Outline of the 7 Foundations, Briefly
Leo Fenton (2013-2018)
As we follow the Preparation of the Priests in the Tabernacle of Moses we discover these seven (7) Foundations for the Christian / Kingdom Life in the Outer Court realm.
Beginning at the “gate” there are seven (7) clear Foundations / preparations for the Priesthood Ministry after the order of Aaron.
(1) The 1st Foundation/Preparation begins as Repentance from dead works but seen in the Tabernacle preparation as “outward circumcision.”
No one could advance beyond the first barrier, which was the “gate,” unless they were circumcised.
But that is Old Covenant Law, however, circumcision in the New Covenant is still valid but in a different realm.
Today it is NOT outward in the flesh but is inward in the heart.
The New Covenant is inward!
Romans 2:28-29
28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.
29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
Philippians 3:2-3
2 beware of the false circumcision;
3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.
Here again is displayed the fact that NO ONE can come into the process of recovery of God unless the Father draws him.
Circumcision is the very first Foundation and the first required preparation into the Priesthood Ministry, and the Old Covenant requirements of God.
However, this New Covenant circumcision is NOT done by men but by the Holy Spirit.
No circumcision = No Entrance into the Eternal things of God!
Therefore, the Holy Spirit is Guardian of the Gate which is entrance into “THE WAY.”
It is at this point in our recovery and restoration process that we MUST “give up ALL confidence in the flesh,” in the New Covenant we just rejoice over what was accomplished for us in Christ Jesus at Calvary!
In these past studies we have been sharing that Calvary provides many other provisions beyond forgiveness of sins.
These are related to His death, His burial, His Resurrection, His ascension, also His being seated at the Right Hand of God, His Ruling NOW until every enemy is put under His Feet and His Coming again to receive the perfect Bride unto Himself.
He, Jesus, is also our Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, our 5th Foundation stone.
This great provision of the New Covenant must include Jesus being our Great High Priest and King after the Order of Melchizedek.
Jesus baptizes us into this realm of the Spirit for our preparation for this Eternal Priesthood function.
Jesus, our High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek, then, is the Guardian of the Priesthood Realm!
This must also point to the GOAL of finding our place in the Body of our High Priest.
Each of these seven (7) Foundations is essential for us to be permitted by God to enter and participate in going on to perfection into these Eternal Realms.
It other words, God is the guardian of these realms beyond the Second Veil.
“IF GOD PERMITS” then points to God’s Absolute Sovereignty over these realms!
(2) The 2nd Foundation /preparation seen in the Tabernacle was the sacrifice, the blood and the offerings at the Bronze Altar just inside the “gate.”
The Bronze Altar, in its primary stage, speaks of forgiveness of sins.
This corresponds to Calvary in its first dimension and to the Foundation of “Faith towards God.”
Hebrews 9:22-23
22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Both we and the heavenly things and those who will participate in the higher realms of His Life MUST be cleansed with the Blood of the New Covenant Sacrifice. This is primary.
This “forgiveness of sins” is ONLY done at Calvary but “Salvation” is through the Blood, His Death, His Burial, His Resurrection and by His Ascension.
“Salvation” is also realized personally by our obedience!
He is also the Absolute Head of His Body and the Guardian of it!
Hebrews 5:8-10
8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the Source of eternal salvation,
10 being designated by God as a High Priest according to the Order of Melchizedek.
(3) The 3rd Foundation/Preparation for the Priesthood was the removing of the old garments.
While this relates back to the Bronze Altar in the Old Covenant, in the New Covenant this relates us back to Calvary and our participation in His death and burial and His Resurrection and His Ascension.
It was NOT just that He died for us but we also died.
One died for all therefore all died.
It was NOT just that He was buried but we also were buried in Him!
As we participate MORE FULLY in the Sacrifice of Calvary we participate in His Resurrection AND His Ascension to the heavenly realm.
These are the aspects of Calvary that are more or less ignored by the casual church systems.
Because of this ignorance the “believers” suffer eternal loss simply because they are not instructed in the seven (7) Foundations / preparations required by God.
1 Pet 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great Mercy has caused us to be born again to a Living Hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
(4) The 4th Foundation/Preparation for the priesthood is our Baptism in Water.
This is essential because it is here that we participate in HIS Death and Burial in order for us to participate in His Resurrection Life.
Why is this essential?
Because all Christians live by His Resurrection Life.
If there is no resurrection experience there can be no ascension experience!
Even our genuine born again experience is through the Resurrection of Christ Jesus! It is through His Resurrection Life that we participate in His New Resurrection Life in baptism.
Our Resurrection following our death with Christ and our burial with Christ is essential to participate in His Ascension.
We are born of the water at baptism.
Romans 6:3-5
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Colossians 3:1-4
1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, Who is our Life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
In order for us to participate in His Death, Burial and His Resurrection, God has commanded certain things for us to do.
When these seven (7) “Foundations” are ignored the “believers” are sentenced to the “eternal childhood of the believer” and wonder why they do not grow.
This is certainly NOT complicated and if we just do it GOD’s Way we will get the proper results.
The provision has all been made but the “pastors” refuse to follow the pattern so the believers suffer in their essential preparation and, therefore, experience eternal loss!
If they are genuinely saved they may make it to the New Earth realm of eternity.
Isaiah 56:10-11
10 His watchmen are blind, all of them know nothing. All of them are dumb dogs unable to bark, dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;
11 And the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.
Some of the dumb dogs are baptizing into “the church” or into ‘’’the pastor’s authority” or into “our fellowship.”
NONE of this is scriptural and many wonder why the “believers” are not developing a spiritual life.
Today many are leaving the systemized church and seeking fellowship elsewhere in home meetings.
Being “busy in serving” is NOT the same thing as being spiritual or being mature Christians. Serving God in the flesh is nothing.
(5) The 5th Foundation/Preparation is the putting on of the New Garments which are Christ.
(Not Jesus, Who is at the Right Hand of God) (Have put on Christ as a Garment)
Gal 3:27 All of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ as if He were your clothes. (NIV)
Have “put on Christ as a Garment” clearly explains the New Priestly Garments but what signifies the old garments that must be removed?
Christ IS our garments so “AS IF He were your clothes” is ridiculous!
The old garments speak of everything we were covered with in first Adam and ALL of this is MUCH less than is required, it is negative and quite different from being clothed with Christ!
Being clothed with Adam is referred to as being naked and dead!
(6) The 6th Foundation/Preparation is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
This is seen in the Tabernacle of Moses as the Anointing with Oil which was the Priests FIRST stage of qualifying for the Priesthood.
Exodus 40:14-15
14 And you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them;
15 and you shall anoint them even as you have anointed their father, that they may minister as priests to Me; and their anointing shall qualify them for a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations."
Acts 10:38 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with Power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.
Acts 1:4-5
4 And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
When the visible church ignored the essential Foundations and refused the Baptism in the Holy Spirit they lost the Priesthood and with it the Holy Place ministry.
They let the fire on the Lampstand go out and the Holy Place ministry went into darkness.
There was no Holy Place ministry after that.
It is the “Lampstand Church which is the Church He is building” and NOT this pitiful Outer Court substitute we see.
The Inner Court illumination of the Holy Place is from the Seven Spirits of God.
Until the saints move into this Holy Place realm and into the Body of our High Priest, the Kingdom of Priests is just another cliché.
Now, in the New Covenant dimension, the anointing is NOT complete by just being upon us but now it is supposed to be within us and upon the new inner man.
That is upon His Garments which is Christ.
This anointing has a personal manifestation and a NEW dimension of personal teaching that is done by the Holy Spirit!
This fulfills what Jesus said in John 14-15 and 16 when He said the Holy Spirit will teach us all things!
“And they shall all be taught of God” is the New Covenant provision.
1 John 2:27 And as for you, the Anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His Anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
To be ignorant of God’s Plan or to refuse the “anointing upon” (the Baptism in the Holy Spirit) is without excuse!
Even though this ignorance is very common, the absence of the “Anointing within” (in the Power of the Spirit) is death to any New Covenant ministry!
(7) The 7th Foundation/Preparation for the Priesthood is the Consecration Offering.
In the Tabernacle of Moses this was the last of the seven (7) Outer Court preparations / transformations BEFORE anyone could enter into the Holy Place and BEGIN their ministry.
Moses was the exception to this rule.
Aaron later, after the consecration offering took place, could go into the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement.
This was also the occasion when the priests received the “filling of the hands.”
Without this “filling” we can “minister” empty hands on the sick but they don’t recover.
This corresponds with the “laying on of hands” in the Foundations of Hebrews 6.
This was also the time and place when the blood was put on the right ear, the right thumb and the big toe of the right foot of the priests.
This corresponds to our consecration of our new inner man.
That means of:
· our hearing,
· our doing and
· our walk
in the New Covenant Priesthood dimension.
While the “Consecration of the Priests” is a very large study we will only mention it here to complete the overview of the seven basic Foundations / preparations / transformations for the New Covenant Priesthood.
With just this short introduction to these seven (7) Outer Court Preparations it should be crystal clear why the visible church is in such a pitiful condition.
Even the very first Foundation has been so ignored and the other six (6) Foundations have been so distorted that they are as if they weren’t needed.
Acts 10:44-48
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message.
45 And all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed, because the Gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also.
46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered,
47 "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?"
48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ.
The Greek says that Peter COMMANDED them to be baptized.
In the visible church today baptism in water is ignored or given as an option but to COMMAND someone to be baptized would be too legalistic.
Peter did NOT sprinkle them with water! Why?
Because this was:
- death,
- burial and
- resurrection into His Resurrection Life.
G907 βαπτίζω baptizō Thayer Definition: to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk)
Why was Peter so adamant about these “preparations?”
This was because he was not preparing these Gentile believers to sit in a pew but to become a functioning Kingdom of Priests. This is what he wrote:
1 Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, a Royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him Who has called you out of darkness into His Marvelous Light;
“His Marvelous Light” indicates the Illumination of the Seven Spirits of God on the Pure Gold Lampstand Church in the Holy Place.