The Keys to The Kingdom of Heaven – Part 10

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The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven – Part 10 –

The Dream is One

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

Introduction

This dream of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is actually a prophesy of what the Lord is about to do in the land of Egypt and “in all lands”.

Gen 41:56  And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:57  And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

The Lord would soon bring a great famine upon “all lands”, and that famine would last seven long agonizing years. However, before the famine would come, there would be seven years of great plenty in which Egypt could store up grain to be able to endure the famine.

In this story we are given a vital key to the kingdom of heaven. That key is the revelation Joseph gives the Pharaoh that both his dreams have one message. The ultimate lesson for us in this key to the kingdom of heaven is that all scripture has but one message, as Christ Himself explained to the two men on the road to Emmaus:

Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

We are dragged to Christ through a troubled spirit

As we are coming to understand, the keys to the kingdom of heaven are the principles we are given to help us to understand how God Himself thinks, how He expresses His thoughts and how He carries out those thoughts. In this particular case, we are being made to understand that the way God communicates with those whom He gives to see the mysteries of His Kingdom is by giving the same one message in more than one way. “The dream is one” principle reveals that Christ is working with all men in the same way.  Solomon confirms this principle with these words:

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

It was Christ Himself who caused the Pharaoh to dream two separate dreams. The first was a dream of seven fat cows being devoured by seven lean cows. The disturbing part of the dream was that after devouring the seven fat cows, the seven lean cows looked none the better for having devoured the seven fat cows. The holy spirit caused the devouring of those seven fat cows by the seven lean cows, which were then none the better, to so disturb Pharaoh that he woke up in terror, and yet he did not know why he had been given this dream or what the dream meant. He went back to sleep only to repeat the entire experience, except this time the dream was about seven ears on one stalk full and good, again being devoured by seven ears on another stalk “withered, thin and blasted with the east wind”. The holy spirit caused both of these dreams to terrify the Pharaoh and to rob him of his peace.

Gen 41:8  And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

This entire story is repeated in the book of Daniel. In that case it is King Nebuchadnezzar who is terrified by dreams which the Lord gave him. In that instance, while retaining the terror of what he had dreamed, the Lord took the memory of the dream away from King Nebuchadnezzar.

Dan 2:1  And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.
Dan 2:2  Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
Dan 2:3  And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
Dan 2:4  Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.

The king then decided that his Chaldean magicians, astrologer and sorcerers, if they were capable of giving him a reliable interpretation, should also be capable of telling him what the dream was he had forgotten. In this case King Nebuchadnezzar was determined to destroy all the wise men of Babylon, including Daniel and Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, if they could not tell him his dream along with the interpretation of that dream.

Dan 2:5  The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
Dan 2:6  But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
Dan 2:7  They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
Dan 2:8  The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
Dan 2:9  But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof. 
Dan 2:10  The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
Dan 2:11  And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
Dan 2:12  For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
Dan 2:13  And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
Dan 2:14  Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:
Dan 2:15  He answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
Dan 2:16  Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.
Dan 2:17  Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
Dan 2:18  That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 
Dan 2:19  Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

Daniel was blessed by God with the knowledge of what the king had dreamed, and like Joseph, he was also blessed to know what the dream meant. Notice the parallels between these two events which are one more example of the principle of “the dream is one” key to the kingdom of heaven:

Gen 41:17  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:
Gen 41:18  And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
Gen 41:19  And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:
Gen 41:20  And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine:
Gen 41:21  And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke.
Gen 41:22  And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
Gen 41:23  And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
Gen 41:24  And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.

The only difference between these two events is that Pharaoh was given faith in Joseph’s interpretation without having to tell Pharaoh what his dream was as well as the interpretation. The fact is that if Joseph’s interpretations of the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker had not already come to pass exactly as the Lord had revealed their interpretation to Joseph, the Pharaoh would never have called Joseph before himself.

The point being made is that God establishes those upon whom He places His spirit, and no one can deny who they are. This same principle was played out a third time in the events surrounding Mordecai and Esther. If we recognize that prison in Egypt is a type of death, then we can say, without contradiction, that God Himself placed the lives of His elect on the line in all three of these historical events.

Do the scriptures symbolize death as being in a pit?

Job 3:18  There the prisoners rest together [in the grave]; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

Psa 88:4  I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
Psa 88:5  Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

Isa 24:21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
Isa 24:22  And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
Isa 24:23  Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

We are all born into the “darkness… of the prison house”, and Christ Himself makes clear the meaning of this symbol of this situation out of which He is bringing us:

Luk 9:59  And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Luk 9:60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

If we know the mind of God, then we will know that from His perspective, these “very good… vessels of clay” are really nothing more than “very good prison houses [of] darkness… [and] of the dead”.

I will not take the time here to relate the story of Mordecai and Esther, except to point out that the death of God’s elect was again on the line, and it was again turned by God into victory against those who would have God’s elect destroyed, as was also the case with Joseph and with Daniel:

Est 9:1  Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

So this key to the kingdom of heaven is not applicable to just the dreams of Pharaoh. Rather, this principle of “the dream is one” is applicable to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, as Christ revealed to us through what I call His ‘Prophecy 101’ course which He delivered to the two men on the road to Emmaus. With this ‘the dream is one’ key to the kingdom of heaven, it is as if we were right there with those two men to whom He revealed this principle in these words:

Luk 24:25  Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Luk 24:26  Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear that “the dream is one” will know just how Christ-centric is the entirety of “all that the prophets have spoken… in all the scriptures… concerning Himself”.

This is just how Christ-centric “all that the prophets have spoken” are:

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes [Christ and His Christ], that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

If indeed “all things were created by Him and for Him”, then it follows that every detail of all things are by Him and for him, and that “all the scriptures [are in some sense] concerning Himself”.

With this dream is one key to the kingdom of heaven, we are made to understand that it is each of us who have been given to reign over all our own land of Egypt, and that God has preordained that it is only by taking away from us the peace and prosperity in our own worldly kingdom and replacing that peace with feelings of fear and anxiety (Job 1-2, Act 9:1-9) that He will gain our undivided attention. Whether it is the story of Joseph, Daniel, or Mordecai and Esther, “the dream is one”. Whether is it the story of Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, or Jacob and Esau, “the dream is one”, and the message in every case is the same. That one message is that our old man”, our “first man Adam”, must die, and that through the death of that “first man Adam… [our] new man, the last Adam” is being born into “the kingdom of God… within [each of us]” (Act 17:20-21). Spiritually speaking we are to count ourselves as having died to our old man and having already been resurrected in our new man, all in “earnest” down-payment form, yet in spiritual reality:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

It is only by bringing us “to [our] wits’ end” that we are then in a humbled position where we will listen to “some man”, our own personal “Ananias”, a member of the body of Christ, our own personal Philip, “some man to guide [us]” and to give to us the keys to the kingdom of heaven. When we recognize that “the dream is one”, we will see that all the scriptures are concerned with Christ and His Christ, and how, through Christ and His Christ, God is bringing and will bring “all in Adam… each in his own order” to be in “the last Adam… Christ” (1Co 15:22-28).

Psa 107:25  For he [Christ, the Word] commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

Christ condenses the message of Psalms 107 into this short statement:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

The apostle Paul reiterates this same message with these words:

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

The adversary has a forked tongue which contradicts himself and the Words of God. The Truth is that the gospel of the kingdom of heaven is the good news that all men will, “each in his own order”, be saved through Christ and His Christ (1Co 15:22-28). This message is the same from Genesis to Revelation.

Conclusion

Whether it is King David in the Psalms, Christ in the gospels, or in the epistles of Paul, “the dream is one”, and that principle is one of the keys to the kingdom of heaven which is within each of us who have come to know and to appreciate the one mind of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ. This key to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven reveals that the message of “all the prophets have written” is one message, and that message concerns Christ and how all will one day be in Him, and will know the joy and the glory of being in Christ. That message concerns Christ and how, through the death of the old man, all will one day be in Him.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

[Part eleven can be found here.]

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