Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days (audio)

Pastor Derek takes an in-depth look at the Messiahship of Jesus, showing how He fulfils all the prophecies of the Messiah, that speak of Him being the unique God-man, with the full anointings of Prophet, Priest and King. We discuss how His Messiahship is fully revealed in His 2 Comings - the Sufferings and the Glory. The first time He came to suffer and die for our sins and for our salvation, and He will return a second time to establish His glorious Kingdom on earth. He is the Lamb and the Lion. In connection with this Derek takes a detailed look at Matthew 16, when He announced the building of His Church on the Foundation of Himself and His death and resurrection, and Matthew 17, when He gave a prophetic preview of His Coming Kingdom through the Transfiguration.

We make a detailed verse by verse study of Paul's inspired prayer for the Philippians, discussing our fellowship in the Gospel, and how God's grace enables us to persevere in faith and grow spiritually. The God, who has begun a good work in us, will surely complete it in the Day of Jesus Christ!

After seeing how the Gospel is the fulfilment of the Year of Jubilee, we look at the dramatic story of how Paul planted the Church at Philippi during his 2nd Missionary Journey in Acts 16, when he brought the Gospel into Europe for the first time. We discuss the history and strategic location of Philippi, as the gateway between Europe and Asia, and how it became a Roman Colony, with special status and rights. Likewise, the Church in every place is a Colony of Heaven, living by the laws and ways of Heaven, not of this world, representing the Kingdom of God to the world, showing forth an example of what life is like in the Kingdom of Heaven, and bringing the people under the influence of God. In this letter, Paul opens his heart to the Philippians in a special way, because they had partnered with him in spreading the Gospel from the very beginning, when the Church was founded. Above all the other Churches, their heart was with Paul, and this was shown by their consistent support of him in prayer and financial gifts. In fact, the occasion for Paul to write Philippians was to thank them for the gift they had recently sent him, through Epaphroditus, to help sustain him in prison (1:5, 2:25-30, 4:10-19).

What does it mean to be a saint? What does it mean to be in Christ? What is the grace of God, and what fruit does it produce in our life? What is the Gospel? We explore these great themes, which Paul introduces at the start of His letter to the Philippians.

We study the background to Philippians in the Book of Acts, giving a potted history, leading up to Paul's imprisonment in Rome (AD 60 - 62), after appealing to Caesar. We see that Paul was in prison for preaching Jesus as the risen Messiah, and the key issue for him was the defence and confirmation of the Gospel. During these 2 years under house arrest, chained to soldiers, God used Paul's chains to bring the Gospel to the heart of the Empire, including to the whole Praetorium Guard and Caesar's Palace in Rome. Paul wrote Philippians near the end of these 2 years, on the threshold of his trial before Nero. He introduces himself as a slave of Jesus Christ. We discuss the issue of slavery, and what it means for us to be slaves of God.

According to Deuteronomy 28, the Curse of the Law includes every kind of sickness (v61), and Jesus redeemed us from the Curse by becoming the Curse for us when He hung on the Tree of Calvary (Galatians 3:13-14). Therefore, Christ has redeemed us from all sickness, having taken the curse of sickness when He hung on the Tree. This proves that Healing is in the Atonement. Healing therefore belongs to us in Christ, because it was purchased for us by the Blood of Christ. To explain the removal of the Curse, in Galatians 3:13 Paul pointed to an Old Testament picture by quoting from Deuteronomy 21:21-23: “for it is written: "CURSED is everyone who hangs on a TREE.” Derek shows how Jesus fulfilled the picture in Deuteronomy 21 in removing the curse from us. He also gives some examples of this Deuteronomy Law in action in Joshua 7 and 8. Derek also shows how Christ's removal of sin and the curse is revealed through the Type of the SCAPEGOAT on the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. Finally, we study another picture of what Christ accomplished through His Death and Resurrection in taking our CURSE and releasing to us His BLESSING in the ceremony of Joshua 8:30-35, following God's commands in Deuteronomy 11 and 27. (1) All the CURSE for breaking the Law was put on Mount EBAL, the place of Sacrifice, a picture of God putting all our Curse on Christ on the Cross. (2) All the BLESSINGS were placed upon and released from Mount GERAZIM, a picture of Christ’s Resurrection, when God blessed Him with every blessing on the basis of His perfect righteousness, which He received on our behalf, and gives freely to us. So (1) EBAL represents Christ in His Death on the Cross, where Christ became a CURSE for us, and (2) GERIZIM represents Christ in His Resurrection, when He received the BLESSING and released it to us. This is exactly what Galatians 3:13-14 tells us: “Christ has (1) redeemed us from the Curse of the Law, having become a Curse for us...that (2) the BLESSING might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.” Mount EBAL declares that Christ in His Death took all our curse (including sickness), so that we can receive the blessing from Mount GERIZIM, the blessing of abundant, eternal life flowing from Christ’s Resurrection. The BLESSING of healing can only flow to us, because Christ bore the CURSE of sickness for us. Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of sickness, so that we might be blessed with the blessing of life and health. (1) By faith, we look to Mt. EBAL and see Christ redeeming us from the curse through His death. Then (2) we look to Mt. GERIZIM and see all the blessings of healing and life released to us in Christ through His resurrection, and we come to Him to receive our healing. The CURSES reveal what Christ has redeemed us from on the Cross. The BLESSINGS reveal what is ours now through His Resurrection. By faith in God’s Word we receive: (1) deliverance from the curse, and (2) the fullness of blessing. (1) Through faith in Christ’s Death for us, we are released from the power of the curse. (2) Through faith in His Resurrection, we receive the power of new life (blessing).

There is only one remedy for the curse – the Cross of Christ, where He redeemed us from the curse, having become a curse for us, so that we might receive the blessing of healing through faith (Galatians 3:13-14). The curse is the consequence of sin, and is described in Deuteronomy 28:15-61, and it includes every kind of sickness (v61). So every sickness is part of the curse, and Christ has redeemed us on the Cross from the curse. Therefore He has redeemed us from every sickness. So Divine Healing must be in the Atonement. The removal of the Curse of Sickness through the Cross is revealed through 2 Types of Christ: (1) the Serpent on the Pole (Numbers 21) and (2) the man who bears the curse by being hung on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:21-23). In Galatians 3:13, Paul quotes from this passage, to explain how Christ took the curse for us on the Cross: "for it is written: “CURSED is everyone who hangs on a TREE.” A guilty man who committed a crime worthy of death was (1) executed, then (2) hung on a tree, and then (3) buried before sunset. In this way, the curse (defilement) of his sin was removed from the land. Derek shows how Jesus fulfilled the requirements of Deuteronomy 21 for the curse to be removed from us, by taking our place, bearing our sin, becoming a curse for us, and dying the death that we deserved, and being buried on the same day before sunset. Christ (1) died for us, (2) He was hung on a tree for us, and (3) He was buried on the same day, fulfilling the requirements of Deuteronomy 21 for the curse to be removed from us. So for sin and its curse to be removed from us it requires a sin-bearer to bear the curse by being nailed to a tree and becoming the curse, and suffering the penalty of death, and then he must be buried before sunset. This is exactly what Jesus did for us in His death and burial. So God put in the Law in Deuteronomy 21 a picture of God’s remedy for the curse of sin, which Jesus fulfilled in His death and burial. Having removed the curse of sickness from us, He then poured out His blessing of healing upon us through His resurrection life.

Christ is the fulfilment of the Type of the Passover Lamb. 1Corinthians 5:7: “Christ OUR PASSOVER LAMB is sacrificed for us.” There were 2 provisions through the Passover Lamb: (1) the BLOOD of the Lamb purchased their forgiveness for sin and deliverance from judgment, (2) eating the FLESH of the Lamb gave them strength and HEALING for their journey. Psalm 105:37: “He brought them forth (in the Exodus) with silver and gold, and there was NOT ONE FEEBLE (sick) in their tribes.” The Passover Lamb contained HEALING as well as forgiveness. The BODY of the Passover Lamb provided HEALTH and STRENGTH for their journey. EATING the Lamb is a picture of us RECEIVING our HEALING and strength for the journey of life, through faith in Christ and His Atoning Sacrifice. So if HEALING is in the Type (the Picture of Christ) how much more must HEALING be in the fulfillment (Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross as our Passover Lamb). Therefore, there is Healing in the Atonement of Jesus.

In Numbers 21 the Israelites sinned and as a result fiery (poisonous) serpents bit them, resulting in death. These SERPENTS are a picture of SIN, which contains POISON, that produces SICKNESS unto DEATH. When the people repented and asked for salvation from these serpents and their poison, God revealed His REMEDY for sin and sickness by giving a wonderful picture of the Atonement of Christ. "The Lord said to Moses: “Make a fiery SERPENT and set it on a POLE; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he LOOKS at it, shall LIVE” (Numbers 21:8). God was saying the remedy for both sin and sickness, is represented by a BRONZE SERPENT lifted up on a POLE, a picture of CHRIST on the CROSS, as Jesus pointed out in John 3:14-17. He said that what the Bronze Serpent did for Israel, He would do for the whole world through His death on the Cross. So, Jesus being lifted up on the Cross is the fulfilment of the type of the Bronze Serpent. Thus He must have taken both our sins and our sickness on the Cross, for if healing was provided in the Type (the picture of the Atonement), how much more must healing be provided in the fulfilment (the Atonement itself). When Jesus was lifted up on the Cross, He did not just take our SIN, but He also took our CURSE (sickness), so that when we look to Him in faith we can receive forgiveness, eternal life and HEALING. When they looked upon the FIERY Serpent, they saw a representation of Jesus taking our SIN with its POISON, and its effects (the curse of sickness and death) on Himself, when He was lifted up on the Cross. Thus God's remedy for our both sin and sickness is the Atonement of Christ. When Christ was lifted up on the Cross, He become both sin and curse for us, so we could be forgiven and receive the blessing of life and health (2 Cor 5:21, Galatians 3:13-14). This Serpent was BRONZE, because this metal represents JUDGMENT. So this BRONZE SERPENT represents SIN that has been JUDGED. So the FIERY BRONZE SERPENT on the Pole is a picture of our sin and its curse (sickness) being put upon Jesus on the Cross, and JUDGED (defeated) upon Jesus. Jesus received the judgment for our sin in our place, so we could be set free from the serpent and its poison (sin) and its effects (the curse of sickness). So the serpent of sin and the effects of its poison (sickness) has been taken by Jesus and judged upon Him once and for all. When they LOOKED upon the Bronze Serpent, they saw their sin and sickness judged (bronzed), and RECEIVED it for themselves, and so they LIVED (received forgiveness, healing and life) - they were delivered from the power of the serpent of sin. Likewise, all who LOOK on Jesus, seeing Him take all their sin and sickness on the Cross, and seeing that it was all judged on Him, will receive His forgiveness and LIFE (healing), which flows from the Cross in His grace. As a result they LIVE. The Spirit of Life flows from the Father through the Son (and His Death on the Cross), so that all those who look to God and see His Spirit flowing to them through the work of Christ on the Cross, can receive His Spirit of life into themselves, imparting eternal life to their spirits, abundant life to their souls, and healing to their bodies (John 10:10). God wanted them all to be forgiven and healed, so He provided a salvation for them all, but they had to receive it by looking on the Bronze Serpent in faith. Likewise, God wants us all to be forgiven and healed, so He has provided Salvation for us all through the Atonement of Christ, but we have to receive it by looking in faith to Christ and His finished work on the Cross. Thus, both forgiveness from sin and healing from sickness are freely available to us all by God's grace, received by trusting in Christ and His atoning death for us on the Cross. If healing was provided from the serpent's poison in this Type of Salvation, how much more must healing be provided in its fulfilment in Christ, when He was lifted up on the Cross for us all!

The Jubilee is the type of the Gospel. The Gospel is the fulfilment of the Year of Jubilee. The whole basis of Jesus’ ministry (including His healing ministry) was the fulfilment of the Year of Jubilee, which speaks of the blessings of grace released on the basis of the Atonement. Jesus claimed He made healing available to all because He was the fulfilment of Jubilee, for in the Year of Jubilee every blessing of freedom and restoration was for all, for it was based on the Atonement. Derek does a study of the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25. It was a year of GRACE, on the basis of Atonement, when they were (1) set free from their debts and slavery – a Year of Liberty, and they could (2) return to and reclaim their inheritance, lost through sin. Jubilee means 'trumpet blast' signifying the proclamation to all, that it’s now the Acceptable Year of the Lord, your debts (sins) are forgiven, you are set free from slavery and can reclaim your lost possessions. It was GOOD NEWS to the POOR (the Gospel). All who heard and believed the Jubilee Trumpet could claim their forgiveness and freedom and could return to reclaim their lost inheritance. These Jubilee blessings were released on the Day of Atonement, signifying they were released on the basis of the Atonement. The Day of Atonement is one of the greatest pictures of the Atoning Sacrifice of Christ - the basis of all our Jubilee blessings in Christ. God uses the Jubilee to be the Type of the Gospel, which is the proclamation of Jubilee based on the Cross and we are all called blow the Jubilee Trumpet. Derek shows how Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Day of Atonement and the Jubilee through His Death, Resurrection and Great Commission. Isaiah 53 is the classic prophecy of the Atonement of the Messiah. Then following Isaiah 53 is Isaiah 61, a prophecy of Messiah proclaiming the Great Jubilee, releasing to all men the blessings purchased in His Atonement - a prophecy of the ultimate fulfilment of Jubilee in our salvation through the Messiah. The blessings of this Great Messianic Jubilee include HEALING for all sick and brokenhearted, the setting at liberty of all those held captive by sickness, the restoration of life, beauty and joy, for all under the heavy burdens of sorrow, sickness and pain. In Luke 4:18-21, Jesus declared He was fulfilling Isaiah 61, claiming that He was the Messiah, who had come to fulfil this Great Jubilee. Jesus came preaching the Gospel, blowing the Jubilee Trumpet, proclaiming the Year of Jubilee. The Jubilee Gospel of Good News to the poor included HEALING (Isaiah 61, Luke 4:18ff), and it was the basis for Christ's Healing Ministry. Since all the blessings of Jubilee are based on the Atonement, it follows that HEALING must be in the ATONEMENT, purchased by the Blood of Christ and therefore available to us today by grace, for us to receive by faith. Today, it is still the Jubilee (Acceptable) Year of the Lord (2Corinthians 6:2). The GOSPEL is nothing more or less than the PROCLAMATION of JUBILEE – that all the Jubilee blessings (including HEALING for the soul and body) are now released to us and are freely available for all to receive by faith, because they have been paid for by the ATONEMENT of CHRIST.