After the Lord had taken up Elijah into heaven, the mantle of Elijah fell upon Elisha with double portion of the spirit of Elijah. Upon receiving Elijah's mantle, which speaks of the clothing of the Spirit, Elisha immediately demonstrated the power of God by parting the water of the Jordan River:
"He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?' And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over" (2 Kings 2:13, 14, NKJV).
It is interesting to discover, as some Bible teachers said, Elisha performed exactly twice the miracles of Elijah.
The final journey of Elijah and Elisha
The final journey of Elijah with Elisha following him, gives us a picture of the type of people that God seeks after. Elisha was a Biblical type of an overcomer (overcoming Christian believer) who wants the best from God. Therefore the journey of Elisha who followed Elijah all the way to Jordan River speaks of a spiritual journey of an overcomer.
From Gilgal to Bethel
Elijah and Elisha started their journey from Gilgal (2 Kings 2:1). In the original Hebrew language "Gilgal" means "circumcision" or "rolling away the foreskin (the flesh)". It signifies the rolling away of the reproach of Egypt (Joshua 5:9). It speaks of the circumcision of the heart of the believers in our days - not renovation of the heart as some Bible teachers said.
The believer arrives at Gilgal after his salvation experience, which is symbolized by the deliverance of God's people from Egypt. At Gilgal the believer soon forgets the awfulness of his "Egypt", where he needed the supernatural to get him out. Salvation is a spernatural experience. But when he gets comfortable and no longer seems to dependant upon God and he no longer needs the spernatural and thinks he can handle things himself, the manna ceases. But Gilgal is only a transit point for him and God wants him to move on or starve to death!
In my opinion , Gilgal represents religious activities with no power - only a form of godliness. The overcomer realizes that many believers are living in torment and fear although they belong to a Church. Yes, they found religion but many of them failed to find Jesus! And many get so comfortable and contented in Gilgal that they have no desire to go further. They are happy to be born again and have a new circle of Church friends to fellowship with. They are satisfied with many religious Church activities, rituals and various forms of "christianized" worldly entertainment. A true Christian finds no joy in Gilgal and he must go on like Elisha.
After Gilgal, Elisha followed Elijah to Bethel (2 Kings 2:2). Bethel means "the house of God". It speaks of a place of union and communion with Christ, the Head of the Church. David, the psalmist delighted to dwell in the house of God (Ps. 27:4). Bethel is a place where the overcomer can surrender and yield himself to God, a place of dying to self.
Bethel is mentioned throughout the Old Testament. It was a place where many great decisions were made. It was a place where Abraham pitched his tent and made a decision to live for God. It was the place where his grandson, Jacob, told God he would follow and serve Him. It was a place to which he returned to fight with God and be transformed from Jacob to Israel. It was the place where Samuel first heard the Voice of God. It was the place where Saul rejected God Word and lost everything, including his kingdom. You can go on and on.
Some Christians arrive at their Bethels and succeeded mightily, while others failed. They succeeded because they feared God, love the truth, would not compromise the truth of God's Word and lived with whole-hearted obedience to the Lord. Some failed because they were proud, arrogant, complacent, and found to be men-fearing and men-pleasing.
From Bethel to Jericho
I believe Elijah was testing Elisha when he suggested Elisha should stay in Bethel as he went on to Jericho alone (2 Kings 2:4). But Elisha knew that there was no double portion for him if he had decided to stay in Bethel. And so he continued to follow Elijah.
Jericho speaks of a place of spiritual warfare. It was in Jericho, in Joshua's time, that the walls of Jericho came tumbling down - without physical human combat. The victory did not come from a strategic battle plan but came by the Person Jesus Christ - the Commander of the army of the Lord (Joshua 5:14). It was in the vicinity of Jericho that our Lord Jesus faced Satan when He was tempted for forty days and forty nights.
When the overcomer arrives in "Jericho", Satan will oppose him just like he opposed Jesus. Satan will attack his finances, his body, his mind and his family. He will be persecuted for standing on the truth (2 Tim. 3:12). The overcomer will be tempted to war against flesh and blood, but he will not give in to temptation. He knows God's grace is sufficient for him, and God's strength is made perfect in his weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). He knows who the real enemy is - the Devil. His road to victory is through spiritual warfare with the help of the Captain of the host.
"Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
And so he submits to God and God calls him to be an intercessor. Today in the Church, we need to learn how to intercede rather than just using "mouth" prayer or "shopping-list" prayer. The overcomer will not be distracted by all the disturbing circumstances aroung him and he must go on.
From Jericho to Jordan
"Then Elijah said to him, 'Say here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.' But he said, 'As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!' So the two of them went on" (2 Kings 2:6).
Elisha made the decision to listen to the call of God rather than listen to Elijah. It was God's will that Elisha received the mantle of Elijah.
At Jordan God opens the overcomer's eyes and he receives spiritual sight. At Jordan he begins to see beyond the natural and into the supernatural realm. God's Word suddenly comes alive to the overcomer.
Jordan was the place where Elisha received the double portion of the Holy Spirit (2 Kings 2:8 - 13). Hidden within these Scriptures is a fantastic shadow of that happened at Jordan, the place of spiritual vision. Elisha did two things. He tore off his old clothers, signifying the release of the old man and the past. Then he picked up the mantle hat had fallen and knew that his double portion had come. When the new is on the way, the overcomer must say good bye to the past. He gives up the old so that God can perform the new in his life - a transformed life clothed with the Mantle of God!
It was at the River Jordan that John the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove upon our Lord Jesus. The dove which symbolizes the Holy Spirit is a bird that is known for its sensitivity, purity, and its faithfulness. Someone had said, when a dove's mate dies, it does not go to look for another mate - it is faithful to its mate. It just pines away and after a period of time it also dies. The dove has two wings like all birds but there are nine feathers on each wing - speaks of the nine Gifts of the Spirit and the nine Fruit of the Spirit. The dove's tail has five feathers in it - speaks of the five-fold ministry gift for the Church (Eph. 4:11).
Notice that all the four Gospel writers testified that Jesus Himself saw the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove after He was baptized by John in the Jordan (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32). In the case of the Gospel according to John, John himself testified:
"I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him" (John 1:32, NKJV, emphasis added).
Notice that the dove, which speaks of the Holy Spirit, remained upon Jesus as He started His earthly Ministry. This indicates that Jesus was clothed upon with the Mantle of God for His powerful Ministry.
Paul said, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9, emphasis added).
Notice that in just one verse, Paul mentions both the "Spirit of God" and the "Spirit of Christ". It is true that both are the descriptions of the Holy Spirit, but the emphasis is in the "Spirit of Christ" which is a dove-like Spirit. It speaks of the Character and Personality of Christ Himself - sensitivity, purity, and faithfulness with all the Gifts and Fruit of the Holy Spirit. The "Spirit of Christ" is God's Mantle for His end-time people! You and I have the privilege to put on the the Mantle of Jesus!
According to Paul unless a Christian believer is clothed upon by the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Christ. Think about it; without the Spirit of Christ you cannot even claim to be a Christian!
Elisha was clothed upon by the mantle of Elijah and received the double portion the Spirit of Elijah. Surely, we as end-time believers, clothed upon by the Mantle of Jesus, are going to receive more than a double portion the Spirit! Just imagine, we are going to perform more miracles than Elisha ever though we should not be seeking after miracles and signs and wonders.
More than the double portion
It is without doubt that members of the early Church moved in greater power in the Holy Spirit than what many of God's people are moving today. The contemporary Church seems to have lost the power of Pentecost and the Gospel message seems to have little effect on the unbelieving community. Many Local Churches are aware of this because they are not getting a great harvest of souls as expected. Therefore you are seeing many Local Churches, the world over, planning outreach programs and projects to bring souls to the Kingdom of God. All these activities are good provided they are born out God's idea and not man's idea.
Many believers are now crying to God for another Pentecost. In my opinion, God will not give us another Pentecost. The first Pentecost came and gone and He has much greater things prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9). But, first God wants us to take heed of true prophecies.
Jehoshaphat said, "Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper" (2 Chron. 20:20).
We, as end-time people of God, are living in the days depicted by Joel's prophecy:
"Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you - the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month" (Joel 2:23, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. "Children of Zion" speaks of "Christian believers". The word "Zion" in Scripture always speaks of the Church.
2. "Rain" in the context of Joel 2:23 speaks of the Holy Spirit. The "former rain" which refers to the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was considered moderate.
3. But we are going to receive the former rain plus the latter rain in the days to come! In the land of Palestine "the former rain and later rain" came respectively at seed time and harvest. Since the later rain came in the first month the former rain came six months earlier. Bible researchers said the later rain is seven time stronger than the former rain!
The Former Rain plus the Latter Rain
God has more for you and me than the double portion. The Charismatic movement was at the time of the former rain - only moderately even in comparison with the Day of Pentecost. But we are now at the Feast of the Tabernacle - the last seventh month. We are at the Second Veil and God is going to let us enter into the Holy of Holies soon - right into the presence of God! In the days to come God is going to send both the Former Rain and the Latter Rain all at the same time - that is seven plus one = eight portions, or eight-fold anointing! In Biblical language, the number "eight" speaks of Resurrection, New Order and New Beginning. Is the Church ready to receive more than the Double Portion?
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Power of the Holy Spirit
Much have been written and taught about the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual believer and in Church life, but not many Bible teachers realize that, the sending of the Holy Spirit was singled out by Jesus Himself, as the most important promise of the Father.
Jesus was about to be taken from His disciples. His last words to them were:
"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49, NKJV, emphasis added).
Luke said, "And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ...." (Acts 1:4, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Notice the capital letter "P" in the word "Promise" of both the above passages of Scripture. They said there are 31,000 promises in the entire Bible. But there is only one promise that is called "The Promise".
2. The word "endued" comes from the Greek word "enduo" which means "clothed upon" or "arrayed". Jesus commanded His disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they were "clothed upon with power from on high".
3. Jesus was referring to God's Word when He mentioned the outpouring of the Holy Spirit:
"For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Soirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; ..." (Isaiah 44:3).
The Promise of the Father is not only for us alone but also for our seed.
4. The clothing of the Spirit is linked with the Promise of God and that Promised was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1 - 13).
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church today
Jesus said, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:13 - 15, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and He will guide us into all truth.
2. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of prophecy for He will tell us things to come.
3. The Holy Spirit will glorify and exalt Jesus.
4. The Holy Spirit will take all things that belong to the Father and Jesus and declare them to us.
In many of our contemporary Local Churches, churchgoers are twice born, baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues but they are only half alive. They have never discovered the Person of the Holy Spirit in a personal and practical way in their lives.
One of the most glorious ways in which the Scripture helps us to understand more about the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit is through the emblems of the Holy Spirit. In other words, there are times, in the Scripture when we read about the Holy Spirit coming like rain (Hosea 5:3). As rain, the Holy Spirit refreshes and regenerates us. And then we read of the Holy Spirit like oil (Ps. 133:2) and like dew (Ps. 133:3) which gives us a picture of our lives being saturated and comforted by the Holy Spirit. It speaks of moments of the stillness and quietness of the night. It is like a Holy hush upon God's people; but in this type of stillness and quietness there is tremendous life. There are times in our Church meetings when the Holy Spirit was like fire (Acts 2:3; Heb. 12:29), with great demonstrative move of the Spirit to purge people of their sins. And then all of a sudden in the height of tremendous praise there comes a Holy hush over the gethering. We can go on and on, as we become more and more sensitive to the move of the Holy Spirit.
Clothed with (or endued with) Power from on high
John the Baptist said, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Luke 3:16, NKJV, emphasis added).
In the contemporary local Church many are baptized with the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues but do not seem to be clothed upon with Power. You can move around many Pentecostal/Charismatic people but they do not seem to be on fire and do not seem to be able to minister with fire. One thing is lacking, and that is the clothing with Power from on high.
Examples of Old Testament individuals clothed with Power:
Notice that the Holy Spirit's Power is being described as a piece of clothing that we wear. It suggests it is something that we can put on and then take it off. Similarly, we can be clothed and unclothed with Power.
1. Amasai
At a time in history when David was at a place called Ziklag, hiding away from Saul. People out of different tribes came to join themselves with David:
David said to them, "If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hand, may the God of our fathers look and bring judgment" (1 Chron. 12:17).
"Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said: 'We are yours, O David; we are on your side, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers! For your God helps you'" (Verse 18, emphasis added).
The phrase "came upon" comes from the Hebrew word "labash" which means "clothed upon".
After having been clothed with the Spirit, Amasai declared his loyalty to David. Similarly when we are clothed upon with the Spirit from on high we are going to be found decalring our loyalty to King Jesus, in everything we say and in everything we do.
2. Gideon
Gideon was a very fearful man. When the Lord sent him to save Israel from the Midianites, he said, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house" (Judges 6:15).
"Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him ..." (Judges 6:33, 34, emphasis added).
When we are clothed with the Spirit we will be clothed upon with bravery and boldness. We will blow the trumpet of victory!
3. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest
"Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, 'Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you'. So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord" (2 Chron. 24:20, 21, emphasis added).
Zechariah was clothed with the Spirit for testimony and was stoned to death. With the clothing of the Spirit upon our lives we are going to stand and testify against that which is wrong and testify for that which is right with boldness and bravery unto death.
We are living in the days when God is taking all fears out of His people.
"And they overcome him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" (Rev. 12:11).
Satan is not too worried about many of the people in the contemprorary Church because they are so concerned about their lives. But at this end-time hour there will come forth a people who do not love their lives unto the death. These people are going to be a threat to Satan's kingdom.
The clothing of the Spirit and the associated Power
According to the New Testament Scripture the clothing of the Holy Spirit is linked with the word "Power".
1. Power to stand consistently
"... that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; ..." (Col. 1:9 - 11).
Paul's epistles were written to Spirit filled believers. Paul prayed that they may increasingly filled and strengthened that they might endure and stand consistently. When people are clothed with the Power of God from on high they will stand consistently because Jesus said he who endures to the end shall be saved (Mark 13:13). In other words, those who hold on, those who persevere, those who stand consistently shall be saved.
2. Power to know experientially
"... the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ...."Eph. 1:18, 19, emphasis added).
Paul prayed that God would grant to us the revelation knowledge of His will and His calling and to experience our inheritance in Him.
3. Power to suffer victoriously
God gave "a thorn in the flesh" to Paul in order to humble him. Paul being a man who received so much revelation knowledge that it was so easy for him to be puffed up above measure. Paul pleaded with the Lord three times to remove the "thorn in the flesh" which troubled him greatly, but the Lord said:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).
"With the "thorn in the flesh", Paul was far more effective for God, because he was forced to depend on God totally.
4. Power to pray creatively
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ...." (Eph. 3:29, emphasis added).
As we go into seasons of prayer we begin to pray creatively, we begin to ask God and to think carefully so as to pray according to His will. And as we pray creatively something is birthed before us.
5. Power to give generously
"How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded into the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; ..." (2 Cor. 8:2, 3, KJV, emphasis added).
Members of the Churches of Macedona had the power to give generously and yet they were in deep poverty. They were clothed with the Spirit and they gave themselves to the Lord first (Verse 5).
6. Power to speak courageously
Peter and John prayed that the Lord would give them boldness to speak His Word (Acts 4:29).
"And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31).
They were already filled with the Spirit as recorded in Acts 2. But with the fresh filling and anointing of the Holy Spirit they had a real passion for God.
Conclusion
The clothing of the Spirit is linked with the promises of God; it is also linked with the provision of God and linked with the Power of God. How we need to see the clothing of the Spirit with the associated Power of God upon the Churches today. God's end-time people are going to have the power to stand, power to know, power to suffer, power to pray, power to give and the power to speak. God's people will sound the trumpet of victory as they are going forth in the Power of the Holy Ghost!
Jesus was about to be taken from His disciples. His last words to them were:
"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49, NKJV, emphasis added).
Luke said, "And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ...." (Acts 1:4, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Notice the capital letter "P" in the word "Promise" of both the above passages of Scripture. They said there are 31,000 promises in the entire Bible. But there is only one promise that is called "The Promise".
2. The word "endued" comes from the Greek word "enduo" which means "clothed upon" or "arrayed". Jesus commanded His disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they were "clothed upon with power from on high".
3. Jesus was referring to God's Word when He mentioned the outpouring of the Holy Spirit:
"For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Soirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; ..." (Isaiah 44:3).
The Promise of the Father is not only for us alone but also for our seed.
4. The clothing of the Spirit is linked with the Promise of God and that Promised was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1 - 13).
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church today
Jesus said, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:13 - 15, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and He will guide us into all truth.
2. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of prophecy for He will tell us things to come.
3. The Holy Spirit will glorify and exalt Jesus.
4. The Holy Spirit will take all things that belong to the Father and Jesus and declare them to us.
In many of our contemporary Local Churches, churchgoers are twice born, baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues but they are only half alive. They have never discovered the Person of the Holy Spirit in a personal and practical way in their lives.
One of the most glorious ways in which the Scripture helps us to understand more about the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit is through the emblems of the Holy Spirit. In other words, there are times, in the Scripture when we read about the Holy Spirit coming like rain (Hosea 5:3). As rain, the Holy Spirit refreshes and regenerates us. And then we read of the Holy Spirit like oil (Ps. 133:2) and like dew (Ps. 133:3) which gives us a picture of our lives being saturated and comforted by the Holy Spirit. It speaks of moments of the stillness and quietness of the night. It is like a Holy hush upon God's people; but in this type of stillness and quietness there is tremendous life. There are times in our Church meetings when the Holy Spirit was like fire (Acts 2:3; Heb. 12:29), with great demonstrative move of the Spirit to purge people of their sins. And then all of a sudden in the height of tremendous praise there comes a Holy hush over the gethering. We can go on and on, as we become more and more sensitive to the move of the Holy Spirit.
Clothed with (or endued with) Power from on high
John the Baptist said, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Luke 3:16, NKJV, emphasis added).
In the contemporary local Church many are baptized with the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues but do not seem to be clothed upon with Power. You can move around many Pentecostal/Charismatic people but they do not seem to be on fire and do not seem to be able to minister with fire. One thing is lacking, and that is the clothing with Power from on high.
Examples of Old Testament individuals clothed with Power:
Notice that the Holy Spirit's Power is being described as a piece of clothing that we wear. It suggests it is something that we can put on and then take it off. Similarly, we can be clothed and unclothed with Power.
1. Amasai
At a time in history when David was at a place called Ziklag, hiding away from Saul. People out of different tribes came to join themselves with David:
David said to them, "If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hand, may the God of our fathers look and bring judgment" (1 Chron. 12:17).
"Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said: 'We are yours, O David; we are on your side, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers! For your God helps you'" (Verse 18, emphasis added).
The phrase "came upon" comes from the Hebrew word "labash" which means "clothed upon".
After having been clothed with the Spirit, Amasai declared his loyalty to David. Similarly when we are clothed upon with the Spirit from on high we are going to be found decalring our loyalty to King Jesus, in everything we say and in everything we do.
2. Gideon
Gideon was a very fearful man. When the Lord sent him to save Israel from the Midianites, he said, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house" (Judges 6:15).
"Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him ..." (Judges 6:33, 34, emphasis added).
When we are clothed with the Spirit we will be clothed upon with bravery and boldness. We will blow the trumpet of victory!
3. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest
"Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, 'Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you'. So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord" (2 Chron. 24:20, 21, emphasis added).
Zechariah was clothed with the Spirit for testimony and was stoned to death. With the clothing of the Spirit upon our lives we are going to stand and testify against that which is wrong and testify for that which is right with boldness and bravery unto death.
We are living in the days when God is taking all fears out of His people.
"And they overcome him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" (Rev. 12:11).
Satan is not too worried about many of the people in the contemprorary Church because they are so concerned about their lives. But at this end-time hour there will come forth a people who do not love their lives unto the death. These people are going to be a threat to Satan's kingdom.
The clothing of the Spirit and the associated Power
According to the New Testament Scripture the clothing of the Holy Spirit is linked with the word "Power".
1. Power to stand consistently
"... that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; ..." (Col. 1:9 - 11).
Paul's epistles were written to Spirit filled believers. Paul prayed that they may increasingly filled and strengthened that they might endure and stand consistently. When people are clothed with the Power of God from on high they will stand consistently because Jesus said he who endures to the end shall be saved (Mark 13:13). In other words, those who hold on, those who persevere, those who stand consistently shall be saved.
2. Power to know experientially
"... the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ...."Eph. 1:18, 19, emphasis added).
Paul prayed that God would grant to us the revelation knowledge of His will and His calling and to experience our inheritance in Him.
3. Power to suffer victoriously
God gave "a thorn in the flesh" to Paul in order to humble him. Paul being a man who received so much revelation knowledge that it was so easy for him to be puffed up above measure. Paul pleaded with the Lord three times to remove the "thorn in the flesh" which troubled him greatly, but the Lord said:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).
"With the "thorn in the flesh", Paul was far more effective for God, because he was forced to depend on God totally.
4. Power to pray creatively
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ...." (Eph. 3:29, emphasis added).
As we go into seasons of prayer we begin to pray creatively, we begin to ask God and to think carefully so as to pray according to His will. And as we pray creatively something is birthed before us.
5. Power to give generously
"How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded into the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; ..." (2 Cor. 8:2, 3, KJV, emphasis added).
Members of the Churches of Macedona had the power to give generously and yet they were in deep poverty. They were clothed with the Spirit and they gave themselves to the Lord first (Verse 5).
6. Power to speak courageously
Peter and John prayed that the Lord would give them boldness to speak His Word (Acts 4:29).
"And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31).
They were already filled with the Spirit as recorded in Acts 2. But with the fresh filling and anointing of the Holy Spirit they had a real passion for God.
Conclusion
The clothing of the Spirit is linked with the promises of God; it is also linked with the provision of God and linked with the Power of God. How we need to see the clothing of the Spirit with the associated Power of God upon the Churches today. God's end-time people are going to have the power to stand, power to know, power to suffer, power to pray, power to give and the power to speak. God's people will sound the trumpet of victory as they are going forth in the Power of the Holy Ghost!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The Last Jubilee and the Last Trumpet
This message is the contiuation of my previous message. Once again with the help of typology, the study of Bible types and Bible numbers, we a able to discern the deep things of God and gems of spiritual truth which our natural senses cannot see or perceive.
In my previous message we have considered the length (300 cubits) and height (30 cubits) of Noah's ark which speaks of the instrument God uses for our end-time deliverance. But I have deliberately left out the width of the ark, which was 50 cubits until now. As you follow through this message you will be amazed how close we are, according to God's time-table, to the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Scripture, the number 50 speaks of the fullness of the Spirit. But unfortunately Satan deceptively uses this number to indicate the fullness of the evil spirit to deceive God's people. So, the number 50 can be used both negatively and positively. Let us, to begin with, consider Satan's use of this number and then move on to the proper use of this number.
The Story of the Jewish girl Esther
Esther was a beautiful Jewish maiden living in the Persian Empire during the time when the Jewish people were exiled from their land. She was an orphan girl brought up by her cousin Mordecai who was an important official in the court of the Persian king.
It came to pass Esther was chosen to be the new queen when queen Vashti was displaced by the king. However, Esther had never publicly revealed the fact that she was Jewish. Haman, who hated Mordecai, was also an official in the court of the Persian king. He sought to destroy all the Jews in the provinces and obtained a decree from the king to this effect. He also built a gallows 50 cubits high to hang Mordecai (Est. 5:14). But Esther was willing to lay down her life to ask favor from the king and subsequently revealed Haman's evil sheme. Finally all the Jews were deliverd and Haman was hang instead of Mordecai on the 50 cubits high gallows.
The fact is that you don't need a 50 cubits (height of a 7-storey building) high gallows to hang a man unless you are desperate to destroy him! Haman who was desperate to destroy Mordecai was a type of Satan. His intention was motivated by the flesh. Mordecai, on the other hand, represented the people of God was a type of the Holy Spirit. The number 50 speaks of the true anointing of the Holy Spirit and Haman speaks of the flesh with its false anointing. The number 50 in the case of Haman speaks of the fullness of God's Spirit in him.
Many in the charismatic and Pentecostal circle are moving in the flesh -they speaks false tongues and prophesize falsely. But the days are coming when the true anointing of God is going to put in the right band of people and they will not move in the flesh but will prepare to move in Spirit and use the Spirit of Lord to glorify God.
The Year of Jubilee
The word "jubilee" comes from the Hebrew word "yobel" which means "blowing the trumpet and be jubilant". For the children of Israel the Jubilee year was launched with a blast from a ram's horn on the Day of Atonement, signifying a call to joy, liberation, being set free, and the beginning of a year for "doing justice" and "loving mercy".
God commanded His people through Moses: "And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven year; and the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound through out all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family" (Lev. 25:8 - 10, NKJV, emphasis added).
The 50th year which is the year of Jubilee was to be a time in which liberty should be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of the country. If people owed money, in the year of Jubilee they were released from all their debts. If they have a mortgage on their home the mortage was over - became null and void. If people were in the prison houses, they were set free from prison.
The Last Jubilee
The Bible tells us clearly concerning the time and period of the various Jubilee years and when will be the Last Jubilee. The main purpose of all these Jubilee years is to set "prisoners" free and to deliver those who need to be delivered.
From Adam to Abraham was a period of 2000 years which works out to be 40 Jubilee years (or forty 50 years periods). From Abraham to Jesus Christ was another period of 2000 years or another 40 Jubilee years. From Christ to where we are today (A.D. 2007) there is another 40 Jubilee years. But the fact is, not only we are living in the last Jubilee but we have already lived past the last Jubilee year which should be in the year A.D. 2000 or the latest in the year A.D. 2004, if we assumed that Christ was born on A.D. 4. It looks as if we are living on borrowed time! Are we?
The significance of the number 120
An interesting fact is that all together, from Adam to the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ there are 120 Jubilee years.
Let us refer to the days of Noah when God sent judgment to all flesh:
The Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years" (Gen. 6:3, emphasis added).
The Lord was not talking about individual human being, but about the days of the human race which will be 120 years. He was referring to the duration and not the life of the individual. Here, the number 120 speaks of the "end of all flesh". We shall see it is no mere coincidence that it is also the total number of Jubilee years. It is in fact the number of Jubilee years and not just ordinary years!
At the fullness of Time
Jesus Himself said no one knows of the day or hour of His coming again:
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matt. 24:36).
This is one of the secret things that belongs to the Lord (Deut. 29:29). therefore he who claims that he knows the day or hour of the Second Coming of Christ is a false prophet or a false teacher.
But we do know something about the First Coming of Jesus Christ:
"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, ..." (Gal. 4:4, NKJV, emphasis added).
It is God Himself who determines when is the "fullness of time"; it is His prerogative, and totally under His jurisdiction and under His control!
It is reasonable to believe that the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will also depend on God the Father's "fullness of time". Therefore no one at all can claim he knows the day or hour.
The Last Trumpet
We have seen earlier that each Jubilee year was announced by a trumpet sound (Lev. 25).
Paul mentioned the last Jubilee (120th Jubilee) with its last trumpet:
"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:51, 52, emphasis added).
Notice our mortal flesh is corruptible and so at the last trumpet, at the last jubilee, God will put an end to our flesh. And we will be raised with a spiritual body which is incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:44).
Time is running out on us but we will see the glory of God shortly. In the year of Jubilee the high priest went beyond the second veil and into the Holy of Holies, into the fullness of God's presence (Hebrews 9:7).
Christ our Great High Priest entered the Most Holy Place (The Holy of Holies), the Heavenly Sanctuary (Heb. 912) more than 2000 years ago. And God is getting His end-time Church to enter the Heavenly Sanctuary to partake of the End-time Feast of the Lord!
Fullness of our Salvation
The Scripture reveals that as long as we are in our corruptible flesh we have not received the fullness of our salvation yet. This is clarified by the following passages of Scripture:
1. The Holy Spirit is given as a security deposit
"Now He who established us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor. 1:21, 22, NKJV, emphasis added).
Do not assume that when we are born again by the Spirit of God and also baptized in the Holy Spirit we have arrived and have got it all. What we have received in the baptism in the Holy Spirit is just the security deposit and the guarantee of the fulfillment of God's promise of what He is going to bring us into in these last days.
2. Fullness of Salvation yet to be revealed
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and tha does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3 - 5, emphasis added).
God has reserved the fullness of our salvation in the last days.
3. Fullness of salvation is offered for those who are eagerly waiting for Christ's return
"And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation" (Hebrews 9:27, 28, emphasis added).
The word "salvation" mentioned in the above passages of Scripture comes from the Greek word "soteria" which means "deliverance". Therefore, hidden in the measurements of Noah's Ark (300 cubit long, 30 cubits high and 50 cubit wide) is a beautiful picture or type of God's end-time vessel of deliverance. And we are the chosen vessels of deliverance at this end-time hour.
We have seen in my last week's message that the Temple of Solomon is a type of God's end-time Church. If the temple of Solomon (the former house) was filled with the cloud of God's glory (1 kings 8:11), the glory of the latter house (the true end-time Church) will be far more glorious! And the knowledge of God's glory will flow out from God's people and cover the whole earth "as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14).
In my previous message we have considered the length (300 cubits) and height (30 cubits) of Noah's ark which speaks of the instrument God uses for our end-time deliverance. But I have deliberately left out the width of the ark, which was 50 cubits until now. As you follow through this message you will be amazed how close we are, according to God's time-table, to the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Scripture, the number 50 speaks of the fullness of the Spirit. But unfortunately Satan deceptively uses this number to indicate the fullness of the evil spirit to deceive God's people. So, the number 50 can be used both negatively and positively. Let us, to begin with, consider Satan's use of this number and then move on to the proper use of this number.
The Story of the Jewish girl Esther
Esther was a beautiful Jewish maiden living in the Persian Empire during the time when the Jewish people were exiled from their land. She was an orphan girl brought up by her cousin Mordecai who was an important official in the court of the Persian king.
It came to pass Esther was chosen to be the new queen when queen Vashti was displaced by the king. However, Esther had never publicly revealed the fact that she was Jewish. Haman, who hated Mordecai, was also an official in the court of the Persian king. He sought to destroy all the Jews in the provinces and obtained a decree from the king to this effect. He also built a gallows 50 cubits high to hang Mordecai (Est. 5:14). But Esther was willing to lay down her life to ask favor from the king and subsequently revealed Haman's evil sheme. Finally all the Jews were deliverd and Haman was hang instead of Mordecai on the 50 cubits high gallows.
The fact is that you don't need a 50 cubits (height of a 7-storey building) high gallows to hang a man unless you are desperate to destroy him! Haman who was desperate to destroy Mordecai was a type of Satan. His intention was motivated by the flesh. Mordecai, on the other hand, represented the people of God was a type of the Holy Spirit. The number 50 speaks of the true anointing of the Holy Spirit and Haman speaks of the flesh with its false anointing. The number 50 in the case of Haman speaks of the fullness of God's Spirit in him.
Many in the charismatic and Pentecostal circle are moving in the flesh -they speaks false tongues and prophesize falsely. But the days are coming when the true anointing of God is going to put in the right band of people and they will not move in the flesh but will prepare to move in Spirit and use the Spirit of Lord to glorify God.
The Year of Jubilee
The word "jubilee" comes from the Hebrew word "yobel" which means "blowing the trumpet and be jubilant". For the children of Israel the Jubilee year was launched with a blast from a ram's horn on the Day of Atonement, signifying a call to joy, liberation, being set free, and the beginning of a year for "doing justice" and "loving mercy".
God commanded His people through Moses: "And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven year; and the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound through out all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family" (Lev. 25:8 - 10, NKJV, emphasis added).
The 50th year which is the year of Jubilee was to be a time in which liberty should be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of the country. If people owed money, in the year of Jubilee they were released from all their debts. If they have a mortgage on their home the mortage was over - became null and void. If people were in the prison houses, they were set free from prison.
The Last Jubilee
The Bible tells us clearly concerning the time and period of the various Jubilee years and when will be the Last Jubilee. The main purpose of all these Jubilee years is to set "prisoners" free and to deliver those who need to be delivered.
From Adam to Abraham was a period of 2000 years which works out to be 40 Jubilee years (or forty 50 years periods). From Abraham to Jesus Christ was another period of 2000 years or another 40 Jubilee years. From Christ to where we are today (A.D. 2007) there is another 40 Jubilee years. But the fact is, not only we are living in the last Jubilee but we have already lived past the last Jubilee year which should be in the year A.D. 2000 or the latest in the year A.D. 2004, if we assumed that Christ was born on A.D. 4. It looks as if we are living on borrowed time! Are we?
The significance of the number 120
An interesting fact is that all together, from Adam to the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ there are 120 Jubilee years.
Let us refer to the days of Noah when God sent judgment to all flesh:
The Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years" (Gen. 6:3, emphasis added).
The Lord was not talking about individual human being, but about the days of the human race which will be 120 years. He was referring to the duration and not the life of the individual. Here, the number 120 speaks of the "end of all flesh". We shall see it is no mere coincidence that it is also the total number of Jubilee years. It is in fact the number of Jubilee years and not just ordinary years!
At the fullness of Time
Jesus Himself said no one knows of the day or hour of His coming again:
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matt. 24:36).
This is one of the secret things that belongs to the Lord (Deut. 29:29). therefore he who claims that he knows the day or hour of the Second Coming of Christ is a false prophet or a false teacher.
But we do know something about the First Coming of Jesus Christ:
"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, ..." (Gal. 4:4, NKJV, emphasis added).
It is God Himself who determines when is the "fullness of time"; it is His prerogative, and totally under His jurisdiction and under His control!
It is reasonable to believe that the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will also depend on God the Father's "fullness of time". Therefore no one at all can claim he knows the day or hour.
The Last Trumpet
We have seen earlier that each Jubilee year was announced by a trumpet sound (Lev. 25).
Paul mentioned the last Jubilee (120th Jubilee) with its last trumpet:
"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:51, 52, emphasis added).
Notice our mortal flesh is corruptible and so at the last trumpet, at the last jubilee, God will put an end to our flesh. And we will be raised with a spiritual body which is incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:44).
Time is running out on us but we will see the glory of God shortly. In the year of Jubilee the high priest went beyond the second veil and into the Holy of Holies, into the fullness of God's presence (Hebrews 9:7).
Christ our Great High Priest entered the Most Holy Place (The Holy of Holies), the Heavenly Sanctuary (Heb. 912) more than 2000 years ago. And God is getting His end-time Church to enter the Heavenly Sanctuary to partake of the End-time Feast of the Lord!
Fullness of our Salvation
The Scripture reveals that as long as we are in our corruptible flesh we have not received the fullness of our salvation yet. This is clarified by the following passages of Scripture:
1. The Holy Spirit is given as a security deposit
"Now He who established us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor. 1:21, 22, NKJV, emphasis added).
Do not assume that when we are born again by the Spirit of God and also baptized in the Holy Spirit we have arrived and have got it all. What we have received in the baptism in the Holy Spirit is just the security deposit and the guarantee of the fulfillment of God's promise of what He is going to bring us into in these last days.
2. Fullness of Salvation yet to be revealed
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and tha does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3 - 5, emphasis added).
God has reserved the fullness of our salvation in the last days.
3. Fullness of salvation is offered for those who are eagerly waiting for Christ's return
"And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation" (Hebrews 9:27, 28, emphasis added).
The word "salvation" mentioned in the above passages of Scripture comes from the Greek word "soteria" which means "deliverance". Therefore, hidden in the measurements of Noah's Ark (300 cubit long, 30 cubits high and 50 cubit wide) is a beautiful picture or type of God's end-time vessel of deliverance. And we are the chosen vessels of deliverance at this end-time hour.
We have seen in my last week's message that the Temple of Solomon is a type of God's end-time Church. If the temple of Solomon (the former house) was filled with the cloud of God's glory (1 kings 8:11), the glory of the latter house (the true end-time Church) will be far more glorious! And the knowledge of God's glory will flow out from God's people and cover the whole earth "as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14).
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
The Walk of God's End-time People
There are seven references to the word "walk" in the Book of Ephesians. These references give us a clear picture of how we once walked and how we should walk now that we are born again and become members of the Body of Christ. The Scripture also gives us a pattern of the walk we should follow as God's end-time people.
Here are the seven references:
1. Our past walk
"And you he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ..." (Eph. 2:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
2. Walk as God's workmanship
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8 - 10, emphasis added).
The word "workmanship" comes from the Greek word "poiema" which means "masterpiece".
3. Walk worthy of your calling
"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, ...." (Eph. 4:1, 2, emphasis added).
The word "worthy" comes from the Greek word "axios" which means "Godly balanced walk" - in humility, gentleness and longsuffering or patience. We have to learn longsuffering while we are on earth because there is no suffering in heaven. Moses was one of God's people who walked worthy of God's calling.
4. Walk not as the Gentiles walk
".... you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, having given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness" (Eph. 4:17 - 19).
Note the downward progression of our past walk. But God has a much highter walk for us, with upward progression, so that as we endure we will experience the fullness of Christ.
5. Walk in love
"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma" (Eph. 5:2).
We are to walk in love because God is love.
6. Walk as children of Light
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8).
At the Sermon on the Mount Jesus Himself said believers are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14).
7. Walk in Wisdom
"See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:15, 16, emphasis added).
The word "circumspectly" comes from the Greek word "akribos" which means "diligently or perfectly".
The walk of God's end-time people
I choose to use typology (the study of spiritual types) in this message to bring forth what we cannot see with our natural eyes and what we cannot perceive with our natural mind. I believe deep things of God and gems of spiritual truth will be revealed in the use of typology. Typology is not the same as "spiritualizing" something. To spritualize a material thing without the revealation of the truth of God's Word is not Biblical.
We are now living in the time and season just prior to the coming again of the Lord. In the day of Noah the flood came and took all the wicked, careless and unrighteous people away (Matt. 24:38, 39). Righteous Noah was called by God to build an ark. We are part of the "ark" that God is building by His Spirit. We will be instruments that will bring deliverance to multitudes of people at this end time hour.
When the Flood came the water went up above the hightest point on earth exactly 15 cubits (Gen. 7:20). The number 15 speaks of divine separation. Furthermore Noah's ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. All these numbers have great significance in Scripture. I mentioned in my earlier message (Walking with God - posted on 5th Sept 2007) that Enoch walked with God for 300 years. So, the "ark" the people of God are fashioning and building together as a Church today are going to be people who are walking with God - who are walking worthily, walking in love, walking in the light, walking in the fear of the Lord and walking circumspectly.
But the number 300 in Scripture has another meaning - it means divine deliverance as in the case of Noah's ark. In other words, we will also move in the ministry of deliverance. That was what Jesus said, those of us who endure to the end shall be saved (shall enter into the fullness of salvation). We shall endure persecution and go out into the nations to preach and demonstrate the reality of the Gospel with signs following - and then shall the end come (Matt. 24:13, 14). Just like the ark of Noah was an instrument of deliverance, so the "ark" that God is building in the Church for the end-time generation will also be an instrument that will minister deliverance.
The Anointing of the Feet of Jesus
There is a deeper spiritual truth in the anointing of the feet of Jesus by Mary (John 12) than our natural eyes can see. The costly oil of spikenard that Mary uses speaks of humility spiritually. The number 300 came up again when Judas suggested the fragrant oil could be sold for 300 denarii and be given to the poor (John 12:5). We know that Judas was not too concerned about the poor but he certainly concerned about the money.
We have seen that the number 300 speaks of divine deliverance and Jesus feet was anoited to do just that. Today our feet are also anointed! How? It becomes clear if we look at Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2:37 - 44). Daniel saw a head kingdom, then a shoulder kingdom, a chest kingdom, a thigh kingdom, a leg kingdom and the last kingdom shall be the feet kingdom - when Jesus comes again.
"And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Daniel 2:44).
We are living right now in the period of time of the feet part of the Body of Christ!
Paul said, "And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly" (Romans 16:20).
In other words, we, as the end-time Church, are instruments God uses to crush Satan! We, as the feet part of the Body of Christ have been anointed by God to take the message of deliverance (from Satan) to the poor and the needy!
A type of God's end-time Church
The Old Testament Scripture tells us there were three main Old Testament Structures. The Tabernacle of Moses speaks to us more of the feast of the Passover - the born again experience. The Tabernacle of David, which in fact was an opened tent, speaks to us of Praise - the feast of Pentecost. The Temple of Solomon speaks to us of the Feast of the Tabernacle, the seventh month Feast - a type of God's end-time Church which is the anointed feet of the Body of Christ.
Solomon made 300 shields of beaten (or hammered) gold (1 King 10:17). These are the instruments we use in our deliverance ministry - beaten gold. It speaks of the triune God (Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) being formed into our lives as we wear those shields.
Jesus said, "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; ..." Rev. 3:18).
"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderers' soap" (Malachi 3:2).
That is why, we, God's end-time people, are now going through a period of trial, pressure and testing. But God refines us always with the right temperature and He will not suffer us to be tested beyond what we are able to take (James 1:2 - 4).
Full stature of God's end-time people
The Scripture indicates that a person is considered mature enough to enter the service of the Lord only if he is at least 30 years of age. Remember 30 cubits is the height of Noah's ark.
A priest
The Lord spoke to Moses, ".... from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting" (Num. 4:3).
To be a priest in Old Testament time you have to be at least 30 years of age - this age speaks of maturity for ministry and speaks of full stature. Similarly we, as New Testament priests (1 Peter 2:5; Rev. 1:6), are matured enough to minister in the Church of Jesus Church when we reached the age of 30.
Joseph
Joseph (the dreamer) began to serve Pharaoh as soon as he became full stature:
"Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Gen.41:46).
David
"David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years" (2 Sam. 5:4).
Jesus Christ
Jesus began His earthy Ministry after His water baptism.
"When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, 'You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased'. Now Jesus Himself began His ministry of about thirty years of age, ..." (Luke 3:21 - 23, NKJV, emphasis added).
About 2000 years ago the heaven opened unto Jesus to be filled with the Holy Spirit, without measure, for His ministry. We are going to witness how God will open the heaven unto His end-time Church because we are the Feet of the Body of Christ!
Stature of the fullness of Christ
"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Chrish, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Chrits" (Eph. 4:11 - 13, emphasis added).
The Church at the present moment is still falls short of the stature of the fullness of Christ because not all believers are equipped for the work of ministry. We need the ministries of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to bring the Chruch to full maturity - so that the Church will be perfected with the full knowledge of the Son of God. Praise God, He is moving His Church in this direction. How can the Church be the Bride of Christ if she is not matured and perfected?
Here are the seven references:
1. Our past walk
"And you he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ..." (Eph. 2:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
2. Walk as God's workmanship
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8 - 10, emphasis added).
The word "workmanship" comes from the Greek word "poiema" which means "masterpiece".
3. Walk worthy of your calling
"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, ...." (Eph. 4:1, 2, emphasis added).
The word "worthy" comes from the Greek word "axios" which means "Godly balanced walk" - in humility, gentleness and longsuffering or patience. We have to learn longsuffering while we are on earth because there is no suffering in heaven. Moses was one of God's people who walked worthy of God's calling.
4. Walk not as the Gentiles walk
".... you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, having given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness" (Eph. 4:17 - 19).
Note the downward progression of our past walk. But God has a much highter walk for us, with upward progression, so that as we endure we will experience the fullness of Christ.
5. Walk in love
"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma" (Eph. 5:2).
We are to walk in love because God is love.
6. Walk as children of Light
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8).
At the Sermon on the Mount Jesus Himself said believers are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14).
7. Walk in Wisdom
"See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:15, 16, emphasis added).
The word "circumspectly" comes from the Greek word "akribos" which means "diligently or perfectly".
The walk of God's end-time people
I choose to use typology (the study of spiritual types) in this message to bring forth what we cannot see with our natural eyes and what we cannot perceive with our natural mind. I believe deep things of God and gems of spiritual truth will be revealed in the use of typology. Typology is not the same as "spiritualizing" something. To spritualize a material thing without the revealation of the truth of God's Word is not Biblical.
We are now living in the time and season just prior to the coming again of the Lord. In the day of Noah the flood came and took all the wicked, careless and unrighteous people away (Matt. 24:38, 39). Righteous Noah was called by God to build an ark. We are part of the "ark" that God is building by His Spirit. We will be instruments that will bring deliverance to multitudes of people at this end time hour.
When the Flood came the water went up above the hightest point on earth exactly 15 cubits (Gen. 7:20). The number 15 speaks of divine separation. Furthermore Noah's ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. All these numbers have great significance in Scripture. I mentioned in my earlier message (Walking with God - posted on 5th Sept 2007) that Enoch walked with God for 300 years. So, the "ark" the people of God are fashioning and building together as a Church today are going to be people who are walking with God - who are walking worthily, walking in love, walking in the light, walking in the fear of the Lord and walking circumspectly.
But the number 300 in Scripture has another meaning - it means divine deliverance as in the case of Noah's ark. In other words, we will also move in the ministry of deliverance. That was what Jesus said, those of us who endure to the end shall be saved (shall enter into the fullness of salvation). We shall endure persecution and go out into the nations to preach and demonstrate the reality of the Gospel with signs following - and then shall the end come (Matt. 24:13, 14). Just like the ark of Noah was an instrument of deliverance, so the "ark" that God is building in the Church for the end-time generation will also be an instrument that will minister deliverance.
The Anointing of the Feet of Jesus
There is a deeper spiritual truth in the anointing of the feet of Jesus by Mary (John 12) than our natural eyes can see. The costly oil of spikenard that Mary uses speaks of humility spiritually. The number 300 came up again when Judas suggested the fragrant oil could be sold for 300 denarii and be given to the poor (John 12:5). We know that Judas was not too concerned about the poor but he certainly concerned about the money.
We have seen that the number 300 speaks of divine deliverance and Jesus feet was anoited to do just that. Today our feet are also anointed! How? It becomes clear if we look at Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2:37 - 44). Daniel saw a head kingdom, then a shoulder kingdom, a chest kingdom, a thigh kingdom, a leg kingdom and the last kingdom shall be the feet kingdom - when Jesus comes again.
"And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Daniel 2:44).
We are living right now in the period of time of the feet part of the Body of Christ!
Paul said, "And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly" (Romans 16:20).
In other words, we, as the end-time Church, are instruments God uses to crush Satan! We, as the feet part of the Body of Christ have been anointed by God to take the message of deliverance (from Satan) to the poor and the needy!
A type of God's end-time Church
The Old Testament Scripture tells us there were three main Old Testament Structures. The Tabernacle of Moses speaks to us more of the feast of the Passover - the born again experience. The Tabernacle of David, which in fact was an opened tent, speaks to us of Praise - the feast of Pentecost. The Temple of Solomon speaks to us of the Feast of the Tabernacle, the seventh month Feast - a type of God's end-time Church which is the anointed feet of the Body of Christ.
Solomon made 300 shields of beaten (or hammered) gold (1 King 10:17). These are the instruments we use in our deliverance ministry - beaten gold. It speaks of the triune God (Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) being formed into our lives as we wear those shields.
Jesus said, "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; ..." Rev. 3:18).
"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderers' soap" (Malachi 3:2).
That is why, we, God's end-time people, are now going through a period of trial, pressure and testing. But God refines us always with the right temperature and He will not suffer us to be tested beyond what we are able to take (James 1:2 - 4).
Full stature of God's end-time people
The Scripture indicates that a person is considered mature enough to enter the service of the Lord only if he is at least 30 years of age. Remember 30 cubits is the height of Noah's ark.
A priest
The Lord spoke to Moses, ".... from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting" (Num. 4:3).
To be a priest in Old Testament time you have to be at least 30 years of age - this age speaks of maturity for ministry and speaks of full stature. Similarly we, as New Testament priests (1 Peter 2:5; Rev. 1:6), are matured enough to minister in the Church of Jesus Church when we reached the age of 30.
Joseph
Joseph (the dreamer) began to serve Pharaoh as soon as he became full stature:
"Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Gen.41:46).
David
"David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years" (2 Sam. 5:4).
Jesus Christ
Jesus began His earthy Ministry after His water baptism.
"When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, 'You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased'. Now Jesus Himself began His ministry of about thirty years of age, ..." (Luke 3:21 - 23, NKJV, emphasis added).
About 2000 years ago the heaven opened unto Jesus to be filled with the Holy Spirit, without measure, for His ministry. We are going to witness how God will open the heaven unto His end-time Church because we are the Feet of the Body of Christ!
Stature of the fullness of Christ
"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Chrish, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Chrits" (Eph. 4:11 - 13, emphasis added).
The Church at the present moment is still falls short of the stature of the fullness of Christ because not all believers are equipped for the work of ministry. We need the ministries of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to bring the Chruch to full maturity - so that the Church will be perfected with the full knowledge of the Son of God. Praise God, He is moving His Church in this direction. How can the Church be the Bride of Christ if she is not matured and perfected?
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Walking in the Promises of God
Someone said there are about 21,000 promises of God in the Bible. I have not counted them but I know there are much more promises of God than we ever know. What I do know is, most of God's promises are conditional and only few are unconditional.
An example of an unconditional promise of God is His love - His love for sinners (John 3:16) and His love for Israel (Jer. 31:3).
An example of a conditional promise of God is found in the 28th Chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy - The promised blessings of God are for those who obeyed His voice.
"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observed carefully all His commandments .... The Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God" (Deu. 28:1, 2 NKJV).
God promises to keep His promises
"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill" (Numbers 23:19, NIV)?
"Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it" (Isaiah 46:11, NKJV).
"He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it" (1 Thess. 5:24, NKJV).
"For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us, ..." (2 Cor. 1:20).
"... for He who promised is faithful" (Heb. 10:23).
God will never fail to keep His promises because He is a covenant keeping God:
"My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips" (Ps. 89:24).
God's promises for those who fear Him
The following promises of God are obviously conditional; the condition is that we fear the Lord.
Here are some amazing promises of God for those who fear Him:
Walking in God's path and in God's way
"Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses" (Ps. 25:12, NKJV).
God has a plan for your life. For a person who fears the Lord, God will show him the path He has chosen for him to walk in. God will turn on the light and he who fears Him will see and will come to the path of the just as a shining light that shines more and more unto a perfect day (Prob. 4:18).
Keeping one's life clean forever
"The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether" (Ps. 19:9, emphasis added).
The word "clean" comes from the Hebrew word "tahor" which means pure, unadulterated and holy. Not only the fear of the Lord cleanses and purifies, but as you walk in the fear of the Lord your life shall be kept clean and purified at all times - it endures forever.
The secret of the Lord is revealed
"The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant" (Ps. 25:14).
Solomon said, "It is glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter" (Prob. 25:2).
Believers are made kings and priests to God the Father (Rev. 1:6). So it is the glory of believers to seek and to understand the secret of the Lord. If you want to understand the deep things of God start to walk in the fear of the Lord.
Hidden in the secret place of God's presence
"Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which you have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! you shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues" (Ps. 31:19, 20, emphasis added).
There is nothing worst than having the wagging tongues of Christians against you. If you are walking in the fear of the Lord, the Lord will hide you in the secret place of His presence and no other Christians can touch you.
Protection of the angel of the Lord
"The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them" (Ps. 34:7).
"For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways" (Ps. 91:11).
There shall be no lack
"Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him" (Ps. 34:9).
Compare this with Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want ..." (Ps. 23:1).
Desires fulfilled
"He will fulfill the sesire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them" (Ps. 145:19).
If you have unfulfilled desire in your heart, God promises to fulfill your desire as you walk in the fear of the Lord.
Live longer
"The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened" (Prob. 10:27).
God will add years to your life if you walk in the fear of the Lord. We are not talking about those unbelievers who live longer than believers. God has a different plan for them.
Strong confidence of God's protection
"In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snare of death" (Prob. 14:26, 27).
The fear of the Lord sets you free from the fear of death.
Free from the visitation of evil
"The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil" (Prob. 19:23).
The visitation of evil is most undesirable; it includes all forms of evil circumstances and situations - calamities (fire, earthquake, drought or flood), accidents (road, air, rail or sea), sicknesses, diseases, sudden-deaths, thefts, murders, rapes and you name it. No believer wants the visitation of evil. We desire the visitation of God's goodness, loving kindness and mercies.
Riches, honor and life
"By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life" (Prob. 22:4).
These are promises that every one of us desires - financial security, good name and good health!
Prosperity and blessings for future generations
"Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth" (Ps. 25:12, 13, emphasis added).
"In the way He chooses" speaks of the wisdom of God. "Dwell in prosperity" speaks of the peace of God. "Descendants shall inherit the earth" speaks of the blessings of God for future generations.
The above three promises of God are promises that every one of us desires.
In the midst of God's presence
"Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name" (Malachi 3:16, emphasis added).
God's presence will be in the midst of those who walk together in the fear of the Lord. God listens to their conversation and He has a book of remembrance prepared for them. We usually have a book of remembrace for VIP's who attended our functions. In other words, those who walk together in the fear of the Lord are being treated like VIP's!
Candidates for God's healing grace
"But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; ..." (Malachi 4:2).
The sun is a symbol of righteousness. The sun speaks of God Himself who is always righteous.
The psalmist said, "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good things will He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (Ps. 84:11).
Healing is one of the good things provided by God for those who walk uprightly. To walk uprightly is to walk in the fear of the Lord. If you walk uprightly, love righteousness and hate wickedness you are a candidate for God's healing grace.
Like the clear morning sun
This is a promise of God for kings and for those who are in the leadership positions, including Church leadership.
Here are some dying words of David and I believe the most important words spoken by a person are his dying words:
"The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me; 'He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain'" (2 Samuel 23:3, 4, NKJV).
God desires that all leaders, including Pastors, Elders of the Local Church be just and righteous and fear God as they shepherd the flock of God.
"But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day" (Prob. 4:18, NKJV).
Our just leaders will arise and shine; and the glory of the Lord will be risen upon us, the Church (Isaiah 60:1)!
An example of an unconditional promise of God is His love - His love for sinners (John 3:16) and His love for Israel (Jer. 31:3).
An example of a conditional promise of God is found in the 28th Chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy - The promised blessings of God are for those who obeyed His voice.
"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observed carefully all His commandments .... The Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God" (Deu. 28:1, 2 NKJV).
God promises to keep His promises
"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill" (Numbers 23:19, NIV)?
"Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it" (Isaiah 46:11, NKJV).
"He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it" (1 Thess. 5:24, NKJV).
"For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us, ..." (2 Cor. 1:20).
"... for He who promised is faithful" (Heb. 10:23).
God will never fail to keep His promises because He is a covenant keeping God:
"My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips" (Ps. 89:24).
God's promises for those who fear Him
The following promises of God are obviously conditional; the condition is that we fear the Lord.
Here are some amazing promises of God for those who fear Him:
Walking in God's path and in God's way
"Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses" (Ps. 25:12, NKJV).
God has a plan for your life. For a person who fears the Lord, God will show him the path He has chosen for him to walk in. God will turn on the light and he who fears Him will see and will come to the path of the just as a shining light that shines more and more unto a perfect day (Prob. 4:18).
Keeping one's life clean forever
"The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether" (Ps. 19:9, emphasis added).
The word "clean" comes from the Hebrew word "tahor" which means pure, unadulterated and holy. Not only the fear of the Lord cleanses and purifies, but as you walk in the fear of the Lord your life shall be kept clean and purified at all times - it endures forever.
The secret of the Lord is revealed
"The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant" (Ps. 25:14).
Solomon said, "It is glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter" (Prob. 25:2).
Believers are made kings and priests to God the Father (Rev. 1:6). So it is the glory of believers to seek and to understand the secret of the Lord. If you want to understand the deep things of God start to walk in the fear of the Lord.
Hidden in the secret place of God's presence
"Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which you have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! you shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues" (Ps. 31:19, 20, emphasis added).
There is nothing worst than having the wagging tongues of Christians against you. If you are walking in the fear of the Lord, the Lord will hide you in the secret place of His presence and no other Christians can touch you.
Protection of the angel of the Lord
"The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them" (Ps. 34:7).
"For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways" (Ps. 91:11).
There shall be no lack
"Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him" (Ps. 34:9).
Compare this with Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want ..." (Ps. 23:1).
Desires fulfilled
"He will fulfill the sesire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them" (Ps. 145:19).
If you have unfulfilled desire in your heart, God promises to fulfill your desire as you walk in the fear of the Lord.
Live longer
"The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened" (Prob. 10:27).
God will add years to your life if you walk in the fear of the Lord. We are not talking about those unbelievers who live longer than believers. God has a different plan for them.
Strong confidence of God's protection
"In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snare of death" (Prob. 14:26, 27).
The fear of the Lord sets you free from the fear of death.
Free from the visitation of evil
"The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil" (Prob. 19:23).
The visitation of evil is most undesirable; it includes all forms of evil circumstances and situations - calamities (fire, earthquake, drought or flood), accidents (road, air, rail or sea), sicknesses, diseases, sudden-deaths, thefts, murders, rapes and you name it. No believer wants the visitation of evil. We desire the visitation of God's goodness, loving kindness and mercies.
Riches, honor and life
"By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life" (Prob. 22:4).
These are promises that every one of us desires - financial security, good name and good health!
Prosperity and blessings for future generations
"Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth" (Ps. 25:12, 13, emphasis added).
"In the way He chooses" speaks of the wisdom of God. "Dwell in prosperity" speaks of the peace of God. "Descendants shall inherit the earth" speaks of the blessings of God for future generations.
The above three promises of God are promises that every one of us desires.
In the midst of God's presence
"Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name" (Malachi 3:16, emphasis added).
God's presence will be in the midst of those who walk together in the fear of the Lord. God listens to their conversation and He has a book of remembrance prepared for them. We usually have a book of remembrace for VIP's who attended our functions. In other words, those who walk together in the fear of the Lord are being treated like VIP's!
Candidates for God's healing grace
"But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; ..." (Malachi 4:2).
The sun is a symbol of righteousness. The sun speaks of God Himself who is always righteous.
The psalmist said, "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good things will He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (Ps. 84:11).
Healing is one of the good things provided by God for those who walk uprightly. To walk uprightly is to walk in the fear of the Lord. If you walk uprightly, love righteousness and hate wickedness you are a candidate for God's healing grace.
Like the clear morning sun
This is a promise of God for kings and for those who are in the leadership positions, including Church leadership.
Here are some dying words of David and I believe the most important words spoken by a person are his dying words:
"The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me; 'He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain'" (2 Samuel 23:3, 4, NKJV).
God desires that all leaders, including Pastors, Elders of the Local Church be just and righteous and fear God as they shepherd the flock of God.
"But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day" (Prob. 4:18, NKJV).
Our just leaders will arise and shine; and the glory of the Lord will be risen upon us, the Church (Isaiah 60:1)!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Walking in the Fear of the Lord
At the close of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said to His disciples:
"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48, NKJV).
The word "perfect" comes from the Greek word "teleios" which basically means "matured", "full grown", "full stature", "upright", "blameless" or "complete".
In fact the whole messaged (all the epistles) of the apostle Paul was basically exhorting believers to move on toward perfection and come to a place of full stature. And yet recently I heard a theologian who said that it is impossible for believers to be perfect. It is unfortunate that this theologian failed to understand that "to be perfect" is a command of Christ! Ask yourself, would Jesus give you a command that is unachievable?
Relations between being perfect and the fear of the Lord
Chapter 5 of Hebrews is the foundation for the theme of walking in the fear of the Lord. We cannot walk in the state of being perfect in the eyes of God unless we are walking in the reverent fear of God.
The writer of Hebrews wrote about our Lord Jesus Christ:
".... who (Jesus), in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, ..." (Heb. 5:7 - 9, NKJV, emphasis added).
The Lord is looking for a people whose heart is perfect toward Him:
"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (2 Chron. 16:9, KJV).
The Lord found such a person in Job:
"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil" (Jobe 1:1, NKJV, emphasis added).
Job was upright (perfect) because of these two qualities - he feared God and hated evil. Similarly we can be perfect in the eyes of God if also fear God and hate evil.
The psalmist said, "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him" (Ps. 33:8)
The phrase "stand in awe of Him" means "to honor and to show reverence of Him".
Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:13).
Therefore, to fear God and to hate evil is a key to leading an unright and perfect life.
Types of fear
The phrase "fear not" or its equivalent appears 365 time in the King James Version of the Bible - one "fear not" for everyday of the year. Surely the Lord is saying some important thing to us. God does not want us to fear anything apart from having a reverential fear, honor and respect for Him. Once you come into a place at fearing and honoring the Lord you will automatically find youself being set free from all tyes of other fear.
The following are undesirable types of fear that are gripping the lives of many God's people today.
1. Demonic fear
Paul wrote to Timothy, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7, NKJV).
The spirit of fear does not come from God but comes from demons. On the other hand God has given us the right type of Spirit in three forms:
a. Spirit of power - Power to encounter foes and danger; power to endure under trials and power to triumph over persecutions.
b. Spirit of love - Love toward God and toward the souls of men, natural love and the love of the brethren. "Perfect love cast out fear" (1 John 4:18). In other words, God's perfect love and demonic fear cannot co-exist.
c. Spirit of sound mind - The NIV says "Spirit of self-discipline". A self-disciplined person has a sober mind, a mind that is well balanced and under the right influence. A man with the Spirit of sound mind is a man of prudence and discretion.
2. Religious fear
God was speaking to His people through Isaiah:
"Inasmuch as these people draw near whith their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, ..." (Isaiah 29:13).
This is quite similar to what Jeremiah said, "You (God) are near in their mouth but far from their mind" (Jer. 12:2).
This is religious fear - fear taught by the teaching of man. Many people, even believers, are bound up by religious fear. The best way to be set free from religious fear is to be found walking in the fear of the Lord.
3. Fear of man
Solomon said, "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trust in the Lord shall be safe" (Proverbs 29:25).
The writer of Hebrews said, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me" (Heb. 13:6)?
Many believers are living today under the dominating influence of men or women. Many in the Body of Christ fear Pastors, Pastors' wives, leaders instead of trusting and showing reverential fear toward the Head of the Church.
Moving in the Wisdom and Knowledge of God
Psalmist David said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments" (Ps. 111:10).
Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Porb. 1:7).
That mens we cannot begin to move in the wisdom and the knowledge of God unless we know something of the fear of the Lord.
The Path of Wisdom
Job said, "That path no bird knows, nor had the falcon's eye seen it. The pround lions have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lions passed over it" (Job 28:7, 8, NKJV, emphasis added).
In Scripture, "bird" or "fowl" (KJV) speaks of "prince of the the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2) or the demon spirits.
In the parable of the Sower Jesus said, "And so he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them" (Matt. 13:4, emphasis added).
It is obvious that demon spirits "devour" things.
When the Bible talks about "falcon" or "vulture" (KJV) you can be sure that it refers to the Devil himself. Vulture is a bird that comes sweeping down on the flesh. When there is a demonstration of the flesh in a Christian meeting the vulture will come in and have a heyday! That is the reason why all Christian meetings must be led by the Holy Spirit. Christians must not be led by the flesh.
But there is a path that the fowl of the air knows nothing about and the vulture's eyes cannot see. And that is the path of wisdom where those who fear the Lord will follow. You can walk safely on this path because it is hidden from the Devil's knowledge.
Job quoted what the Lord said further down in the same Chapter, "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding" (Job 28:28).
As we walk in the wisdom of God with the fear of the Lord in our life, the fowls don't know what we are up to and vultures can't see us. This was precisely what Jesus experienced. He come up out the Jordan Riven after Water Baptism, driven to the wilderness, tested by Satan and ministered in the power of the Spirit throughout His earthy life. He walked in the fear of the Lord and on the path of Wisdom. Satan could not touch Him or find anything in Him at all.
Jesus walked in the fear of the Lord with 7-fold Anointing
Jesus was the Son of David and David was the son of Jesse. This was how Isaiah said about Jesus:
"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; ..." (Isaiah 11:1 - 3, NKJV, emphasis added).
This 7-fold perfect anointing was to make Jesus quick understanding in the fear of the Lord so that He would not judge after the sight of His natural eyes, neither would He reprove after His natural eyes.
Powerful Anointing
The psalmist revealed the secret of Jesus ' powerful anointing in His earthly life:
"You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than Your companions" (Ps. 45:7, emphasis added).
Some of us might think that God anointed His Son with such powerful anointing simply because He is the Son of God. But the Bible does not teach that. Jesus was powerfully anointed because of two things - He loved righteousness and hated wickedness! In other words, He feared the Lord.
Spirit without measure
Anothing thing about Jesus that set Him apart from all people of God was that He had the Spirit without measure:
"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure" (John 3:34).
Some might think that we have already been given the Spirit without measure and we would be able to speak the Words of God without any error now. But this is not the case - Paul said:
"Who (God) hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (2 Cor. 1:22, KJV, emphasis added).
All Christians have received "the earnest of the Spirit" as a deposit. But God is getting us ready to enter into the fullness of our inheritance by getting us to walk in the fear of the Lord.
Fear of the Lord in the early Church
"Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied" (Acts 9:31, emphasis added).
"..... submitting to one another in the fear of God" (Eph. 5:21).
Forget about man's method of Church growth, for they will not be effective. Attending Church growth conferences is a waste of time! The local Church will grow automatically if all members are walking in fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And also with all members submit to one another in the fear of God.
The early Church were walking in the fear of the Lord they and were serving the Lord with fear. The did exactly what the psalmist said:
"Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Ps. 2:11).
One of the main problems of the contemporary Church is that the people have learned to rejoice in the Lord in their meetings. But very often they rejoice without the fear of the Lord (trembling fear), their rejoicing becomes very fleshly and carnal in nature. Instead of getting the visitation of the Holy Spirit they might get the visitation of the old vulture himself - the Devil! A good example is the so called "laughing revival" meeting.
"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48, NKJV).
The word "perfect" comes from the Greek word "teleios" which basically means "matured", "full grown", "full stature", "upright", "blameless" or "complete".
In fact the whole messaged (all the epistles) of the apostle Paul was basically exhorting believers to move on toward perfection and come to a place of full stature. And yet recently I heard a theologian who said that it is impossible for believers to be perfect. It is unfortunate that this theologian failed to understand that "to be perfect" is a command of Christ! Ask yourself, would Jesus give you a command that is unachievable?
Relations between being perfect and the fear of the Lord
Chapter 5 of Hebrews is the foundation for the theme of walking in the fear of the Lord. We cannot walk in the state of being perfect in the eyes of God unless we are walking in the reverent fear of God.
The writer of Hebrews wrote about our Lord Jesus Christ:
".... who (Jesus), in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, ..." (Heb. 5:7 - 9, NKJV, emphasis added).
The Lord is looking for a people whose heart is perfect toward Him:
"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (2 Chron. 16:9, KJV).
The Lord found such a person in Job:
"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil" (Jobe 1:1, NKJV, emphasis added).
Job was upright (perfect) because of these two qualities - he feared God and hated evil. Similarly we can be perfect in the eyes of God if also fear God and hate evil.
The psalmist said, "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him" (Ps. 33:8)
The phrase "stand in awe of Him" means "to honor and to show reverence of Him".
Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:13).
Therefore, to fear God and to hate evil is a key to leading an unright and perfect life.
Types of fear
The phrase "fear not" or its equivalent appears 365 time in the King James Version of the Bible - one "fear not" for everyday of the year. Surely the Lord is saying some important thing to us. God does not want us to fear anything apart from having a reverential fear, honor and respect for Him. Once you come into a place at fearing and honoring the Lord you will automatically find youself being set free from all tyes of other fear.
The following are undesirable types of fear that are gripping the lives of many God's people today.
1. Demonic fear
Paul wrote to Timothy, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7, NKJV).
The spirit of fear does not come from God but comes from demons. On the other hand God has given us the right type of Spirit in three forms:
a. Spirit of power - Power to encounter foes and danger; power to endure under trials and power to triumph over persecutions.
b. Spirit of love - Love toward God and toward the souls of men, natural love and the love of the brethren. "Perfect love cast out fear" (1 John 4:18). In other words, God's perfect love and demonic fear cannot co-exist.
c. Spirit of sound mind - The NIV says "Spirit of self-discipline". A self-disciplined person has a sober mind, a mind that is well balanced and under the right influence. A man with the Spirit of sound mind is a man of prudence and discretion.
2. Religious fear
God was speaking to His people through Isaiah:
"Inasmuch as these people draw near whith their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, ..." (Isaiah 29:13).
This is quite similar to what Jeremiah said, "You (God) are near in their mouth but far from their mind" (Jer. 12:2).
This is religious fear - fear taught by the teaching of man. Many people, even believers, are bound up by religious fear. The best way to be set free from religious fear is to be found walking in the fear of the Lord.
3. Fear of man
Solomon said, "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trust in the Lord shall be safe" (Proverbs 29:25).
The writer of Hebrews said, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me" (Heb. 13:6)?
Many believers are living today under the dominating influence of men or women. Many in the Body of Christ fear Pastors, Pastors' wives, leaders instead of trusting and showing reverential fear toward the Head of the Church.
Moving in the Wisdom and Knowledge of God
Psalmist David said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments" (Ps. 111:10).
Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Porb. 1:7).
That mens we cannot begin to move in the wisdom and the knowledge of God unless we know something of the fear of the Lord.
The Path of Wisdom
Job said, "That path no bird knows, nor had the falcon's eye seen it. The pround lions have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lions passed over it" (Job 28:7, 8, NKJV, emphasis added).
In Scripture, "bird" or "fowl" (KJV) speaks of "prince of the the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2) or the demon spirits.
In the parable of the Sower Jesus said, "And so he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them" (Matt. 13:4, emphasis added).
It is obvious that demon spirits "devour" things.
When the Bible talks about "falcon" or "vulture" (KJV) you can be sure that it refers to the Devil himself. Vulture is a bird that comes sweeping down on the flesh. When there is a demonstration of the flesh in a Christian meeting the vulture will come in and have a heyday! That is the reason why all Christian meetings must be led by the Holy Spirit. Christians must not be led by the flesh.
But there is a path that the fowl of the air knows nothing about and the vulture's eyes cannot see. And that is the path of wisdom where those who fear the Lord will follow. You can walk safely on this path because it is hidden from the Devil's knowledge.
Job quoted what the Lord said further down in the same Chapter, "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding" (Job 28:28).
As we walk in the wisdom of God with the fear of the Lord in our life, the fowls don't know what we are up to and vultures can't see us. This was precisely what Jesus experienced. He come up out the Jordan Riven after Water Baptism, driven to the wilderness, tested by Satan and ministered in the power of the Spirit throughout His earthy life. He walked in the fear of the Lord and on the path of Wisdom. Satan could not touch Him or find anything in Him at all.
Jesus walked in the fear of the Lord with 7-fold Anointing
Jesus was the Son of David and David was the son of Jesse. This was how Isaiah said about Jesus:
"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; ..." (Isaiah 11:1 - 3, NKJV, emphasis added).
This 7-fold perfect anointing was to make Jesus quick understanding in the fear of the Lord so that He would not judge after the sight of His natural eyes, neither would He reprove after His natural eyes.
Powerful Anointing
The psalmist revealed the secret of Jesus ' powerful anointing in His earthly life:
"You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than Your companions" (Ps. 45:7, emphasis added).
Some of us might think that God anointed His Son with such powerful anointing simply because He is the Son of God. But the Bible does not teach that. Jesus was powerfully anointed because of two things - He loved righteousness and hated wickedness! In other words, He feared the Lord.
Spirit without measure
Anothing thing about Jesus that set Him apart from all people of God was that He had the Spirit without measure:
"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure" (John 3:34).
Some might think that we have already been given the Spirit without measure and we would be able to speak the Words of God without any error now. But this is not the case - Paul said:
"Who (God) hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (2 Cor. 1:22, KJV, emphasis added).
All Christians have received "the earnest of the Spirit" as a deposit. But God is getting us ready to enter into the fullness of our inheritance by getting us to walk in the fear of the Lord.
Fear of the Lord in the early Church
"Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied" (Acts 9:31, emphasis added).
"..... submitting to one another in the fear of God" (Eph. 5:21).
Forget about man's method of Church growth, for they will not be effective. Attending Church growth conferences is a waste of time! The local Church will grow automatically if all members are walking in fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And also with all members submit to one another in the fear of God.
The early Church were walking in the fear of the Lord they and were serving the Lord with fear. The did exactly what the psalmist said:
"Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Ps. 2:11).
One of the main problems of the contemporary Church is that the people have learned to rejoice in the Lord in their meetings. But very often they rejoice without the fear of the Lord (trembling fear), their rejoicing becomes very fleshly and carnal in nature. Instead of getting the visitation of the Holy Spirit they might get the visitation of the old vulture himself - the Devil! A good example is the so called "laughing revival" meeting.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Perplexity in the Last Days
I believe this is a timely message for the Body of Christ. We are living in the End-time hour and a lot of things are happening in the world. Even in the Church life these things are perplexing us. Tremendous disasters are happening daily - extreme weather conditions, floods in unusual places, droughts, earthquakes; buildings and bridges collapsing, tunnels and mines collapsing, airplane, train, buses, cars accidents; senseless kidnapping, murders and rapes; new cases of cancers and other incurable diseases and you name it. Our lives are being visited by evil on the daily basis!
Jesus Himself said people will experience perplexity in the last days - prior to His second coming:
"And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the power of the heavens will be shaken" (Luke 21:25, 26, NKJV, emphasis added).
I have said it before and I say it again - the Bible is more up-to-date than today's Newspapers. It also contains reports of things yet to come because all Bible prophecies are going to be fulfilled. It is so encouraging to read the Words of jesus realizing that He said in the last days we would know perplexity. Perplexity is here to stay and everyone will experience it some time in his life.
Learning to trust God
Thank God, the Bible has the only real answer - We must learn to trust God for who He is and not what Hes does in any given situation. Look around you and you will not fail to notice that there are so many professing Christians who only trust God for what He does. And when God does not do for them what they feel He should do for them at the time in which they wanted done, many of them get so disillusioned and discouraged that they start to depart from the Lord and ultimately stay away from all spiritual involement!
But God wants His people to have the ability to go forward from strength to strength, from faith to faith and from victory to victory even there are things happening round about you to cause perplexity to come into your life.
Hear the Words of Jesus again: "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 24:11 - 13, emphasis added).
Not only many false prophets will rise up and deceive many in the last days, but also false teachers and Pastors - like the homosexual "pastors"with their partners ministering to homosexual churchgoers. There is also a "pastor" who prayed over the body-parts of female churchgoers to make them sexier. It is totally beyond our imagination how depraved the human mind could become!
The good news is, God is forming into us His endurance so that in the midst of tremedous perplexity we might hold on, be overcomers, and come through into a mighty resurrection! God's people who have the endurance of Christ written in their life are people who trust God for who He is. God is a God of integrity and it is impossible for God to fail us. But we have to learn to trust Him in the midst of perplexity.
All true servants of God trusted God for who He is
The majority of Charismatic Christians generally throughout the world have only learned to trust God in what He does and when He doesn't do what they expected Him, they tend to feel discouraged, despondent and they begin to blame God, blame the Pastor, blame the Pastor's wife and blame the elders of the Church and even blame themselves.
The Bible tells us that all true servants of God went through a period of perplexity at some stage of their life, but they learned to trust God for who He is. Here are some examples, beginning with Jesus.
Jesus Christ
I believe Jesus Himself was perplexed at that moment when He hung on the cross, and cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me" (Matt. 27:46).
The psalmist (David) depicted the perplexity of Jesus when he wrote:
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning" (Ps. 22:2).
But Jesus held on and "endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
Jesus could have called upon His Father to "provide Him with more than twelve legions of angels" (Matt. 26:53) to deliver Him, but He held on and in the midst of perplexing situation came forth to a glorious resurrection.
Job
Job was perplexed when he saw the wicked prospered and he complained:
"Some remove landmarks; they seize flocks violently and feed on them, they drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox as a pledge. They push the needy off the road; all the poor of the land are forced to hide" (Job 24:2 - 4).
Later on Job repented after he learned to trust God for who He is:
"Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:3, 6).
The Psalmist
The psalmist was perplexed when he spoke to God regarding the prosperity of the ungodly and the wicked:
"Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning" (Ps. 73:12 - 14).
It speaks to us today about the prosperity of the people who do not know God but make money their god. But when the psalmist started to seek and trust God for who He is, he began to understand:
"When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me - until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understand their end" (Ps. 73:16, 17, emphasis added).
Notice that God is very concerned about the end of people, both His people and the people of the world.
When Israel was tested in the wilderness, Moses said: ".... who (God) fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you that He might test you, to do you good in the end ..." (Deut. 8:16, emphasis added).
Moses
Moses was perplexed and started to blame God after his first encounter with Pharaoh. Instead of letting Israel go, Pharaoh oppressed them, set taskmasters over them and gave them extra labor.
Moses complained: "So Moses returned to the Lord and said, 'Lord, why have You brought to this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all;" (Exodus 5:22, 23).
God assured Moses that at the appointed time Pharaoh "will drive them out of his land" (Exodus 6:1).
Have you ever wondered why God waited 4000 years to send His Son Jesus Christ? The Bible gives us the answer!
Paul said, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Gal. 4:4, 5, emphasis added).
Timing is very important in God's perspective. Many of us have received prophetic words over our life concerning our future ministry, but many of those things have not come into existence yet. While waiting (with perplexity) for that divine moment, God wants us to wait upon Him, spend time in His temple, continue on walking by faith, serving Him and we'll find in the fullness of time, even in our own life and experience, God will bring into existence that which He has spoken over our life.
God commanded Ezekiel to speak to His people:
"Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: 'None of My word will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak will be done,' says the Lord God'" (Ezekiel 12:28)
Habakkuk
If there was a prophet who had truly learned to trust God for who He is, it was Habakkuk. The message of Habakkuk began with a burden (Hab. 1:1, 2) and turned into a song in the end (Hab 3:19). Right at the beginning we see Habakkuk was so perplexed, so weighed down with heavy burden concerning the nation of Judah which was enjoying a time of prosperity. But as the material prosperity was up the moral level gone down (Please read my earlier message - "An area of the Nature of God").
Habakkuk went forth and declared the Word of the Lord faithfully to the people but God did not respond in doing what God said He would do at that time, and Habakkuk became perplexed.
He was full of questions at the beginning - why Lord? Oh God how long? Wherefore? After God answered him, he decided to take some time out to wait upon the Lord:
"I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected" (Hab 2:1).
The lesson learned is, when we take time out to wait upon the Lord, in time of perplexity or pressure, the Lord will always answer.
The Lord answered, "For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry (Hab. 2:3, emphasis added).
Every vision or prophetic Word of God has a primary and a secondary fulfillment. Part of the vision was revealed: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14).
This vision, being secondary, is still waithing to happen. We have not seen it yet, but it will come very soon - at the end of this age!
Take a look at Joel's prophecy: "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh ...." (Joel 2:28, emphasis added).
All flesh means all un-regenerated flesh, un-regenerated Jews or Gentiles.
The primary fulfillment happened on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon about 120 people in a prayer meeting. The secondary fulfillment wil take place soon - upon this end time generation. But before God does that, He is going to have a people who are ready as His instruments to bring in the harvest. We are part of this generation!
Habakkuk, though perplexed, decided to keep silence and waited upon the Lord by faith, for he knew that, "The just shall live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4).
Habakkuk said, "But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him" (Hab. 2:20)
Habakkuk knew that God was teaching him how to trust God for who He is. Similarly every time you are perplexed and have many unanswered questions concerning the nations of the world today and wonder why God allows these things to continue on, you can be sure God is teaching His people how to trust in Him for who He is and not just what He does!
What happened that brought about the change? The circumstances were still the same but Habakkuk was clearly changed!
By faith he said, "Though the fig tree my not blossom, nor the fruit be on the vines; ... Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Hab. 3:17, 18).
Some Christians only experience joy in what God does. They get really exited when somebody gets saved or healed or deliverd. Of course it is good to get exited and joyful. But the highest form of joy is in the Person of God Himself!
Jesus Himself said people will experience perplexity in the last days - prior to His second coming:
"And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the power of the heavens will be shaken" (Luke 21:25, 26, NKJV, emphasis added).
I have said it before and I say it again - the Bible is more up-to-date than today's Newspapers. It also contains reports of things yet to come because all Bible prophecies are going to be fulfilled. It is so encouraging to read the Words of jesus realizing that He said in the last days we would know perplexity. Perplexity is here to stay and everyone will experience it some time in his life.
Learning to trust God
Thank God, the Bible has the only real answer - We must learn to trust God for who He is and not what Hes does in any given situation. Look around you and you will not fail to notice that there are so many professing Christians who only trust God for what He does. And when God does not do for them what they feel He should do for them at the time in which they wanted done, many of them get so disillusioned and discouraged that they start to depart from the Lord and ultimately stay away from all spiritual involement!
But God wants His people to have the ability to go forward from strength to strength, from faith to faith and from victory to victory even there are things happening round about you to cause perplexity to come into your life.
Hear the Words of Jesus again: "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 24:11 - 13, emphasis added).
Not only many false prophets will rise up and deceive many in the last days, but also false teachers and Pastors - like the homosexual "pastors"with their partners ministering to homosexual churchgoers. There is also a "pastor" who prayed over the body-parts of female churchgoers to make them sexier. It is totally beyond our imagination how depraved the human mind could become!
The good news is, God is forming into us His endurance so that in the midst of tremedous perplexity we might hold on, be overcomers, and come through into a mighty resurrection! God's people who have the endurance of Christ written in their life are people who trust God for who He is. God is a God of integrity and it is impossible for God to fail us. But we have to learn to trust Him in the midst of perplexity.
All true servants of God trusted God for who He is
The majority of Charismatic Christians generally throughout the world have only learned to trust God in what He does and when He doesn't do what they expected Him, they tend to feel discouraged, despondent and they begin to blame God, blame the Pastor, blame the Pastor's wife and blame the elders of the Church and even blame themselves.
The Bible tells us that all true servants of God went through a period of perplexity at some stage of their life, but they learned to trust God for who He is. Here are some examples, beginning with Jesus.
Jesus Christ
I believe Jesus Himself was perplexed at that moment when He hung on the cross, and cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me" (Matt. 27:46).
The psalmist (David) depicted the perplexity of Jesus when he wrote:
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning" (Ps. 22:2).
But Jesus held on and "endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
Jesus could have called upon His Father to "provide Him with more than twelve legions of angels" (Matt. 26:53) to deliver Him, but He held on and in the midst of perplexing situation came forth to a glorious resurrection.
Job
Job was perplexed when he saw the wicked prospered and he complained:
"Some remove landmarks; they seize flocks violently and feed on them, they drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox as a pledge. They push the needy off the road; all the poor of the land are forced to hide" (Job 24:2 - 4).
Later on Job repented after he learned to trust God for who He is:
"Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:3, 6).
The Psalmist
The psalmist was perplexed when he spoke to God regarding the prosperity of the ungodly and the wicked:
"Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning" (Ps. 73:12 - 14).
It speaks to us today about the prosperity of the people who do not know God but make money their god. But when the psalmist started to seek and trust God for who He is, he began to understand:
"When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me - until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understand their end" (Ps. 73:16, 17, emphasis added).
Notice that God is very concerned about the end of people, both His people and the people of the world.
When Israel was tested in the wilderness, Moses said: ".... who (God) fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you that He might test you, to do you good in the end ..." (Deut. 8:16, emphasis added).
Moses
Moses was perplexed and started to blame God after his first encounter with Pharaoh. Instead of letting Israel go, Pharaoh oppressed them, set taskmasters over them and gave them extra labor.
Moses complained: "So Moses returned to the Lord and said, 'Lord, why have You brought to this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all;" (Exodus 5:22, 23).
God assured Moses that at the appointed time Pharaoh "will drive them out of his land" (Exodus 6:1).
Have you ever wondered why God waited 4000 years to send His Son Jesus Christ? The Bible gives us the answer!
Paul said, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Gal. 4:4, 5, emphasis added).
Timing is very important in God's perspective. Many of us have received prophetic words over our life concerning our future ministry, but many of those things have not come into existence yet. While waiting (with perplexity) for that divine moment, God wants us to wait upon Him, spend time in His temple, continue on walking by faith, serving Him and we'll find in the fullness of time, even in our own life and experience, God will bring into existence that which He has spoken over our life.
God commanded Ezekiel to speak to His people:
"Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: 'None of My word will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak will be done,' says the Lord God'" (Ezekiel 12:28)
Habakkuk
If there was a prophet who had truly learned to trust God for who He is, it was Habakkuk. The message of Habakkuk began with a burden (Hab. 1:1, 2) and turned into a song in the end (Hab 3:19). Right at the beginning we see Habakkuk was so perplexed, so weighed down with heavy burden concerning the nation of Judah which was enjoying a time of prosperity. But as the material prosperity was up the moral level gone down (Please read my earlier message - "An area of the Nature of God").
Habakkuk went forth and declared the Word of the Lord faithfully to the people but God did not respond in doing what God said He would do at that time, and Habakkuk became perplexed.
He was full of questions at the beginning - why Lord? Oh God how long? Wherefore? After God answered him, he decided to take some time out to wait upon the Lord:
"I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected" (Hab 2:1).
The lesson learned is, when we take time out to wait upon the Lord, in time of perplexity or pressure, the Lord will always answer.
The Lord answered, "For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry (Hab. 2:3, emphasis added).
Every vision or prophetic Word of God has a primary and a secondary fulfillment. Part of the vision was revealed: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14).
This vision, being secondary, is still waithing to happen. We have not seen it yet, but it will come very soon - at the end of this age!
Take a look at Joel's prophecy: "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh ...." (Joel 2:28, emphasis added).
All flesh means all un-regenerated flesh, un-regenerated Jews or Gentiles.
The primary fulfillment happened on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon about 120 people in a prayer meeting. The secondary fulfillment wil take place soon - upon this end time generation. But before God does that, He is going to have a people who are ready as His instruments to bring in the harvest. We are part of this generation!
Habakkuk, though perplexed, decided to keep silence and waited upon the Lord by faith, for he knew that, "The just shall live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4).
Habakkuk said, "But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him" (Hab. 2:20)
Habakkuk knew that God was teaching him how to trust God for who He is. Similarly every time you are perplexed and have many unanswered questions concerning the nations of the world today and wonder why God allows these things to continue on, you can be sure God is teaching His people how to trust in Him for who He is and not just what He does!
What happened that brought about the change? The circumstances were still the same but Habakkuk was clearly changed!
By faith he said, "Though the fig tree my not blossom, nor the fruit be on the vines; ... Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Hab. 3:17, 18).
Some Christians only experience joy in what God does. They get really exited when somebody gets saved or healed or deliverd. Of course it is good to get exited and joyful. But the highest form of joy is in the Person of God Himself!
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Walking With God
Every believer should walk with God even as Enoch walked with God. But before we go on to study the life of Enoch and to find out why Enoch speaks of the type of the end-time believers that God seeks after, we begin by looking at some passages of Scripture of Isaiah's prophecies concerning the end-time.
"Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His path'" (Isaiah 2:2, 3, NKJV, emphasis added).
"Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah 60:1 - 3, emphasis added).
God gave Isaiah a picture of the last days, and He caused him to see something that is going to happen in the world - at the time we are living right now. Isaiah saw a vision of the last days on earth when deep spiritual darkness basically is covering the whole earth. But he saw a people who are different, who are not in darkness but are walking in the glorious light of God. These people are walking with God, walking in God's way and God's path.
As we walk in the way of the Lord we will arise out of darkness, set free from areas of darkness in our lives. We, as God's people, walking with Him are going to arise and shine and His glory is going to be revealed in us. And many unbelievers will be drawn to us.
The people who are walking with God
Enoch was a man who walked with God. In fact he had such a powerful walk with God that one day God just took him right up into glory (Gen. 5:24). He was a man who escaped the appointment of death.
The writer of Hebrews said, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27).
Destiny of God's people who are walking with God
It is interesting to note that Enoch was not the only person ever lived who escaped the appointment of death. The Bible tells us that there is a day yet to come, there will be a certain company of God's people on earth who are walking with God will also be loosed from the appointment of death.
The psalmist said, "You (the Lord) will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come. For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, and show favor to her dust. So the nations whall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory. For the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory. He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, and shall not despise their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the Lord viewed the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death, ..." (Ps. 102:13 - 20, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. When the Bible speaks of "Zion" it does not refer to a geographical location over the land of Palestine, but refers to corporate company of people called out to be totally abandoned to God's eternal plan and purpose. In other words, "Zion" simply means collectively the true Church of Jesus Christ.
2. God is in the building program. He is building us together as a Church. We are living in a period of time where God is building into our lives the very nature and character of Jesus Christ. A day will come when the Lord will appear in His glory to take His Bride with Him (Ephesians 5:26, 27).
3. What the psalmist said here was for a particular generation of people, the end time generation created to praise the Lord.
4. A day is coming when the Lord in His divine moment is going to loose a company of His people from the appointment of death.
The life of Enoch - a man who walked with God
Very little is written concerning the life of Enoch in the Bible. But if we are careful to search the Scripture diligently we will discover gems of truth.
Genesis 5 describes the first ten generations from Adam to Noah. Enoch represents the seventh generation from Adam whereas Noah the tenth. Every man listed in Genesis 5 apart from Enoch died in faith. Enoch, who did not see death, is a very real type of the last day Church on earth. He was a type of your life and of my life - provided of course we walk with God as he walked with God.
The importance of names
Names in the Old Testament, including Adam's family to the tenth generation, give a picture of the character and personality of the persons. Adam means earth or earthly in the Hebrew language; Seth means appointed of God; Enosh means mortal; Cainan means sorrow; Mahalalel means praise of God; Jared means descending and Enoch means dedicated. I will surprise you with the meaning of Methuselah's name later.
Uniqueness of Enoch and his son Methuselah
"Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughter. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighey-two years, and had sons and daughter. So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died" (Gen. 5:21 - 27, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Enoch lived the youngest (365 years) of all those in Adam's family to the tenth generation.
2. Something happened to Enoch (a dedicated man) when his son Methuselah was born. He began to walk with God in a much higher dimension than he had walked with God in those first 65 years of his life. I believe, because of his heritage, Enoch was a man during the first 65 years had an intimate relationship with the living God. Something transformed his lifestyle at the age of 65 and it had something to do with the birth of his son Methuselah.
3. Methuselah lived (696 years) longer on earth than any man ever lived as recorded by the Bible. I believe the numbers 9 and 6 have great significance. 9 is the number of the Holy Spirit; it speaks of fullness, finality and fruitfulness. And we know there are 9 gifts and 9 fruit of the Holy Spirit. 6 is the number of man. Therefore I have the reason to believe Methuselah walked with God just like his father Enoch walked.
4. Now, the question is why God kept Methuselah alive longer than any other man on earth? I think it has something to do with his name. Methuselah's name had a very unusual meaning in Hebrew - "In the year that he died the Flood came" (Fausset's Bible Dictionary). In other words, whe Methuselah is dead the Flood would come! Quite incredible!
5. Methuselah was born when Enoch was 65 of age. He was told prophetically by God what to call his son! He knew that when the son dies the Flood is going to come. I believe because Enoch was aware of the coming of the Flood he began to change his lifestyle and he walked before God in total dedication to Him for 300 years! I think his son Methuselah also changed his lifestyle and began to walk with God in a more intimate way.
Enoch was a type of God's end-time people
We have seen that Enoch missed his appointment to death because he walked with God in total dedication. Another reason, revealed by the Scripture, is that he pleased God.
"By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, 'and was not found, because God had taken him'; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, ..." (Hebrews 11:5, emphasis added).
So, on the basis of the above Enoch was a man of faith who pleased God and walked with Him.
Enoch and Methuselah were signs to every generation
Enoch and Methuselah who walked with God by faith were signs to their generations and our generation.
I believe God has marked every one of us, who are walking with God by faith, to be signs and wonders in the midst of a people who are living in gross spiritual darkness.
To be signs and wonders are far more wonderful than seeking signs and wonders or even having signs and wonders following the ministry of the Word.
Isaiah said, "Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion" (Isaiah 8:18).
Enoch and Methuselah were disciplined people
As we have seen earlier both Enoch and Methuselah were warned of the coming Flood, it is understandable that they feared God and became disciplined people. Genesis 6 tells us that God sent the Flood because the people were corrupted, evil, undisciplined, going their own way and doing their own things.
Many God's people today, even they are born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, still love their own ways and yet they ask God to bless them in the way they are going and doing - totally lack of discipline. But God is looking for a people who will lay down their own way, seek after His will and be obedient to Him. He is looking for a people who are disciplined and who will walk in His way because His way is so much higher.
The most amazing prophecy of Enoch - Jesus' Second Coming
"Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men (apostates) also, saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 14, 15, NKJV).
Amazing! How did a man living hundreds of years before the Flood and hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born, was given a vision from the Almighty God, not of the birth of Jesus, not even the life of Jesus on earth and His death on the cross and His resurrection; but God gave to Him a revelation of the second coming of the Lord Jesus?
To me this revelation is staggering! There was a prophetic mental picture upon Enoch's life and his eyes were opened to the coming again of the Lord Jesus. To me Enoch was a type of a man who made preparation for the coming again of Jesus Christ. And in that preparation he was walking with God, dedicated, disciplined, pleasing God, moving in faith and he was preaching everywhere concerning the second coming of the Lord Jesus with ten thousands upon thousands of His saints and the judgment which would follow if men and women did not turn to Him! God is looking for a people like Enoch in our days!
Among these ten thousands upon thousands of His saints will be some of us who have walked with God even as Enoch walked with God by faith. Just like Enoch some of us will never see death! This coming event was made clear by Paul:
"Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17, NKJV).
"Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His path'" (Isaiah 2:2, 3, NKJV, emphasis added).
"Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah 60:1 - 3, emphasis added).
God gave Isaiah a picture of the last days, and He caused him to see something that is going to happen in the world - at the time we are living right now. Isaiah saw a vision of the last days on earth when deep spiritual darkness basically is covering the whole earth. But he saw a people who are different, who are not in darkness but are walking in the glorious light of God. These people are walking with God, walking in God's way and God's path.
As we walk in the way of the Lord we will arise out of darkness, set free from areas of darkness in our lives. We, as God's people, walking with Him are going to arise and shine and His glory is going to be revealed in us. And many unbelievers will be drawn to us.
The people who are walking with God
Enoch was a man who walked with God. In fact he had such a powerful walk with God that one day God just took him right up into glory (Gen. 5:24). He was a man who escaped the appointment of death.
The writer of Hebrews said, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27).
Destiny of God's people who are walking with God
It is interesting to note that Enoch was not the only person ever lived who escaped the appointment of death. The Bible tells us that there is a day yet to come, there will be a certain company of God's people on earth who are walking with God will also be loosed from the appointment of death.
The psalmist said, "You (the Lord) will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come. For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, and show favor to her dust. So the nations whall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory. For the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory. He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, and shall not despise their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the Lord viewed the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death, ..." (Ps. 102:13 - 20, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. When the Bible speaks of "Zion" it does not refer to a geographical location over the land of Palestine, but refers to corporate company of people called out to be totally abandoned to God's eternal plan and purpose. In other words, "Zion" simply means collectively the true Church of Jesus Christ.
2. God is in the building program. He is building us together as a Church. We are living in a period of time where God is building into our lives the very nature and character of Jesus Christ. A day will come when the Lord will appear in His glory to take His Bride with Him (Ephesians 5:26, 27).
3. What the psalmist said here was for a particular generation of people, the end time generation created to praise the Lord.
4. A day is coming when the Lord in His divine moment is going to loose a company of His people from the appointment of death.
The life of Enoch - a man who walked with God
Very little is written concerning the life of Enoch in the Bible. But if we are careful to search the Scripture diligently we will discover gems of truth.
Genesis 5 describes the first ten generations from Adam to Noah. Enoch represents the seventh generation from Adam whereas Noah the tenth. Every man listed in Genesis 5 apart from Enoch died in faith. Enoch, who did not see death, is a very real type of the last day Church on earth. He was a type of your life and of my life - provided of course we walk with God as he walked with God.
The importance of names
Names in the Old Testament, including Adam's family to the tenth generation, give a picture of the character and personality of the persons. Adam means earth or earthly in the Hebrew language; Seth means appointed of God; Enosh means mortal; Cainan means sorrow; Mahalalel means praise of God; Jared means descending and Enoch means dedicated. I will surprise you with the meaning of Methuselah's name later.
Uniqueness of Enoch and his son Methuselah
"Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughter. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighey-two years, and had sons and daughter. So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died" (Gen. 5:21 - 27, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Enoch lived the youngest (365 years) of all those in Adam's family to the tenth generation.
2. Something happened to Enoch (a dedicated man) when his son Methuselah was born. He began to walk with God in a much higher dimension than he had walked with God in those first 65 years of his life. I believe, because of his heritage, Enoch was a man during the first 65 years had an intimate relationship with the living God. Something transformed his lifestyle at the age of 65 and it had something to do with the birth of his son Methuselah.
3. Methuselah lived (696 years) longer on earth than any man ever lived as recorded by the Bible. I believe the numbers 9 and 6 have great significance. 9 is the number of the Holy Spirit; it speaks of fullness, finality and fruitfulness. And we know there are 9 gifts and 9 fruit of the Holy Spirit. 6 is the number of man. Therefore I have the reason to believe Methuselah walked with God just like his father Enoch walked.
4. Now, the question is why God kept Methuselah alive longer than any other man on earth? I think it has something to do with his name. Methuselah's name had a very unusual meaning in Hebrew - "In the year that he died the Flood came" (Fausset's Bible Dictionary). In other words, whe Methuselah is dead the Flood would come! Quite incredible!
5. Methuselah was born when Enoch was 65 of age. He was told prophetically by God what to call his son! He knew that when the son dies the Flood is going to come. I believe because Enoch was aware of the coming of the Flood he began to change his lifestyle and he walked before God in total dedication to Him for 300 years! I think his son Methuselah also changed his lifestyle and began to walk with God in a more intimate way.
Enoch was a type of God's end-time people
We have seen that Enoch missed his appointment to death because he walked with God in total dedication. Another reason, revealed by the Scripture, is that he pleased God.
"By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, 'and was not found, because God had taken him'; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, ..." (Hebrews 11:5, emphasis added).
So, on the basis of the above Enoch was a man of faith who pleased God and walked with Him.
Enoch and Methuselah were signs to every generation
Enoch and Methuselah who walked with God by faith were signs to their generations and our generation.
I believe God has marked every one of us, who are walking with God by faith, to be signs and wonders in the midst of a people who are living in gross spiritual darkness.
To be signs and wonders are far more wonderful than seeking signs and wonders or even having signs and wonders following the ministry of the Word.
Isaiah said, "Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion" (Isaiah 8:18).
Enoch and Methuselah were disciplined people
As we have seen earlier both Enoch and Methuselah were warned of the coming Flood, it is understandable that they feared God and became disciplined people. Genesis 6 tells us that God sent the Flood because the people were corrupted, evil, undisciplined, going their own way and doing their own things.
Many God's people today, even they are born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, still love their own ways and yet they ask God to bless them in the way they are going and doing - totally lack of discipline. But God is looking for a people who will lay down their own way, seek after His will and be obedient to Him. He is looking for a people who are disciplined and who will walk in His way because His way is so much higher.
The most amazing prophecy of Enoch - Jesus' Second Coming
"Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men (apostates) also, saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 14, 15, NKJV).
Amazing! How did a man living hundreds of years before the Flood and hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born, was given a vision from the Almighty God, not of the birth of Jesus, not even the life of Jesus on earth and His death on the cross and His resurrection; but God gave to Him a revelation of the second coming of the Lord Jesus?
To me this revelation is staggering! There was a prophetic mental picture upon Enoch's life and his eyes were opened to the coming again of the Lord Jesus. To me Enoch was a type of a man who made preparation for the coming again of Jesus Christ. And in that preparation he was walking with God, dedicated, disciplined, pleasing God, moving in faith and he was preaching everywhere concerning the second coming of the Lord Jesus with ten thousands upon thousands of His saints and the judgment which would follow if men and women did not turn to Him! God is looking for a people like Enoch in our days!
Among these ten thousands upon thousands of His saints will be some of us who have walked with God even as Enoch walked with God by faith. Just like Enoch some of us will never see death! This coming event was made clear by Paul:
"Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17, NKJV).
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Definition of being a Christian
Most Bible dictionaries define "Christian" as an adherent or follower of Christ. A Christian is a believer of Jesus Christ the Messiah. However the term Christian is a Gentile designation for believers because the word "Christ", upon wich the term was constructed, suggests recognition of the Messiah, which no unbelieving Jew (who denied that Jesus is the Chrsit) was prepared to do. Consequently the Jews called fthe followers of Christ as the "Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5).
The word "Christian" occurs only three times, all in the New Testament. It was first given to disciples at Antioch, where Barnabas and Paul visited:
"And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26, NKJV).
The other two times are:
1. "Then Agrippa said to Paul. 'You almost persuade me to become a Christian'" (Acts 26:28).
2. Peter exhorted, "Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter" (1 Peter 4:16).
Someone correctly said, "A Christian is not one who does certain things for God, but one for whom God has done certain things. He is not so much one who conforms to a certain outward manner of life as he is one who has received the gift of eternal life. He is not one who depends upon a hopelessly imperfect state but rather one who has reached a perfect standing before God as being in Christ".
Therefore we need to look at "Christian" from two perspectives - one, from man's perspective and two, more importantly, from God's perspective.
Being a "Christian" - from man's perspective
Before the early disciples of Christ were called Christians they called themselves "believers" (Acts 5:14), "brothers" or "brethren" (Acts 6:3; 10:23), or "saints" (Acts 9:13; 9:32; 9:41). These names, together with other names, continued to be used in the epistles of Paul and Peter and in the Church today. These are, "believers" (1 Tim. 4:12), "saints" (Romans 1:7), "the elect" (Col. 3:12; 2 Tim. 2:10), and "servants (slaves) to God or to Christ" (Rom. 6:22; 1 Peter 2:16; Phil. 1:1).
In modern times the name Christian has been somewhat emptied of its true meaning as a follower of Christ. He is more of a follower of a Christian denomination than a follower of Christ after the Protestant Reformation. He is linked with the denomination where he belonged - Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist, Brethren, Methodist, Pentecostal, Full Gospel and you name it. Some even called a Christian as comeone who worships in a Church building. To some today, Christian even means little more than just a "Western" religion.
Being a "Christian" - from God's perspective
God looks at the "Christian" in a much higher divine standard. God expects a Christian, as someone saved by grace, someone who received the gift of righteousness and the gift of eternal life, to live the Kingdom life and be changed by it - a Christian being a member of the household of God and His Christ.
Christians are expected to walk in the light because:
"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:13, 14, NKJV).
Christians are chosen people of God:
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9, NKJV, emphasis added).
Biblical Truth concerning true Christians
The following is a list of five passages of New Testament Scripture concerning the mark of a true Christian. The list is by no menas complete but is considered sufficient for the purpose of this message.
1. A true Christian is a disciple of Christ who does the will of God
When Jesus was with his disciples, He replied the one who told Him His mother and brothers were looking for Him:
"Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My borther and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:49, emphasis added).
If you are a brother of Jesus or a brother of any true Christian you are yourself a Christian. If you are someone who Jesus would not name as a brother you are not a Christian. This is but simple logic.
Here Jesus laid down two conditions for being a Christian:
I. You must be His disciple. If you are not a disciple of Christ you are not a Christian. But the contemporary Church assumes Church members are Christians and tries to make disciples out of them who might not be Christians in the first place. A water-baptized Christian might not be disciple of Christ.
II. You must do the will of God. This is a really tough one. Not many self proclaimed Christians are doing the will of God. In the contemporary Church you can hardly find even a Pastor doing the will of God! A Pastor who pleases men is not doing the will of God. A Pastor who compromises the truth of God's Word in his preaching, teaching and counselling is not doing the will of God. Why? Jesus never, never pleased any man and He never, never compromised the truth of God's Word! He did the will of God at all times when He was with His disciples. God's will is in His Word and the entire Bible is His Word. Anyone who does any thing contrary to what the Bible says is not a true Christian.
2. A true Christian departs from iniquity
Paul said, "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His,' and 'Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity'" (2 Tim. 2:19).
The Lord knows who the true Christians are and He puts His seal on them. Everyone who names the name the Christ must depart from iniquity; that is, he must be above reproach and be blameless. Sometimes we name the name of Christ without actually knowing it. We usually complete our prayer by saying - "In Jesus' Name we prayed". If we do not depart from iniquity our prayer might not even be heard, let alone being answered!
The psalmist said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer" (Ps. 66:18, 19).
3. A true Christian is led by the Spirit of God
Paul said, "For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:14, 16, 17).
To be led by the Spirit of God, a Christian not only needs to be baptized in the Holy Spirit but also be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit in his Christian walk. The Holy Spirit in him will then bear witness that he is God's child and his destiny is to be glorified together with Jesus. And if he continues to walk in the Spirit he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
"Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16).
4. A true Christian has no perverted desire
Paul said, "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal. 5:24).
Fleshly passions and desires are perverted desires as explained in my earlier message - Partakers of the Divine Nature".
A true Christian has applied the cross to his life as Paul had applied the cross to his life:
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).
5. A true Christian hears God's voice and follows Him
Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27, 28, NKJV).
Jesus Himself told us very clearly and briefly who are the true Christians and what is the basic requirement for being a Christian. What He said was very precise and very practical. All He wanted from His people is to hear His voice and to do what he says. Therefore, it is very clear that a believer who does not hear the voice of the Lord and does not do what He says cannot be classified as a Christian! The believer can go to Church every Sunday or Saturday, sing a few hymns, listen to a sermon but it makes no difference to Jesus. A believer who refuses to hear His voice and does not do what the Lord says, he does not belong to His fold, he is not His sheep!
Jesus also said, if you are truely His sheep no one will be able to snatch you out of His hand. You have probably heard of "sheep stealing" in the Local Church. A Pastor of a Local Church accuses the Pastor of another Local Church for sheep stealing when a Church member from his Church joins another Church. But Jesus said, the only sheep stealer is the Devil!
Summary
The above list of Scriptural passages gives us a good ideal of God's perspective of being a true Christian. In summary, a true Christian is a disciple of Christ who does the will of God. He has been crucifed with Christ by applying the cross in his life. He has been set free from the bondages of sin and iniquities and at all times led by the Spirit of God in his walk with God. He hears the voice of God and follows Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
God has given His people a tall order. You will notice that according to the New Testament Scripture only Paul, Peter, John and James were couted as "true Christians". Most of us have fallen short of God's requirements.
The Good News
The good news is - all Christians, "true" or otherwise, are deliverd from condemnation! The question most belivers would like to ask is - are all Christians, including those who have fallen short of God's requirement of being a true Christians, saved? I have given my comments in my earlier messages - "Judgment of True Christians" and "Christians do Sin".
According the the Scripture the judgment of Christians will not be a judgment of condemnation. This assurance came from Jesus Himself:
"He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).
Later on Jesus gave the same assurance:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (John 5:24).
Notice that Jesus gave a three-fold assurance to every believer who accepts by faith His Word:
1. Every believer has everlasting life.
2. He has passed from spiritual death into eternal life.
3. He will never come into judgment for condemnation.
Paul gave the same assurance of freedom from condemnation (Romans 8:1).
Judgment of Christians is for the purpose of assessing their rewards:
Paul said to Christians, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10, emphasis added).
In other words, the things which will be brought up for judgment will be "the things done in the body" - when believers are still alive on earth. These are the acts, ministries, service, attitude, character and behavior of every believer during his life on earth. All these are classified into two categories - good or bad.
The word "Christian" occurs only three times, all in the New Testament. It was first given to disciples at Antioch, where Barnabas and Paul visited:
"And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26, NKJV).
The other two times are:
1. "Then Agrippa said to Paul. 'You almost persuade me to become a Christian'" (Acts 26:28).
2. Peter exhorted, "Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter" (1 Peter 4:16).
Someone correctly said, "A Christian is not one who does certain things for God, but one for whom God has done certain things. He is not so much one who conforms to a certain outward manner of life as he is one who has received the gift of eternal life. He is not one who depends upon a hopelessly imperfect state but rather one who has reached a perfect standing before God as being in Christ".
Therefore we need to look at "Christian" from two perspectives - one, from man's perspective and two, more importantly, from God's perspective.
Being a "Christian" - from man's perspective
Before the early disciples of Christ were called Christians they called themselves "believers" (Acts 5:14), "brothers" or "brethren" (Acts 6:3; 10:23), or "saints" (Acts 9:13; 9:32; 9:41). These names, together with other names, continued to be used in the epistles of Paul and Peter and in the Church today. These are, "believers" (1 Tim. 4:12), "saints" (Romans 1:7), "the elect" (Col. 3:12; 2 Tim. 2:10), and "servants (slaves) to God or to Christ" (Rom. 6:22; 1 Peter 2:16; Phil. 1:1).
In modern times the name Christian has been somewhat emptied of its true meaning as a follower of Christ. He is more of a follower of a Christian denomination than a follower of Christ after the Protestant Reformation. He is linked with the denomination where he belonged - Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist, Brethren, Methodist, Pentecostal, Full Gospel and you name it. Some even called a Christian as comeone who worships in a Church building. To some today, Christian even means little more than just a "Western" religion.
Being a "Christian" - from God's perspective
God looks at the "Christian" in a much higher divine standard. God expects a Christian, as someone saved by grace, someone who received the gift of righteousness and the gift of eternal life, to live the Kingdom life and be changed by it - a Christian being a member of the household of God and His Christ.
Christians are expected to walk in the light because:
"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:13, 14, NKJV).
Christians are chosen people of God:
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9, NKJV, emphasis added).
Biblical Truth concerning true Christians
The following is a list of five passages of New Testament Scripture concerning the mark of a true Christian. The list is by no menas complete but is considered sufficient for the purpose of this message.
1. A true Christian is a disciple of Christ who does the will of God
When Jesus was with his disciples, He replied the one who told Him His mother and brothers were looking for Him:
"Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My borther and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:49, emphasis added).
If you are a brother of Jesus or a brother of any true Christian you are yourself a Christian. If you are someone who Jesus would not name as a brother you are not a Christian. This is but simple logic.
Here Jesus laid down two conditions for being a Christian:
I. You must be His disciple. If you are not a disciple of Christ you are not a Christian. But the contemporary Church assumes Church members are Christians and tries to make disciples out of them who might not be Christians in the first place. A water-baptized Christian might not be disciple of Christ.
II. You must do the will of God. This is a really tough one. Not many self proclaimed Christians are doing the will of God. In the contemporary Church you can hardly find even a Pastor doing the will of God! A Pastor who pleases men is not doing the will of God. A Pastor who compromises the truth of God's Word in his preaching, teaching and counselling is not doing the will of God. Why? Jesus never, never pleased any man and He never, never compromised the truth of God's Word! He did the will of God at all times when He was with His disciples. God's will is in His Word and the entire Bible is His Word. Anyone who does any thing contrary to what the Bible says is not a true Christian.
2. A true Christian departs from iniquity
Paul said, "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His,' and 'Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity'" (2 Tim. 2:19).
The Lord knows who the true Christians are and He puts His seal on them. Everyone who names the name the Christ must depart from iniquity; that is, he must be above reproach and be blameless. Sometimes we name the name of Christ without actually knowing it. We usually complete our prayer by saying - "In Jesus' Name we prayed". If we do not depart from iniquity our prayer might not even be heard, let alone being answered!
The psalmist said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer" (Ps. 66:18, 19).
3. A true Christian is led by the Spirit of God
Paul said, "For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:14, 16, 17).
To be led by the Spirit of God, a Christian not only needs to be baptized in the Holy Spirit but also be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit in his Christian walk. The Holy Spirit in him will then bear witness that he is God's child and his destiny is to be glorified together with Jesus. And if he continues to walk in the Spirit he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
"Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16).
4. A true Christian has no perverted desire
Paul said, "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal. 5:24).
Fleshly passions and desires are perverted desires as explained in my earlier message - Partakers of the Divine Nature".
A true Christian has applied the cross to his life as Paul had applied the cross to his life:
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).
5. A true Christian hears God's voice and follows Him
Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27, 28, NKJV).
Jesus Himself told us very clearly and briefly who are the true Christians and what is the basic requirement for being a Christian. What He said was very precise and very practical. All He wanted from His people is to hear His voice and to do what he says. Therefore, it is very clear that a believer who does not hear the voice of the Lord and does not do what He says cannot be classified as a Christian! The believer can go to Church every Sunday or Saturday, sing a few hymns, listen to a sermon but it makes no difference to Jesus. A believer who refuses to hear His voice and does not do what the Lord says, he does not belong to His fold, he is not His sheep!
Jesus also said, if you are truely His sheep no one will be able to snatch you out of His hand. You have probably heard of "sheep stealing" in the Local Church. A Pastor of a Local Church accuses the Pastor of another Local Church for sheep stealing when a Church member from his Church joins another Church. But Jesus said, the only sheep stealer is the Devil!
Summary
The above list of Scriptural passages gives us a good ideal of God's perspective of being a true Christian. In summary, a true Christian is a disciple of Christ who does the will of God. He has been crucifed with Christ by applying the cross in his life. He has been set free from the bondages of sin and iniquities and at all times led by the Spirit of God in his walk with God. He hears the voice of God and follows Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
God has given His people a tall order. You will notice that according to the New Testament Scripture only Paul, Peter, John and James were couted as "true Christians". Most of us have fallen short of God's requirements.
The Good News
The good news is - all Christians, "true" or otherwise, are deliverd from condemnation! The question most belivers would like to ask is - are all Christians, including those who have fallen short of God's requirement of being a true Christians, saved? I have given my comments in my earlier messages - "Judgment of True Christians" and "Christians do Sin".
According the the Scripture the judgment of Christians will not be a judgment of condemnation. This assurance came from Jesus Himself:
"He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).
Later on Jesus gave the same assurance:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (John 5:24).
Notice that Jesus gave a three-fold assurance to every believer who accepts by faith His Word:
1. Every believer has everlasting life.
2. He has passed from spiritual death into eternal life.
3. He will never come into judgment for condemnation.
Paul gave the same assurance of freedom from condemnation (Romans 8:1).
Judgment of Christians is for the purpose of assessing their rewards:
Paul said to Christians, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10, emphasis added).
In other words, the things which will be brought up for judgment will be "the things done in the body" - when believers are still alive on earth. These are the acts, ministries, service, attitude, character and behavior of every believer during his life on earth. All these are classified into two categories - good or bad.
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