Priesthood:Partakers of the Heavenly Calling

By Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

God has never suffered defeat but from the beginning had a clear picture of where He was going. The world became His easel, with saints of old His brushes, the events of their lives His colors, and the Bible His canvas. In these few pages, Allow your eyes to be opened to the beauty of the picture God began to paint in Genesis and find yourself in it as the inspired word of God unfolds!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD
• Release date: Mar 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301575695

Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

Dr. Martin Tharp has been an avid student of the Bible for many years and holds a Bachelor, Master and eight Doctorates, one honorary and seven earned, including a Doctor. of Literature and two PhDs. He has been in full time ministry for over fifty-seven years and has authored forty-nine books to date, many of which are being used as curriculum in Bible colleges around the United States and abroad. He has also penned a number of gospel songs and recorded thirty-three albums as well as being actively involved in a school ministry to Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom for the past thirty-eight years, and Dr. Tharp has been honored twice by members of parliament in Ireland for their work in the Protestant and Catholic schools. He and his wife, Sharon, along with Maranda Howells, travel extensively across the USA and the whole of the British Isles holding evangelistic crusades in the churches of both countries.

Book preview

PRIESTHOOD: PARTAKERS

OF THE

HEAVENLY CALLING

By Martin G. Tharp Ph.D.

Copyright 2013 Martin Tharp Ph.D.

Smashwords edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes; This ebook is licensed for your own personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, King James Version. Copyright 1984, 1991 by AMG International, INC and the Living Bible Copyright 1971, 1986 by Tyndale House Publishers INC

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Pastor Jackie Sanders, who served as my associate for nearly six years, but has been my loyal friend and brother for the past fourteen years in spite of me installing him as the pastor in my stead!

Acknowledgments

With deep appreciation to Dr. Charles Travis, who has kindled a fire in me to make use of all the years of diligent study time I have put in. This book is the result of my overwhelming love for the myriad themes of the Old Testament, and though very inadequate in my opinion, Dr. Travis has insisted that there are others who share my personal bent for this particular subject, and therefore for what it’s worth, you now hold it in your hand. To my wife Sharon, who not only agreed with Dr. Travis’ assessment, spent untold hours attempting to make me sound scholarly by correcting my spelling and punctuation gaffs.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

1. MAN'S FALL

2. THE FIVE COVENANTS OF GENESIS 3

3. CAIN AND ABEL

4. NOAH

5. ABRAHAM

6. ABRAM AND TWO KINGS/ ABRAM’S SHIELD AND EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD

7. ABRAM QUESTIONS GOD

8. GOD PUTS ABRAM TO SLEEP

9. GOD'S COVENANT WITH HIMSELF

10. THE LAND GRANT, THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT, AND CONDITIONS

11. A LAMB FOR A HOUSE / SALVATION

12. HEALING / THE BREAD

13. PRIESTHOOD

14. OBEDIENCE

15. LAWS OF HUMAN RELATIONS

16. ACCESS

17. HEAVENLY PLANNING SESSION

18. REBELLION / INTERCESSION

19. MOSES' ANGER / LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD

20. MIRACULOUS POWER AARONIC PRIESTHOOD

21. PREPARATION FOR PRIESTHOOD

22. SEEKING GOD FOR DIRECTION

23. THE MOUNTAIN TOP EXPERIENCE DEDICATION

24. BUILDING / USING THE PEOPLE

25. GOD GIVES KNOWLEDGE, TALENT, ABILITY

26. FINANCES

Study Questions

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

GOD'S PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING

Several years ago, we lived in the small resort community of Santa Cruz, California in a home overlooking the harbor. It was just about one half mile from the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. We often took a stroll of one or two hours along the beach which stretched over one and a half miles around the cove.

One day, while enjoying the ocean breeze, I noticed an artist who had set up his easel twenty yards from the water, with a two by three foot canvas set upon it. He was busily putting paint from his palette on to it. Being a little curious, I walked the extra one hundred yards off my path to see what he was painting.

With his eyes fixed on the canvas, he was totally oblivious to my presence. For over one half hour I watched, mesmerized by his every movement, thinking any moment the painting would begin to take shape and I would be able to figure out just what it was he was painting. His eyes never left the canvas. It seemed he was transfixed by the picture that was in his mind, rather than continually looking up to see the beauty that surrounded him.

He stood facing the ocean, and you could see in the distance the Monterey Bay Peninsula. To his right a pier stretched four hundred yards into the bay with several shops and restaurants. Fishermen lined both sides of the pier, and with an array of colorful hats and clothing, the tourists were making their way to the shops and restaurants, or leaving, clutching the treasures they had purchased as a memento of their escape from the every day drudgery of responsibilities. The bright color of sails from the variety of sailboats docked along the pier put the finishing touches on that scene. To his left, over one hundred surfers were taking turns catching waves into the beautiful stretch of sandy beach dominated by a natural rock formation that formed an arch called Steamers Lane, where kids from all over the world come to try and ride the twelve to eighteen foot waves that come crashing through.

Behind him was the Boardwalk itself. The largest old-fashioned roller coaster on the West Coast filled the air with the clacking of the wheels on the rail and the screams of its occupants as it fell from the highest arch and left their stomachs in their mouths as it fell seemingly forever, only to make them feel like all the skin was coming off their faces a second later, hitting bottom and starting to climb and turn again!

Behind the Boardwalk, the community of Santa Cruz seemed to be a part of the rugged mountain that rose behind it. With all of that beauty filling my senses, I was a little disappointed that he wasn't giving any clues to which of those scenes he was working on! Impatient, I walked on down the boardwalk, leaving him behind with his secret.

An hour later, on my way back, he captured my attention again! This time he was putting away his palette and cleaning his brushes, obviously finished. I hurried down to get a glimpse of his work before he put that away too. I must have looked funny standing there with my mouth open, astonished that he had not painted any of the scenes I described! The painting was a beautiful scenic view alright, but one far removed from the spot he was standing. That's why the artist hadn't looked at any of the possibilities around him, for before he ever got out his brushes, the picture was clear in his mind!

I'm amazed sometimes at theologians who suppose God did not know where He was going when He created this world, and who, after studying the work of His hands for a while, and not being able to see the picture clearly, apply their own application to His work. Like the artist I described, who ignored all my efforts to comprehend where he was headed, God does not seek to satisfy our casual curiosity, but rather is willing to show us the finished product if our minds are willing to take in the scope of the whole picture! There are some ridiculous concepts offered to us by intellectuals who 'suppose' they've got it all figured out and offer us the following conclusions:

1. God was defeated in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.

2. God was defeated again when the wickedness of men caused Noah to build an ark to carry himself, his wife, his three sons and their wives to safety while He destroyed the rest of mankind.

Some think the only reason for the ark was to carry the animals to safety and provide zoo keepers for their voyage while the waters abated! Let me set the record straight! The animals were not the primary purpose for the ark, but rather to carry a faithful, obedient servant and his family!

3. We are further offered the concept that God was defeated again when He sequestered Himself behind the veil in the Tabernacle to meet with men between the cherubim over the Mercy Seat.

4. Not long ago a friend of mine handed me a book offering the following concept: Jesus actually came to save the world, and God suffered the ultimate defeat when Jesus was crucified. But God again brought victory out of defeat by causing us to be saved by the blood that Jesus shed. The author further stated that God had made no provision for such an eventuality, but since it did happen, God came up with this brilliant plan to turn defeat into victory!

That's sort of like a golfer that hits four lousy shots on a par five, and then accidentally holes one from two hundred yards away for a par! Then he tells his partners that, Although I missed all those first four shots, I planned to par this hole.

God is not in the business of pulling victory out of defeat, but rather sees the end from the beginning. Even though to us it may seem that He is turning our defeats into victories, Romans 8:28 offers us a different point of view.

And we know that all things work together for good to them who are the called according to his purpose.

I'm sure by now you can tell that I do not believe that God ever suffered defeat, but rather that from the beginning had a clear picture of where He was going. The world became His easel, with saints of old His brushes, the events of their lives His colors, and the Bible His canvas!

In these few pages, I want to open your eyes to the beauty of the picture God began to paint in Genesis and fit ourselves into the picture as the inspired word of God unfolds!

CHAPTER 1

MAN'S FALL

God began in Genesis 3 to put some paint on the canvas by telling us the story of Adam and Eve. The last verse in Genesis 2 says,

They were naked but they were not ashamed.

Satan enters the picture in Chapter 3 using the serpent's beguiling subtlety and implies there is doubt about the benevolence of God. He begins by asking a question:

Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (Gen. 3:1b-3).

Misquoting God may seem insignificant to the casual reader, but God did not say,

Neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.

For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Gen. 2:17).

Satan can never be defeated when we don't know what God has said, for he does know what God said, and addresses what God did say.

And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die (Gen. 3:4)

If Satan can get past us with an outright challenge to the validity of God's word, then he can