Three Transforming Experiences - Part 15
Throughout His teachings, Jesus referred to three types of believers, which could correspond to the three compartments of the Tabernacle and the three great Feasts of the Lord. These three types of believers can be seen in many of Jesus’ parables. In the parable of the sower, for example, we see believers represented by stony ground, thorny ground, and good ground.
We see three types of believers again in Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25 and in Luke 19. In this parable, all three were servants of the Master. All three were given important responsibilities to care for the business of the Master while He was away.
When the Master returned, he rewarded those who had been faithful and promoted them to positions of greater authority and responsibility. The servant who did not fulfill the responsibility that His Master had given him had his position of responsibility taken from him and given to another, but what may seem shocking is that the consequences didn’t stop there. The Master also referred to this servant as “wicked,” “slothful,” and “unprofitable,” which could also mean “useless” or “good for nothing.” Remember, this servant represents a believer—a Christian—and the Master who makes these pronouncements represents the Lord Jesus Christ.
But what may be most shocking of all is that the Master then says, “Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Matthew 25:30 NLT).
This is a believer! A servant of God! And this servant is being removed from his position in God’s Kingdom and cast into outer darkness!
But we should not be shocked by this realization. Jesus explained more than once that if a believer fails to fulfill the responsibilities of what God has called him or her to do, that believer is in danger of losing his or her position in the Kingdom of God and being cast into outer darkness. In that place, as believers contemplate their choices, they experience such profound feelings of deep regret and loss that the Bible characterizes it as a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
“Who then is the faithful, thoughtful, and wise servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household to give to the others the food and supplies at the proper time? Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) is that servant whom, when his master comes, he will find so doing. I solemnly declare to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
“But if that servant is wicked and says to himself, My master is delayed and is going to be gone a long time, and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour of which he is not aware, and will punish him [cut him up by scourging] and put him with the pretenders (hypocrites); there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”— Matthew 24:45-51 (AMPC)
When these unfaithful servants of God are cast into “outer darkness,” does that mean that they are sent to Hell? No, it doesn’t seem so. The place that Jesus referred to as “outer darkness” is mysterious. We don’t seem to have a lot of information about it in Scripture, but it is never associated with unbelievers. Hell and the Lake of Fire seem to be completely different places. The term “outer darkness” is only used three times in Scripture, and it is ALWAYS associated with believers. This is a place that believers are thrown into if they fail to meet the requirements for the higher calling of God, or if they fail to fulfill the responsibilities of those higher positions of responsibility and authority.
“And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”—Matthew 8:11-12 (NKJV)
When a priest met God’s qualifications to minister in the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies, he was clothed in priestly garments that reflected that higher calling of God on his life. Those who did not qualify for God’s higher calling were not clothed in those priestly garments. If they had tried to enter the secret place of God without being properly clothed, there would be trouble. It would not go well for them.
It is the same for all of us. There are always qualifications to enter into positions of greater authority and responsibility in God’s Kingdom, just as there were qualifications to be a part of Gideon’s Army and participate in the move of God that overcame their Midianite enemies. These higher callings allow us to enter into deeper experiences with God. If we meet the requirements to qualify for higher positions of authority, we are clothed in heavenly garments that reflect our position or rank. If we try to enter into those areas in God’s Kingdom without the proper garments, it will not go well for us.
“The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son.** **When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!
“So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business.** **Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
“The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man **who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes **for a wedding. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”—Matthew 22:2-14 (NLT)
What is “Outer Darkness”?
This “Outer Darkness” that Jesus referred to cannot be Hell or the Lake of Fire because, according to Scripture, only believers are cast into this place of outer darkness. There are no references in Scripture to unbelievers ever being cast into outer darkness. So when believers are cast into outer darkness, it does not seem that these believers lose their *salvation, *but they lose their positions in God’s Kingdom.
“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”—Revelation 2:5 (ESV)
If we look at the Tabernacle of Moses and what each compartment represents, the Outer Court represents the beginning of a believer’s journey with God. It is where a person meets God. The Outer Court represents the place of salvation. It is the place where a believer accepts the sacrifice that is made for sin (at the bronze altar) and enters into water baptism (at the bronze laver). Unfaithful servants of God may not lose this, but they may be restricted to this level in God’s Kingdom.
In contrast, the higher callings of God are represented in the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In this secret place of God, believers are clothed with mantles of higher positions of authority and responsibility in God’s Kingdom. It is also here in the secret place of God that believers qualify to receive the protections that are promised in Psalm 91:
“He who **dwells in the secret place of the Most High **Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”—Psalm 91:1 (NKJV)
These protections that are described in Psalm 91:1-16 are *only *promised to those believers who dwell in God’s secret place, which is represented by the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle.
This becomes very significant as we enter into the dark days that are described in the book of Revelation when Satan is cast down to Earth having great wrath (Revelation 12:7-12). Just before that occurs, it appears that the great Day of Atonement is fulfilled, and the believers are evaluated, just as in Gideon’s time. Then those Outer Court believers who never qualified to move into the higher call of God are left out in the darkness of that time without the protections described in Psalm 91.
“A reed [as a measuring rod] was then given to me, [shaped] like a staff, and I was told: Rise up and measure the sanctuary of God and the altar [of incense], and [number] those who worship there.
**“But leave out of your measuring the court outside the sanctuary of God; **omit that, for it is given over to the Gentiles (the nations), and they will trample the holy city underfoot for 42 months (three and one-half years).”—Revelation 11:1-2 (AMPC)
There are three groups of believers described in Revelation chapter 12: the Holy of Holies believers are pictured as a “man-child,” the Holy Place believers are represented by a son-clothed woman, and the Outer Court believers are called the “rest of her offspring” in verse 17. These Outer Court believers do not experience the same protections that are enjoyed by the first two groups. This is the only group of believers upon whom Satan can inflict harm. Satan is able to declare war on this unprotected group, and sadly, these Outer Court believers are never heard from again. They are never mentioned again in Scripture.
For believers who fail to fulfill God’s qualifications for His higher callings, could the Outer Court be the Outer Darkness that Jesus referred to? The Outer Court of the Tabernacle was not covered. It was the only compartment that was unprotected from the elements. During the day, it was lit by the natural light of the sun, but we are told that there is a night coming when no man can work (John 9:4). For those believers in the last days, the Outer Court may become a very dark place indeed!
Three Transforming Experiences
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