SEALED TREASURES
SEALED TREASURES
Sunday, July 9, 2017, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Deuteronomy 32:34: Is this not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up among my treasures?
This is from the prophetic song of Moses and establishes that God has sealed treasures. Locked up in His infinity is all history and time.
Moses began and ended his wilderness ministry with a song. I have a teaching on the website of the Song of Moses from Exodus 15. Today’s message is from Deut. 32, the final song of Moses.
Something “laid up in store” and “sealed up among my treasures” REFLECTS BOTH POWER AND POSSESSION. Locked up in His treasure trove are things from which He can either seal or reveal. He has the power to add to it or disseminate from it. Sealed in Him is perfect dominion over all His creation. There really is a day and hour for certain events and they are set for judgment and for blessing. They are sealed up in Him. There is a “day” and on its calendar is “due time.”
Written into the song, which was penned just before Moses’ departure, he scripted this edict about sealed judgment. This was a judgment with a wide scope, much of which has not yet been revealed, though viewed as accomplished in the heavens.
When God commissioned the song, He prophesied:
Deut. 31:20: Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their seed, for I know the evil imaginations they have even now; even before I brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.
Our thoughts can produce evil or good fruit. Hear, O earth; behold I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. (Jer. 6:19)
The song of Moses itself was a seal upon its hearers, “it will not be forgotten.” Sealed into the song was a sealed witness. Some words of the Lord are like time capsules sealed until opened by a future generation. Built into these words are spiritual fruits which will satisfy the hungry souls of the years to come people along with spiritual judgments which will be unleashed in the Latter Days. It is a principle or law of God that “built into each sin is that sin’s judgment.”
The Song of Moses is sung by the sealed saints in Rev. 15:3: And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.
In Matthew 6:2, Jesus told the Pharisees they already had their reward; it was built into their activity. Sealed judgments are able to wait for their time, so can sealed blessings.
Gal. 6: 7-9: Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever man sows that shall he also reap. He that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we do not faint.
In Deut 32:46, Moses literally told the people to set their hearts or seal their hearts with the commandments given to the children of Israel. Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today. Taking the revealed and setting it as a seal is a vital part of “owning” the Word. Many people know the Word, few lay hold to own it.
Deut 32:47: For it is not a futile things for you because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land…
What if the children of Israel had actually consumed the words of Moses’ song like Ezekiel did the little book? What if they had chosen to declare that all it said belonged to them and would be a vital part of their every day life? What if you read John 17, and declared every portion of Jesus’ prayer belonged to you and would manifest in you every day?
In Deut. 29:12, Moses urged every follower to enter into covenant with the Lord. The covenant would be sealed by word and action. The reason for such action is profound …that He may establish (seal) you today as a people for Himself.
Deut. 29: 14-15: Moses said, I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, but also with him who stands here with us today, before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today.
Jeremiah 11:4-5: Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God, that I may establish (seal) the oath.
Jeremiah was a sealed man, sent to a sealed people with a revealed message about a sealed judgment which would end with a sealed remnant.
Jer. 1:5: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; and ordained (sealed) you a prophet to the nations.
He embraced the sovereign seal of God on his life, and the knowledge of that seal enabled him to persevere with God’s message to a subverted populace.
Jeremiah fought spiritual and physical battles with kings, priests and false prophets who slapped him, called him a liar, imprisoned him, lied about him and slandered His God. Through it all, none of them could penetrate the seal of God.
God rewarded those who assisted Jeremiah and cursed those who fought against him. God ordained doom upon Jeremiah’s generation and gave no avenue for avoidance.
The seal of the covenant had been broken by this nation and God replaced it with the seal of judgment. Because a generation rose like a swollen carbuncle on the neck of history, forcing God to lance it, heal it, and move on. Such action did not signify God had broken his covenant.
The United States continues to be under grace because of the faithful Church; but the sins and judgment of locking the Word of God and prayer out of our schools, abortion, sexual immorality, the mouth of perversion which spews into our homes through media, murderers, idolaters, rioting, lawlessness, etc. are sealed in as a witness against the people of this nation.
9-11 was a warning that a seal of grace was lifted or we could not have been attacked by the Assyrians.
When a nation or individual walks outside the covenants of God, they find themselves “unsealed” and open for spiritual and physical disaster.
Another alarm is sounding. The kings of the east (kings of Persia and North Korea) are threatening to bomb our nation. A threat is a declaration of war! America repent and turn to God. All manner of evil is spewing forth from the mouth of the beast.
Again at Wednesday night prayer, the Lord reminded us to bind up the god of war/god of fortresses described in Daniel 11:38: In his estate shall he honor the god of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, silver, precious stones and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
By the Spirit, the Lord revealed to us this god of war is a strong man over the Sea of Japan and the East and South China Sea. I am not saying that is the only region where the god of war has been given power through the millenniums.
We have been given a President and his administration which uphold the Christian faith and are praying and studying the Word of God. This is not true of the other branches of government. The Church and our nation are still being weighed in the balance as to whether the Church in America is invoking a ritual of worship or genuine repentance. We must continually examine our hearts because God reads the heart.
In our Tuesday study of John’s gospel, we are hearing Jesus announce the true church and its seal. Modern theology has no relevance compared to John 20: 22-23: He breathed on them, and said to them “Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
I preached the funeral service for a prominent lady several years ago. A few days after the service, the Lord spoke to me. He said, you redeemed (name of lady). I don’t know what to do with that. But I am not afraid to speak it and have it judged.
According to John 20: 22-23 this is the work of the ministry and that which is known as ministry does not exist in the majority of places known as church. John’s gospel anchored the birth of the true church in the supernatural seal of its participants. They received the Holy Spirit and the power associated with the seal of the Spirit.
John 14: 12-14: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
This ultimate sense of destiny was apparent also in the statement Jesus made concerning His word. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day (Jn. 12:48). Since the saints (sealed ones) will also judge in the last Days, what they pronounce on earth will be there to judge as well. Sons of light have their identity in Him; they are sealed with Him and the Father.
John 13:20: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.
The mark of the sealed one is culminated in experiencing the three way fellowship of the seal.
John 14:20: You will know that I am in My Father and you in Me, and I in you.
Jesus declared Himself to be the beginning and ending of love. God will control the end of His creation, just as He controlled the beginning. The seals in the Book of Revelation are built on the premise that all history is enclosed by One who is larger than history or life.
Rev. 1: 4, 5, 8: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Messiah, the faithful witness…I am Alpha and Omega, Begging and End, says the Lord. ‘Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’
The seven-sealed book of Revelation appeared to be the final book in God’s library of history, and there was but One who had the capability to open it. Since it was perfectly sealed, then only Perfection could break its bonds. The Lion of the tribe of Judah (the Root of David) reached to accomplish this task. Once more, the twenty-four elders with the four living creatures proclaimed His worthiness to break the seals. (The same faces as were portrayed on the banners around the original tabernacles are present here.) They had, in their possession, the prayers of the saints in golden bowls of incense. (Prayers of sealed saints are never lost!) These king-priests were to reign over and judge the earth (5:10). Their prayers had power over the earth from their first formed syllables forward and down to the end of time. Their pronouncements were in the will of God and would be successfully directed to their intended purposes!
In chapter 13, a series of events arrives in history under extremely controlled conditions. God was not surprised by the emergence of the Beast and his agent nor was heaven moved by their presence. Earth, however, found the power of God’s seal was about to be tested. Remember the difference between the earth which is the Lord’s and the world/kosmos which is the abode of the prince of the power of the air.
A beast reared up with such authority and power that the unsealed earthlings buckled when he declared war on the saints. All of the remaining men worshipped him, all that is, but the sealed ones.
Rev. 13:8: All who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Just as sealed ones worshipped the Messiah, unsealed ones worshipped the Beast, who manifested power and authority. The test was clearly between externally manifested illusion and the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. From this point forward, the whole of Revelation has but one question, “Who do you worship?” The Lamb is the only one worthy of worship.
The Lamb is shown to be of the eternal order of God. The seal of God is made plain through Him. It is God’s Son who was sealed before time was fixed. The call of God’s people into both seal and service clearly occurred before the foundation of the world.
History’s undulating empires and economies had little to do with determining the course and destiny of mankind. During the end-time, The Book of Life of the Lamb became more important than the Book of the Seven Seals. As Revelation progresses the “sealed of God” take on greater importance.
Unfolding events will cause people to choose side and thereby seal themselves through their choices.
Rev. 13: 16-18: He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom.
Revelation now turns to a group with a different kind of forehead treatment. They are antithetical to the world. Surrounding the Lamb were 144,000 with His Father’s name written on their foreheads. They, like the two lovers in the Song of Solomon had a unique score called the “Song of the Redeemed.”
Rev. 14:5: For they are without fault before the throne of God.
The everlasting gospel defines the way to truth. Who is worshipped cuts through all other considerations.
Rev. 14:7: The hour of His judgment has come; worship Him.
A third angel gives his assignment proclamation:
Rev. 14: 9-10: If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Revelation 14:12 clearly separates the two camps, those sealed to God and those sealed away from Him.
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Chapter 15 captured the essence of the “sealed ones” when they sang the “Song of the Sealed” as prophesied by Moses in the song of Moses. It is also Exodus 15, which is the first Song of Moses.
Rev. 15:3: They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.
Drinking the “wine of wrath” from the “cup of indignation” was the opposite of drinking the wine of His blood and the bread of His body. Every soul on earth is obliged to drink of one or the other.
Their song presaged the bowls of wrath which were poured out upon the earth as vindication for the martyred saints. Judgment rolled down like mighty stream on a rolling world because of the world’s treatment of the prophets and the righteous of the Lord.
Moses and the children are a type of Jesus Christ and His Body. (Isaiah 8:18) Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwells in Mount Zion.”
(Ex. 15:1) I will sing unto the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea.” Ex. 15:2: “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
I worship the Lamb of God!
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of Dr. C. R. Oliver, Sealed Unto His Coming.