. The man’s the same, but the details are different. And the burden of our studies in the days to come will be to look at the shadings, and not the things that are the same. In the book of Corinthians, the apostle Paul once said these words.

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    For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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    So we want to come and look at the face of Christ, brothers and sisters, do we not? That we might see God and that we might see all the faces of the Caribbean? Now come and have a look at the Second of Corinthians in chapter 3, the Second of Corinthians in chapter 3, And here it is.

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    What a comfort this is in the second of Corinthians in chapter 3. In the last two verses the record says this. Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, a change to into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

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    And what the apostle Paul says that is that unlike the veiled Israel of old, we are able to look upon Christ with unobstructed gaze. With open face, brothers and sisters, we might behold Him. And the wonderful thing about looking in the Gospels and seeing our Lord Jesus Christ, says the apostle Paul, who by the way, is the Spirit, the manifestation of his Father. The wonderful thing is that the more we look, says Paul, the more we look on the face of Christ in the Gospels, the more we will be changed to become like him, changed into the same image so that we ourselves might manifest the face, or should we say the faces of Christ in our own lives. Do you know, brothers and sisters, we all need to look into the Gospels more than we have so that we might see him. We need to see His mercy, His compassion, His discernment, His labour, His prayerfulness.

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    We need to see his speech, His sacrifice, his integrity. In short, we need to look in the Gospels so that we might see all the faces of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that in seeing those faces we might be so impressed and so inspired and so enthused that almost without realizing it, we begin to look like Him

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    and to sound like Him. And best of all, brothers and sisters, to think like Him. Because when we have looked upon the Gospels enough to see the faces of our Lord in that way and think like Him, then we also will be a manifestation of the Father and part of the four living creatures yet to be revealed when our Lord comes. So let’s seize the day, shall we not? And let’s take the opportunity now of this Bible school to focus our hearts and minds and our attention on spiritual things that will help to change us, to surrender ourselves to the power of the truth, to change us, to make the Bible school profitable in that regard. You know, one of the things as you, as you look out upon a sea of faces like this and you see old and familiar faces and some new faces, is that Bible schools are continuums. Father Dick Patterson was telling me this morning that this Bible school has been in operation now for over 50 years. Some of the grey headed brothers and sisters in the room tonight we’re the young Hoydens of a few years ago and even 10 years ago. Some of the ones that were the most difficult. Teenagers are now enthusiastic young couples committed to the work of the truth.

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    And life moves on and another cycle of teenagers arrives. But the Bible school has that marvellous degree, that marvellous ability to keep changing us, and that’s why we come. So let’s treasure the opportunity that Almighty God has given us. Air, our Lord returns. And now, as we partake of bread and wine, let us focus our minds and let us gaze upon the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that in seeing Him in these emblems, brothers and sisters, we might be changed into the same image.

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    God bless and talk to you next week.