It is hoped that the following list of Biblical facts will help to provide greater understanding of God's provision of healing:
1. The source of healing is God
God said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you" (Exodus 15:26, NKJV, emphasis added).
2. God's healing nature was manifested on earth in the Person of Jesus Christ
The apostle Peter who had been a witness of the earthly ministry of Jesus described it this way:
"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38, emphasis added).
Notice we have all the three Persons of the Godhead mentioned in the above one verse. The two important things included in the earthly ministry of Jesus were: Doing good and healing all. So we can say that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are united in the ministry of healing to sick humanity.
On the other hand the implication is that sickness is of the devil. Those who were healed were described as oppressed by the devil. God does not have any sickness or disease. If He has He must have got it from heaven and we all know there is neither evil nor sickness in heaven.
3. The Scripture says God makes healing available through His Word
"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions" (Psalm 107:19, 20).
When the people cried out to the Lord in their trouble, by His mercies, He did three things:
a. He saved them from their distresses.
b. He sent forth His Word and healed them.
c. He delivered them from the power of Satan.
4. The basis of all God's mercies, including healing, is what Jesus did for us on the Cross.
There is no other basis for the mercies of God but the atonement of Jesus on the cross - forgiveness of sins, healing of sicknesses and diseases, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of eternal life.
"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it it written, 'Curse is everyone who hangs on a tree'), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:13, 14).
Notice that the word "cross" in Hebrew is a tree. The escape from the curse of the Law and the qualifying for the blessing and the receiving of the Holy Spirit are made available to us on the basis of what Jesus suffered on the cross for us.
5. All God's provision for His people is administered by the Holy Spirit
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" (John 16:13, 14).
All that the Father has He shares with the Son and so both of them together owned all the wealth of the universe. But the Holy Spirit is the administrator. So if you want to enter into the riches of God you have to make friend with the Holy Spirit. You cannot bypass the Holy Spirit and get anything form God.
6. The way to receive what God Has for you comes from hearing God's Word
Paul said, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).
If you do not have faith you can get it by hearing God's woice - hearing is the key. One of the important things about hearing God's voice is laying aside your preconception about the Scripture.
Healing before the Cross and healing after the Cross
Even though God is the source of all healing there is a big difference in how healing is administered by Jesus and received by people before and after the cross. In other words there are important differences in the healing ministry of Jesus before and after the cross.
All the four gospel writers recorded Jesus taught His disciples how to pray but never once did He teach any one of them how to heal the sick! Careful sturdy of the Gospel clearly shows that Jesus alone was anointed to heal the sick. The disciples needed authority from Jesus first before they were sent out to cast out demons and heal the sick. The following sections will make this clear.
Healing before the Cross
Biblical facts concerning Jesus' healing ministry:
1. A principle of Jesus' healing ministry
Most people have the preconceived idea that Jesus just healed anybody at any time that a person came to Him. Every now and then He did that but it was very much the exception. More than 90% of all His dealing was done in a time and in a place of His choosing. And the people who sought healing had to follow Him to that place. Sometimes they had to go two or three days before they came to the place where He had determined to minister healing. But when He began to minister then He ministered to all of them.
I wondered why those people who were healed by Jesus seemed to have so much faith. I then come to realize one thing - The people without faith were dropped out by the way!
Let us look at some Scripture passages found in the Gospel according to Matthew:
A. "But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all" (Matt. 12:15, emphasis added).
Jesus withdrew from the place where the Pharisees plotted against Him.
B. "Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, mained, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them" (Matt. 15:29, 30, emphasis added).
Notice all those people - the lame, blind, mute, mained were only got healed by Jesus when they followed Him to the mountain. They were truly desperate as they went up the mountain with great difficulties! They were crying out to Jesus in their hearts just as what the psalmist said:
"All my springs are in you" (Ps. 87:7). If Jesus failed them they had no other source of healing to turn to!
C. "Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there" (Matt. 19:1, 2, emphasis added).
So we see, from the above three different occasions, a principle of the healing ministry of Jesus is revealed. The principle is - Jesus wanted the people to have faith in Him. He wanted them to follow Him, even on a long journey and up the mountain to build up their faith, before he healed them all.
2. Jesus did not heal the same sickness with the same method
A. The healing of a blind beggar
"So Jesus stood still and commanded him (the blind beggar) to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' He said, 'Lord, that I may receive my sight.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Receive your sight; your faith has made you well'" (Luke 18:40 - 42).
B. The healing of a blind man at Bethsaida
"So He took the blind man by the hand and let him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, 'I see men like trees, walking.' Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly" (Mark 8:23 - 25).
C. The healing of a deaf mute
"And He took him (a deaf mute) aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched hs tongue. Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly" (Mark 7:33, 35).
D. The healing of a mute man
"As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke" (Matt. 9:32, 33).
Now, why did Jesus used different methods to heal the blind and the mute?
As we have seen the source of healing is God and Jesus was obedient to God and He ministered healing according to the way God the Father wanted Him to do.
Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19, NKJV).
3. Jesus' disciples could not minister healing until and unless Jesus gave them the authority
A. The healing of Peter's mother-in-law
"Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house. But Simon's wife's mother was sick with high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them" (Luke 4:38, 39, emphasis added).
If Peter and any of the disciples could minister healing they would not have to call for Jesus.
B. Power and authority given to the twelve
"Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:1, 2).
Obviously without power and authority the disciples would not be able to cast out demons and heal the sick.
Healing after the Cross
Isaiah prophesied the coming of Jesus, the sin-bearing Servant in Isaiah 53. This passage of Scripture clearly says that both salvation and healing are provided for all by the redemption of Christ. Let us pick up the verses pertaining to healing:
"Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:4, 5, NKJV, emphasis added).
Peter echoed what Isaiah said in 1 Peter 2:24. Notice the word "healed" is in the past tense signifying that we are already healed as soon as we are born again. And if we were not well we are made well when we are saved. And so the question is not whether Jesus will heal us or not but rather whether we are capable of receiving the healing that the Bible speaks about!
The healing ministry of Peter
We have seen that healing ministry was not opened to the disciples before the Cross. But after Pentecost with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit Peter and the other apostles were given the healing ministry.
Let us take a look at the healing of a lame man as recorded in Acts 3.
Peter said to the lame man, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk" (Acts 3:6).
Another miracle of healing manifested through Peter is recorded in Acts 5.
"And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them" (Acts 5:14, 15).
Obviously Peter did not copy any of the healing methods of Jesus. If he had he might not have been sucessful. If Jesus did not teach Peter how to heal then who taught him?
Conclusion
After Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, healing ministry are given to all Christians and not just the apostles. But why are we not as effective as the apostles and many people are not able to receive healing?
There is a God-given principle behind the ministy of healing and it is our interest to search out. Basically this principle is not to follow somebody else's example or to copy what someone else is doing in praying for the healing. We are never called to follow the healing methods of Jesus. As I have said it depends entirely on the leading of the Holy Spirit - The Admistrator of the provisions of God, including healing!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The Storms of our Lives
God has an effective way of dealing with the false prophets in our lives. Let us look at the last part of Ezekiel's message again:
God said, "I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it. So I will break down the wall you have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; it will fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 13:13, 14, NKJV, emphasis added).
As we have seen in my previous message God is going to deal with the situation by causing storms in our lives. The purpose of the storm is to break down the walls of those who were deceived by the false prophecies in their lives. When they pick up their lives again they shall know the Lord. Notice we are talking about all people - Christian believers and unbelievers. A person can be born again with gifts of the Holy Spirit. He goes to Church and also active in serving the Lord as worthy of a Church leader. But he does not know the Lord in the real sense. A storm in his life can restore his relationship with the Lord. For the unbeliever a storm can help him to find God.
Some common storms of our lives
1. Sickness
This is certainly a real storm. Picture a Christian having a very stressful and demanding job, working and traveling all day and sometimes at night too. He has very little time for other things in life. He has no time for his family, no time for the Church, no time to pray and no time to read the Bible. Sickness will certainly slows him down and the Holy Spirit will minister to him and brings him closer to the Lord. If he is a non-Christian the storm of sickness can help him to find God. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement (John 16:8).
2. Death of a loved one
The death of a loved one - a child, a parent, a husband or a wife can be a real storm.
3. Divorce
Divorce is not only a storm for the husband or the wife but can be a real storm for the whole family. It affects the children and the children's families as well.
4. Bankruptcies and other economical storms
Many countries are now in recession or on the verge of recession. There is a world shortage of fuel, flour, dairy products and other foodstuff. Farmers are having a difficult time because of severe weather conditions. The stock markets are swinging up and down. Many lost most of their wealth overnight.
5. Depression
Depression are commonly caused by wars, flood, drought, and other natural disasters and calamities. It can lead to other storms like mental and emotional storms. All these storm can in turn lead to sucidal desires.
6. Ministry storm
People in Christian ministries can have their own storms. Some of these storms are burnout, overworked, overstressed, heart disease, hypertension, perplexities and the lack of self-worth.
A true servant of God must be called by God to a particular area of ministry according to his God-given spiritual gifts. The Bible says to do the will of God is our strength. In other words, God gives strength and energy to those who do His Will. Therefore some of the storms in the life of a minister might not be necessary if he walks in the will of God.
After His encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well Jesus was asked by His disciples to eat something.
Jesus replied, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4:34, NKJV).
Jesus was saying that just like food that sustains a person and gives that person health and physical strength, God's will for a person also sustains that person and gives that person spiritual strenght to complete God's work.
A storm similar to Paul's "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7) could also come upon a person in Christian ministry.
A new creation in Christ
Let us consider a person comes to know the Lord Jesus through a storm of his life.
Paul said, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Cor. 5:17, NKJV, emphasis added).
In other words, the moment a person comes to Christ, Christ by the Holy Spirit comes to live in him. It is a new beginning of a walk of faith (a process) for that new creature in Christ because the old things have passed away.
Notice that there is a difference between being in Christ and Christ being in you. When we come to Christ we have Christ in us and as we begin to grow and grow we come into Christ. The new creation does not happen a the snap of the fingers, but takes time to grow and bear fruit.
Paul said, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12, 13, emphasis added).
Salvation is a process and we have to make our own decision to grow to become the new creature that God desires. His work in us takes time. Repentance and going through the narrow gate (Matt. 7:13) are the decisions we have to make in our Christian walk.
God allows the Storms of our lives
The moment a person comes to Christ and acknowledges Him as his Saviour and Lord the Holy Spirit comes and lives in him. But this person is still living behind his wall. God give him light and he begins to see things he has never seen before. He begins to pray because there is a lot of fear in his life. Not a lot has happened and he begins to pray more and more. But then a storm begins to come. His wife is sick and this is affecting his family. He is praying even more and crying out to God to do something to help him and his wife. In fact he gets counselors, Pastor and the entire Chruch to help him and to pray with him and for him.
The storm comes on strongly to shake the wall. After a while he discovers his wife has cancer. Now he begins to fast and pray but he is very emotionally affected and he lacks energy to work. And because of this he loses his job.
What is happening? What is going on? Before he can think further another storm comes and his wife dies. The wall cannot stand this tremendous storm any more and the bricks are starting to come down all around him. His prayer partners begin to take off and run because they cannot hold this person's wall any more. In actual fact if they have discernment they should not be there in the first place because God does not want the bricks to fall on them.
Sometimes people in ministry can be in the the way of the Lord. They try to intervene when God is at work. We must find out what God is doing in this kind of storm. At this point we can see one of two things in the life of the person under this tremendous storm:
1. Angry with God
You can see this person coming out of the bricks with deep bruise and hurt and he begins to shake his fist at the face of God saying, "I am not going to trust You ever again. Look what you did to me. I came to you, I received Jesus and began to fast and pray. Now look I have no wife, no job and no friends. Yes I still go to Church but I will never trust You again". This person's heart begins to get hard.
2. Wholehearted submission to God
You might see another picture. Out from the bricks comes this person with his head down, with bended knees, with tears rolling down his eyes begins to supplicate before the Lord saying, "Lord it's over to you; I'm finished and there is no more that I can do. I surrender my entire life to you"!
God looks into this person's heart and begins to reach out to his life and He begins to pour His grace into his life and lifts him up. This person opens his eyes and looks around him and realizes the wall is no longer there. Fears and loneliness and perplexities are all gone. This person has come to an end of himself and at the beginning with God in a new way. He begins to see himself as a new creation in God!
Storms hit all of our lives
Let us search the Scriptures to see how many great men of God came out victorious of their storms.
God stepped aside and the storm came and buried Job's life. At the end Job saw the blessings of God many more times than before (Job 42:12. 13). Job repented and his relationship with God was completely restored (Job 42:2 - 6).
Look at Joseph, look at Jacob, look at Jeremiah and look at David and try to understand how God worked in their lives and brought them out of their storms.
God allows these storms so that you can see how God works through them. If God is to be God then these walls have to come down so that the person can learn how to love God and to love his neighbors as himself - The first two commandments.
If you do not learn from the storms then your life will become a storm! The things that happened in your life are being used by God to achieve His purpose in you.
Paul said, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28, NKJV).
Whether you understand or not, if you love God and you are called according to His purpose, then all things work together for good. As you seek God you will come to understand and come to see what He is doing in your life because He loves you. But if you don't learn the lesson you will go on having storms in that same area. God wants you to get close to Him to love Him and to enjoy Him so that more of His life can come through your life.
Don't be afraid to ask the questions that are in your heart - Why Lord? Job asked many questions and so were Habakkuk and many other men of God! They all found their answers by the revelation of God.
The real problem of the wall
We are living in the end time hours and the prophet Amos shows us what will happen to us when we keep on trusting the wall.
"It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and the bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and the serpent bit him" (Amos 5:19, emphasis added).
This man met a lion on his path and so he turned and ran to get away from it by taking another path. But on this other path he met a bear. Some of us have those kinds of days in our lives. Some of us meet two or three lions or bears in one day. Like this man we can get away from many lions and bears but when we are tired of running we get into our home and lean on the wall to rest. Out comes a serpent from the wall and bites us! We cannot get away from the serpent.
What does this mean? Amos was not talking about the danger of lions and bears. He was talking about the "serpent" in our heart. The wall where the serpent comes from is our heart. This is like a parable of our heart.
Jeremiah said, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, serch the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings" (Jer. 17:8, 9).
What a clear description of the heart! The Lord tries your heart not by your statement of faith but by your ways. He comes into you home and watches you how you talk to your wife. He watches you as you blow your trumpet. He watches you how you speak critically and judgmentally of others. He looks at your ways and not your belief. The things that we do are things that are in our heart. What happens when you are under pressure? What you are under pressure is what you are and what you are in a crisis is who you are! It is who you are that matters most to God!
God said, "I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it. So I will break down the wall you have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; it will fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 13:13, 14, NKJV, emphasis added).
As we have seen in my previous message God is going to deal with the situation by causing storms in our lives. The purpose of the storm is to break down the walls of those who were deceived by the false prophecies in their lives. When they pick up their lives again they shall know the Lord. Notice we are talking about all people - Christian believers and unbelievers. A person can be born again with gifts of the Holy Spirit. He goes to Church and also active in serving the Lord as worthy of a Church leader. But he does not know the Lord in the real sense. A storm in his life can restore his relationship with the Lord. For the unbeliever a storm can help him to find God.
Some common storms of our lives
1. Sickness
This is certainly a real storm. Picture a Christian having a very stressful and demanding job, working and traveling all day and sometimes at night too. He has very little time for other things in life. He has no time for his family, no time for the Church, no time to pray and no time to read the Bible. Sickness will certainly slows him down and the Holy Spirit will minister to him and brings him closer to the Lord. If he is a non-Christian the storm of sickness can help him to find God. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement (John 16:8).
2. Death of a loved one
The death of a loved one - a child, a parent, a husband or a wife can be a real storm.
3. Divorce
Divorce is not only a storm for the husband or the wife but can be a real storm for the whole family. It affects the children and the children's families as well.
4. Bankruptcies and other economical storms
Many countries are now in recession or on the verge of recession. There is a world shortage of fuel, flour, dairy products and other foodstuff. Farmers are having a difficult time because of severe weather conditions. The stock markets are swinging up and down. Many lost most of their wealth overnight.
5. Depression
Depression are commonly caused by wars, flood, drought, and other natural disasters and calamities. It can lead to other storms like mental and emotional storms. All these storm can in turn lead to sucidal desires.
6. Ministry storm
People in Christian ministries can have their own storms. Some of these storms are burnout, overworked, overstressed, heart disease, hypertension, perplexities and the lack of self-worth.
A true servant of God must be called by God to a particular area of ministry according to his God-given spiritual gifts. The Bible says to do the will of God is our strength. In other words, God gives strength and energy to those who do His Will. Therefore some of the storms in the life of a minister might not be necessary if he walks in the will of God.
After His encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well Jesus was asked by His disciples to eat something.
Jesus replied, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4:34, NKJV).
Jesus was saying that just like food that sustains a person and gives that person health and physical strength, God's will for a person also sustains that person and gives that person spiritual strenght to complete God's work.
A storm similar to Paul's "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7) could also come upon a person in Christian ministry.
A new creation in Christ
Let us consider a person comes to know the Lord Jesus through a storm of his life.
Paul said, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Cor. 5:17, NKJV, emphasis added).
In other words, the moment a person comes to Christ, Christ by the Holy Spirit comes to live in him. It is a new beginning of a walk of faith (a process) for that new creature in Christ because the old things have passed away.
Notice that there is a difference between being in Christ and Christ being in you. When we come to Christ we have Christ in us and as we begin to grow and grow we come into Christ. The new creation does not happen a the snap of the fingers, but takes time to grow and bear fruit.
Paul said, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12, 13, emphasis added).
Salvation is a process and we have to make our own decision to grow to become the new creature that God desires. His work in us takes time. Repentance and going through the narrow gate (Matt. 7:13) are the decisions we have to make in our Christian walk.
God allows the Storms of our lives
The moment a person comes to Christ and acknowledges Him as his Saviour and Lord the Holy Spirit comes and lives in him. But this person is still living behind his wall. God give him light and he begins to see things he has never seen before. He begins to pray because there is a lot of fear in his life. Not a lot has happened and he begins to pray more and more. But then a storm begins to come. His wife is sick and this is affecting his family. He is praying even more and crying out to God to do something to help him and his wife. In fact he gets counselors, Pastor and the entire Chruch to help him and to pray with him and for him.
The storm comes on strongly to shake the wall. After a while he discovers his wife has cancer. Now he begins to fast and pray but he is very emotionally affected and he lacks energy to work. And because of this he loses his job.
What is happening? What is going on? Before he can think further another storm comes and his wife dies. The wall cannot stand this tremendous storm any more and the bricks are starting to come down all around him. His prayer partners begin to take off and run because they cannot hold this person's wall any more. In actual fact if they have discernment they should not be there in the first place because God does not want the bricks to fall on them.
Sometimes people in ministry can be in the the way of the Lord. They try to intervene when God is at work. We must find out what God is doing in this kind of storm. At this point we can see one of two things in the life of the person under this tremendous storm:
1. Angry with God
You can see this person coming out of the bricks with deep bruise and hurt and he begins to shake his fist at the face of God saying, "I am not going to trust You ever again. Look what you did to me. I came to you, I received Jesus and began to fast and pray. Now look I have no wife, no job and no friends. Yes I still go to Church but I will never trust You again". This person's heart begins to get hard.
2. Wholehearted submission to God
You might see another picture. Out from the bricks comes this person with his head down, with bended knees, with tears rolling down his eyes begins to supplicate before the Lord saying, "Lord it's over to you; I'm finished and there is no more that I can do. I surrender my entire life to you"!
God looks into this person's heart and begins to reach out to his life and He begins to pour His grace into his life and lifts him up. This person opens his eyes and looks around him and realizes the wall is no longer there. Fears and loneliness and perplexities are all gone. This person has come to an end of himself and at the beginning with God in a new way. He begins to see himself as a new creation in God!
Storms hit all of our lives
Let us search the Scriptures to see how many great men of God came out victorious of their storms.
God stepped aside and the storm came and buried Job's life. At the end Job saw the blessings of God many more times than before (Job 42:12. 13). Job repented and his relationship with God was completely restored (Job 42:2 - 6).
Look at Joseph, look at Jacob, look at Jeremiah and look at David and try to understand how God worked in their lives and brought them out of their storms.
God allows these storms so that you can see how God works through them. If God is to be God then these walls have to come down so that the person can learn how to love God and to love his neighbors as himself - The first two commandments.
If you do not learn from the storms then your life will become a storm! The things that happened in your life are being used by God to achieve His purpose in you.
Paul said, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28, NKJV).
Whether you understand or not, if you love God and you are called according to His purpose, then all things work together for good. As you seek God you will come to understand and come to see what He is doing in your life because He loves you. But if you don't learn the lesson you will go on having storms in that same area. God wants you to get close to Him to love Him and to enjoy Him so that more of His life can come through your life.
Don't be afraid to ask the questions that are in your heart - Why Lord? Job asked many questions and so were Habakkuk and many other men of God! They all found their answers by the revelation of God.
The real problem of the wall
We are living in the end time hours and the prophet Amos shows us what will happen to us when we keep on trusting the wall.
"It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and the bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and the serpent bit him" (Amos 5:19, emphasis added).
This man met a lion on his path and so he turned and ran to get away from it by taking another path. But on this other path he met a bear. Some of us have those kinds of days in our lives. Some of us meet two or three lions or bears in one day. Like this man we can get away from many lions and bears but when we are tired of running we get into our home and lean on the wall to rest. Out comes a serpent from the wall and bites us! We cannot get away from the serpent.
What does this mean? Amos was not talking about the danger of lions and bears. He was talking about the "serpent" in our heart. The wall where the serpent comes from is our heart. This is like a parable of our heart.
Jeremiah said, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, serch the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings" (Jer. 17:8, 9).
What a clear description of the heart! The Lord tries your heart not by your statement of faith but by your ways. He comes into you home and watches you how you talk to your wife. He watches you as you blow your trumpet. He watches you how you speak critically and judgmentally of others. He looks at your ways and not your belief. The things that we do are things that are in our heart. What happens when you are under pressure? What you are under pressure is what you are and what you are in a crisis is who you are! It is who you are that matters most to God!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
A Picture of the False Prophets
This message concerns with false prophets of a different kind. Anyone of us can be a false prophet. Anytime we open our mouth to say something to others we are prophesying. And anytime we say things which God has never said or would say we are prophesying falsely and we are false prophets in the eyes of God.
There is an interesting passage of Scripture in the Book of Ezekiel:
"My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. Because they lead my people astray, saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurting down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, 'Where is the whitewash you covered it with?' Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 13:9 - 14, NIV, emphasis added).
Ezekiel painted a very interesting picture that relates to the walls in our lives and the false prophets in our lives. Let us consider them separately.
The walls in our lives
In my previous message (Our Identity Crisis) we pictured ourselves being a wall that is out of line and that wall can represent our hearts. Now we go on to look at another picture relating to this with regards to the kind of wall that develops when we are out of line. In this picture we see a wall covered with whitewash. This whitewash speaks of the front we present before others. Many people have whitewash front but some of their fronts are actually black. We have all kinds of different front or coating and we usually present a good front because we want people to think well of us.
When we look at this picture we see that this person is in behind the wall. When you try to communicate and interact with this person you have to do so through a wall. It is obviously quite a challenge to have a relationship through a wall - one is difficult to hear, two difficult to touch and three difficult to feel.
These people hide themselves behind a wall because they are afraid of relationships, especially love relationships. They have been made afraid because of things happened to their lives earlier. The wall is really a wall of fear. Sometimes this wall is not only in individual lives but in the whole culture or nation - everyone is living his live in fear. Their relationships are not on the love basis but on the fear basis - fear of what the other people will think and fear of what the other people will say. It can bind the whole culture or nation.
Problems behind the wall
Let us just think for a moment about how a person feels in behind the wall. He feels both secure and insecure. He feels very frustrated because he reaches out to have a love relationship but fails to find it. In fact sometimes this person has what we called a love-hate relationship. Somethimes he is reaching out to love but other times he hates. What he hates might not be a person in particular but the threatening of this person. And so this person might not even know anything about it.
This love-hate relationship is common in husband-wife relationship and parents-children relationship. Because they are inside their own wall with this love-hate relationship they are likely to develop negative feelings - they can be resentful, lonely, being angry without cause and feel rejected and depreesed. Many people, including Christians, are living this way not knowing that they can develop chronic illnesses which eventually lead to death.
The False Prophets in our lives
Who can be false prophets? Who are the false prophets in our lives? Anyone talking to you can be a false prophet. The most common false prophets in our lives are our parents when we are still young. If you are a father or a mother the moment you open your mouth while your children are listening you are their prophets - true or false. Children have simple faith and they just sit there taking in your prophesying. What is more interesting is that they remember all your prophecies and prophesy them back to you in your most awkward moment. And so sometimes when we speak to our children things that God would not speak then we are misrepresenting God. Then we are false prophets to our children.
Harmful consequences
Parents need to be very careful what they speak out into the lives of their children. Some of them when they grow up have deep hurts and wounds as a result of words spoken falsely not from God. We then represent the enemy instead of God.
Sometimes our spouse can open her mouth without much thought and it is a false prophecy, particularly when she is hurting. That is the time when the words of the enemy come in and speaks through her before she has time to think.
Remember when Job was at the height of his trial his wife, his helpmeet, the one who was the closest to him, opened her mouth and ministered to him and said:
"Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (Job 2:9, NKJV)
Not much of a ministry - she misrepresented God and represented Satan instead!
Peter was rebuked by Jesus when he prophesied falsely to Jesus:
Jesus retorted, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men" (Matt. 16:23, NKJV).
Obviously, without thinking, the moment Peter opened his mouth Satan got into it.
Examples of false prophets
There are many false prophets but let us only deal with two major ones with some details and just mention some other minor ones.
1. Our own heart
One area that is very strong in terms of false prophecy, one we do not often think much of, is our own heart. You might have heard people said, "I feel this very strongly in my heart".
For example: A young Christian couple was very much in love with each other. They were in a young people group in a Local Church, serving the Lord. They felt a lot of love for each other and they began to have physical contacts. One thing led to another and soon they felt like having sexual relationship. Their desires were so strong that they felt it in their hearts. They even prayed about that and it seemed to them that God said go ahead. And after that they began to feel the guilt and they realized they have broken relationships with God. They have been deceived by the false prophet of their own hearts.
Not just Christian youths are doing that today. It is just the same with Christian men and women of God, people filled with the Holy Spirit, people have seen miracles and people in the deliverance and healing ministry. There are cases of Pastor seduced Church members and ran off with Church building fund. Elders and members of the Local Church refrained from taking disciplinary action against the Pastor because they misunderstood what the Bible said, "Do not judge or you shall be judged". Of cause they were deceived because all of them listened to the false prophets of their hearts!
How do people of God with spiritual gifts ever commit adultery? How did David who was a mighty man of God commit both adultery and murder to cover it up? Again the answer is they listened to the false prophet of their own hearts. The fact is, you cannot trust your own heart. There is only one heart you can trust and that is the Heart of God. As I said in my previous message the plumb line is not your heart but God's heart, expressed through God's Word. So we need to come to God's Heart by searching the truth of His Word. Only then we can hear what He says concerning any circumstance and situation in our lives.
2. Ministers of the Gospel
Ministers of the Gospel include apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teacher (Eph. 4:11). They are accountable to God to minister the truth of God's Word to Christian believers.
Pastors
Most Christian believers or Churchgoers receive their Pastor's preaching and teaching whole heartedly without checking with the Bible (unlike the Bereans). Who would think a Pastor, who is called by God to shepherd a flock of believers, would feed the sheep of God's pasture with false doctrine? But the problem is Pastors can be false prophets without themselves knowing it. Sometimes the things they learned in the Bible Seminaries cause them to be false prophets.
Pastors are generally very busy ministers. Most of them prepare their sermons without spending enough time on Bible research and praying. Most of them refer to books or the internet and most of these materials are written by false prophets.
Evangelists and teachers
We have to be very careful with evangelists/teachers and visiting ministers. They come and go and they are not there to see how well the Local Churches have received their message. Beware of ministers who claim to have a healing ministry and offer to teach Church members how to develop faith to heal the sick.
The Scripture says clearly that healing, like salvation is provided for by the redemption of Christ.
Isaiah said, "He was wounded for your transgressions. he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for your peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5, emphasis added).
Peter (1 Peter 2:24) echoed what Isaiah said above. Notice the word "healed" in past tense signifying that we are already healed as soon as we are born again. And so the question is not whether Jesus will heal us or not but rather whether we are capable of receiving the healing that the Bible speaks about. In other words, the Word of God tells us Jesus bore our infirmities and sickneeses but it does not tell us exactly how to receive that healing. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray (Luke 11:2 - 4) but He never in any occasion taught them how to pray for healing. Why? Because even Jesus never used any fixed method to heal the sick. If your healing evangelist teaches you how to pray for healing exactly as what Jesus had done then he is a false prophet! Or your healing evangelist teaches you how to bind evil spirits without discerning whether the sickness or disease is due to evil spirits or not - then he is a false prophet!
We have lots and lots of Christians in Churches who have been crying and begging God to heal them without any result. Many travel about from meeting to meeting; from healing rally to healing rally; they have elders and ministers and leaders in ther Church to lay hands on them but nothing happens. Why? They are all doing all that they know to do and they are disappointed because nothing happens. Why? Is God a respecter of persons? But Romans 2:11 says not. Why? Does God enjoy seeing some Christians to suffer more than some others? Of cause not! Then God cannot be blamed for sickness and yet many do suffer because of sickness. Why?
The answer lies in applying the correct God's principle of receiving supernatural healing. The Lord willing I will come out with a series of messages on healing soon. Basically the principle to receive healing is not to follow somebody else's example (not even Jesus') or copy what someone else is doing - but to follow the principles of God and His Word. Faith (including faith to receive healing) comes from hearing God's Word (Romans 10:17). Faith works independently from circumstances and symptoms of sickness in your life. There will still be there and so will God's Word!
Other false prophets
Media including television can be false prophets. They minister violence and lust. But TV is not necessarily evil - it depends on how we used it, just like money.
School teachers and University lecturers can be false prophets. They can influence students one way or another. Some teachers are trying to win students off God. There are many methods used by the humanism movement. In some schools it is illegal to pray or to talk to God.
Friends, including fellow Christians and Church peer groups can certainly be false prophets.
God has an effective way to deal with all the false prophets in our lives and we will consider it in my next message - the Lord willing.
There is an interesting passage of Scripture in the Book of Ezekiel:
"My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. Because they lead my people astray, saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurting down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, 'Where is the whitewash you covered it with?' Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 13:9 - 14, NIV, emphasis added).
Ezekiel painted a very interesting picture that relates to the walls in our lives and the false prophets in our lives. Let us consider them separately.
The walls in our lives
In my previous message (Our Identity Crisis) we pictured ourselves being a wall that is out of line and that wall can represent our hearts. Now we go on to look at another picture relating to this with regards to the kind of wall that develops when we are out of line. In this picture we see a wall covered with whitewash. This whitewash speaks of the front we present before others. Many people have whitewash front but some of their fronts are actually black. We have all kinds of different front or coating and we usually present a good front because we want people to think well of us.
When we look at this picture we see that this person is in behind the wall. When you try to communicate and interact with this person you have to do so through a wall. It is obviously quite a challenge to have a relationship through a wall - one is difficult to hear, two difficult to touch and three difficult to feel.
These people hide themselves behind a wall because they are afraid of relationships, especially love relationships. They have been made afraid because of things happened to their lives earlier. The wall is really a wall of fear. Sometimes this wall is not only in individual lives but in the whole culture or nation - everyone is living his live in fear. Their relationships are not on the love basis but on the fear basis - fear of what the other people will think and fear of what the other people will say. It can bind the whole culture or nation.
Problems behind the wall
Let us just think for a moment about how a person feels in behind the wall. He feels both secure and insecure. He feels very frustrated because he reaches out to have a love relationship but fails to find it. In fact sometimes this person has what we called a love-hate relationship. Somethimes he is reaching out to love but other times he hates. What he hates might not be a person in particular but the threatening of this person. And so this person might not even know anything about it.
This love-hate relationship is common in husband-wife relationship and parents-children relationship. Because they are inside their own wall with this love-hate relationship they are likely to develop negative feelings - they can be resentful, lonely, being angry without cause and feel rejected and depreesed. Many people, including Christians, are living this way not knowing that they can develop chronic illnesses which eventually lead to death.
The False Prophets in our lives
Who can be false prophets? Who are the false prophets in our lives? Anyone talking to you can be a false prophet. The most common false prophets in our lives are our parents when we are still young. If you are a father or a mother the moment you open your mouth while your children are listening you are their prophets - true or false. Children have simple faith and they just sit there taking in your prophesying. What is more interesting is that they remember all your prophecies and prophesy them back to you in your most awkward moment. And so sometimes when we speak to our children things that God would not speak then we are misrepresenting God. Then we are false prophets to our children.
Harmful consequences
Parents need to be very careful what they speak out into the lives of their children. Some of them when they grow up have deep hurts and wounds as a result of words spoken falsely not from God. We then represent the enemy instead of God.
Sometimes our spouse can open her mouth without much thought and it is a false prophecy, particularly when she is hurting. That is the time when the words of the enemy come in and speaks through her before she has time to think.
Remember when Job was at the height of his trial his wife, his helpmeet, the one who was the closest to him, opened her mouth and ministered to him and said:
"Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (Job 2:9, NKJV)
Not much of a ministry - she misrepresented God and represented Satan instead!
Peter was rebuked by Jesus when he prophesied falsely to Jesus:
Jesus retorted, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men" (Matt. 16:23, NKJV).
Obviously, without thinking, the moment Peter opened his mouth Satan got into it.
Examples of false prophets
There are many false prophets but let us only deal with two major ones with some details and just mention some other minor ones.
1. Our own heart
One area that is very strong in terms of false prophecy, one we do not often think much of, is our own heart. You might have heard people said, "I feel this very strongly in my heart".
For example: A young Christian couple was very much in love with each other. They were in a young people group in a Local Church, serving the Lord. They felt a lot of love for each other and they began to have physical contacts. One thing led to another and soon they felt like having sexual relationship. Their desires were so strong that they felt it in their hearts. They even prayed about that and it seemed to them that God said go ahead. And after that they began to feel the guilt and they realized they have broken relationships with God. They have been deceived by the false prophet of their own hearts.
Not just Christian youths are doing that today. It is just the same with Christian men and women of God, people filled with the Holy Spirit, people have seen miracles and people in the deliverance and healing ministry. There are cases of Pastor seduced Church members and ran off with Church building fund. Elders and members of the Local Church refrained from taking disciplinary action against the Pastor because they misunderstood what the Bible said, "Do not judge or you shall be judged". Of cause they were deceived because all of them listened to the false prophets of their hearts!
How do people of God with spiritual gifts ever commit adultery? How did David who was a mighty man of God commit both adultery and murder to cover it up? Again the answer is they listened to the false prophet of their own hearts. The fact is, you cannot trust your own heart. There is only one heart you can trust and that is the Heart of God. As I said in my previous message the plumb line is not your heart but God's heart, expressed through God's Word. So we need to come to God's Heart by searching the truth of His Word. Only then we can hear what He says concerning any circumstance and situation in our lives.
2. Ministers of the Gospel
Ministers of the Gospel include apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teacher (Eph. 4:11). They are accountable to God to minister the truth of God's Word to Christian believers.
Pastors
Most Christian believers or Churchgoers receive their Pastor's preaching and teaching whole heartedly without checking with the Bible (unlike the Bereans). Who would think a Pastor, who is called by God to shepherd a flock of believers, would feed the sheep of God's pasture with false doctrine? But the problem is Pastors can be false prophets without themselves knowing it. Sometimes the things they learned in the Bible Seminaries cause them to be false prophets.
Pastors are generally very busy ministers. Most of them prepare their sermons without spending enough time on Bible research and praying. Most of them refer to books or the internet and most of these materials are written by false prophets.
Evangelists and teachers
We have to be very careful with evangelists/teachers and visiting ministers. They come and go and they are not there to see how well the Local Churches have received their message. Beware of ministers who claim to have a healing ministry and offer to teach Church members how to develop faith to heal the sick.
The Scripture says clearly that healing, like salvation is provided for by the redemption of Christ.
Isaiah said, "He was wounded for your transgressions. he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for your peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5, emphasis added).
Peter (1 Peter 2:24) echoed what Isaiah said above. Notice the word "healed" in past tense signifying that we are already healed as soon as we are born again. And so the question is not whether Jesus will heal us or not but rather whether we are capable of receiving the healing that the Bible speaks about. In other words, the Word of God tells us Jesus bore our infirmities and sickneeses but it does not tell us exactly how to receive that healing. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray (Luke 11:2 - 4) but He never in any occasion taught them how to pray for healing. Why? Because even Jesus never used any fixed method to heal the sick. If your healing evangelist teaches you how to pray for healing exactly as what Jesus had done then he is a false prophet! Or your healing evangelist teaches you how to bind evil spirits without discerning whether the sickness or disease is due to evil spirits or not - then he is a false prophet!
We have lots and lots of Christians in Churches who have been crying and begging God to heal them without any result. Many travel about from meeting to meeting; from healing rally to healing rally; they have elders and ministers and leaders in ther Church to lay hands on them but nothing happens. Why? They are all doing all that they know to do and they are disappointed because nothing happens. Why? Is God a respecter of persons? But Romans 2:11 says not. Why? Does God enjoy seeing some Christians to suffer more than some others? Of cause not! Then God cannot be blamed for sickness and yet many do suffer because of sickness. Why?
The answer lies in applying the correct God's principle of receiving supernatural healing. The Lord willing I will come out with a series of messages on healing soon. Basically the principle to receive healing is not to follow somebody else's example (not even Jesus') or copy what someone else is doing - but to follow the principles of God and His Word. Faith (including faith to receive healing) comes from hearing God's Word (Romans 10:17). Faith works independently from circumstances and symptoms of sickness in your life. There will still be there and so will God's Word!
Other false prophets
Media including television can be false prophets. They minister violence and lust. But TV is not necessarily evil - it depends on how we used it, just like money.
School teachers and University lecturers can be false prophets. They can influence students one way or another. Some teachers are trying to win students off God. There are many methods used by the humanism movement. In some schools it is illegal to pray or to talk to God.
Friends, including fellow Christians and Church peer groups can certainly be false prophets.
God has an effective way to deal with all the false prophets in our lives and we will consider it in my next message - the Lord willing.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Our Identity Crisis
In this message we consider the whole area of coming to know how we are and who we are. This is the question of our identity. This is very important for us to consider because very often we do not realize the person we are until somebody begins to speak something to us. At first we might deny it, because there is blindness to many of those things. So we need the help of the Holy Spirit and the help of a brother or a sister in Christ who loves us to show us who we really are.
The problem of identity
You can describe yourself in many different ways. For example, you can tell people your name, your race, your country of origin and your career. But that is not really the answer to the question - Who am I? Who is the real person inside? What does the person like? What doesn't he like? How does he live? Does he lives one life or does he live two or more lives?
The fact is many people are in identity crisis. Even the entire world is in identity crisis in many ways because the question is not answered fully in a way that is satisfying in a deep sense. Complications come because some people live out the life of their father and never really get in touch of their own lives. Some even live out the life of a person they admired, real or imaginary.
We are all different because God has made us all different. It is only when we begin the know our differences and accept our differences and live out the differences that we realy become free. But many people are trying to live out the expectation of others. They are trying to live out what others think they should be instead of who they really are.
The Identity of God
God has no difficulty in identifying Himself. Moses said to God as he was sent by Him to Pharaoh to set the children of Israel free:
"Indeed, when I came to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them" (Exodus 3:13, NKJV)?
God said to Moses, "I Am who I Am." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I Am has sent me to you'" (Verse 14, NKJV).
When God said "I Am" He meant there was no one before Him; He is the absolute, ever-present and therefore the only unchanging and eternal Being. Therefore if we are going to know who we are we will have to go back to Him who created us. We can only find our real identity in Him because before time began He has called us (2 Tim. 1:9). It is totally illogical for God who created us and called us but at the same time does not let us know who we really are!
So the people who ignore God or leave Him out of their lives or even deny His exitence will continue to struggle with their identity; they will continue to be in identity crisis. The fact is we cannot know who we are apart from God our Creator. That is the major reason why so many lives are in identity crisis, having emotional breakdown or do not know how to have relationships with others in a loving way. They are frustrated and their lives are never fulfilled because they have never found the revelation of their identity through going back to the Great "I Am".
Notice that Jesus also identified Himself fully by saying, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).
Questions in relation to identity
When we look at the question of identity we need to look at three other questions in relation to it. The questions are: Where are we coming from? Where are we going? What is our value?
1. Where are we coming from?
Apart from God and apart from believing in God it is impossible to answer this question. Some Christians even tell us when you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ all of your past is finished, it is all over and it is all taken care of by God. There is some truth there with regards to sin. It is true that we are forgiven the sins of our past.
Almost without exception there are areas in our lives in the past that still affect us in the present. The root of these areas lingers on from the past and needs to be dealt with. For example you may find a Christian full of resentment and bitterness. Where did that come from? They come out of their past. He could have been mistreated by one or both of his parents. He needs to go back to the past - back to the root of resentment and hatred so that God can minister to these areas so as to arrest the growth of the seeds of resentment, bitterness and anger. He needs to forgive his parents and to live on in the spirit of forgiveness. It is extremely important that we look at the history of our lives so that God can minister into those areas that handicapping us, hindering us and binding us. Only God can set us free.
The writer of Hebrews said, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us ..." (Heb. 12:1, NKJV, emphasis added).
There are many weights that come out of our past and ensnares us. We must let the Holy Spirit to minister into those areas and make us free.
2. Where are we going?
This question concerns our goals and objectives in our lives. Some Christians are aiming at nothing. Some are trying to aim at something but what they are aiming at amounts to nothing. What are we doing with our lives? We need to be able to manage our lives because God holds us accountable to what happens to our lives.
3. What is our value?
What is valuable to us? Life itself is valuable. Another is relationship. To have a loving relationship is one of the greatest challenges in the world today. Very few people know how to have a relationship. Even millionaires and successful men do not know how to have a relatioship because they live out of their head or intelligence. Relationship develops in the heart (the spirit) of men. And unless you have an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God dwells in you, you cannot have true relationship with others. Life without meaningful relationship is very shallow and very empty. Because of this people have search for substitutes; they thave to fill their emptiness with money, things that money can buy and all sorts of activities. Not all Church activities will cultivate meaningful relationship with God and with men. People in the Church talk about relationship but very often they fail to follow God's way.
The most basic thing in life is to know how to love and be loved. Even philosophers, psychologists, thinkers, Christians and non-Christians all agreed. But the Bible says God is love and unless you know God you do not know how to love. The reverse is also true:
John said, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:7, 8, NKJV).
God created us to love and be loved and never to hate and be hated. We are not designed to be haters. Whoever hates is dying and not living. Medical doctors testify that through hating, a person can develop breakdowns and will soon be overcome by chronic illnesses.
Amos' vision of the Plumb Line
Amos, a farmer, was called by God to be a prophet during a time when there was a lot of greed, a lot of injustice, a lot of false sense of security among God's people. Amos began to prophesy doom and the judgment of God toward Israel. And God gave him several visions concerning His judgment. One of the visions was the vision of the Plumb Line.
"Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me, 'Amos, what do you see?' And I said, 'A plumb line.' Then the Lord said: 'Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore'" (Amos 7:7, 8).
In other words, God has had enough of Israel's sin. The door of mercy was shut and He would judge them by His established Law of righteousness which became the reference point to His judgment.
This vision of Amos relates very much to the question of "Who we are?" because one of the most difficult things to do in answering the question is to find some reference point that will help us to know who we are. God's reference point is what we called a plumb line.
What is God's plumb line?
A plumb line is a measuring instrument. It measures walls; it measures a structure; it measures the force of gravity. A plumb line always hangs down.
What Amos said was, the Lord's people are like a wall that is out of line. And an out-of-line wall cannot stand but will soon come tumbling down. God is bringing a plumb line alongside His people to show them what they are really like. Right now He is putting a plumb line alongside Christians, measuring us to see what kind of wall our lives are like. And certainly He can find many of our lives very much out of line as well.
A plumb line is an interesting instrument because it measures something we call absolute. The law of gravity is an absolute law and so is God's Law. God's Word is His Law and is just like the law of gravity in the sense that we can never break the Word of God as we can never overcome or change the law of gravity. God's Law and God's Word will break us! If we are out of line with the Law of God we will break our heart (the inner man) and break our lives because the Law of God does not change - whether we believe it or not; whether we feel it is true or do not feel it is true. If you break it by disobeying His Word you will begin to destroy some area of your life because His Word is absolute truth.
The following passages of Scripture will help to clarify what I mean:
God said, "My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:20 - 23, NKJV, emphasis added).
Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63, emphasis added).
Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples in deed. And you shll know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31, 32, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. There is a close relationship between God's Word and your heart. Your heart is your "inner man" where your spirit dwells. You must keep God's word in you heart (spirit). God's Word is Spirit and Life. Therefore God's Life is imparted to you when the Spirit of God touches your spirit through His Word. On the other hand if you forsake God's Word and disobey His Word and Law you will get sick and eventually destroy your life.
2. God's Word also gives health to you flesh which means health to your total physical body. This also menas you have no room anywhere for sickness. So you should enjoy good health if you keep on obeying His Word. And if you are sick in the body God's Word can heal you completely.
3. If you abide in (live by) His Word you shall know the truth about God and His truth shall make you free from all sorts of bondages in your life - past or pesent.
Finally, if your life is out of line of God's Plumb Line you must repent. Repentance means forsaking our old ways and turning back to Him and to His Word. It simply means coming back to be in line with His Pumb Line again - no matter how it costs you!
The problem of identity
You can describe yourself in many different ways. For example, you can tell people your name, your race, your country of origin and your career. But that is not really the answer to the question - Who am I? Who is the real person inside? What does the person like? What doesn't he like? How does he live? Does he lives one life or does he live two or more lives?
The fact is many people are in identity crisis. Even the entire world is in identity crisis in many ways because the question is not answered fully in a way that is satisfying in a deep sense. Complications come because some people live out the life of their father and never really get in touch of their own lives. Some even live out the life of a person they admired, real or imaginary.
We are all different because God has made us all different. It is only when we begin the know our differences and accept our differences and live out the differences that we realy become free. But many people are trying to live out the expectation of others. They are trying to live out what others think they should be instead of who they really are.
The Identity of God
God has no difficulty in identifying Himself. Moses said to God as he was sent by Him to Pharaoh to set the children of Israel free:
"Indeed, when I came to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them" (Exodus 3:13, NKJV)?
God said to Moses, "I Am who I Am." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I Am has sent me to you'" (Verse 14, NKJV).
When God said "I Am" He meant there was no one before Him; He is the absolute, ever-present and therefore the only unchanging and eternal Being. Therefore if we are going to know who we are we will have to go back to Him who created us. We can only find our real identity in Him because before time began He has called us (2 Tim. 1:9). It is totally illogical for God who created us and called us but at the same time does not let us know who we really are!
So the people who ignore God or leave Him out of their lives or even deny His exitence will continue to struggle with their identity; they will continue to be in identity crisis. The fact is we cannot know who we are apart from God our Creator. That is the major reason why so many lives are in identity crisis, having emotional breakdown or do not know how to have relationships with others in a loving way. They are frustrated and their lives are never fulfilled because they have never found the revelation of their identity through going back to the Great "I Am".
Notice that Jesus also identified Himself fully by saying, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).
Questions in relation to identity
When we look at the question of identity we need to look at three other questions in relation to it. The questions are: Where are we coming from? Where are we going? What is our value?
1. Where are we coming from?
Apart from God and apart from believing in God it is impossible to answer this question. Some Christians even tell us when you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ all of your past is finished, it is all over and it is all taken care of by God. There is some truth there with regards to sin. It is true that we are forgiven the sins of our past.
Almost without exception there are areas in our lives in the past that still affect us in the present. The root of these areas lingers on from the past and needs to be dealt with. For example you may find a Christian full of resentment and bitterness. Where did that come from? They come out of their past. He could have been mistreated by one or both of his parents. He needs to go back to the past - back to the root of resentment and hatred so that God can minister to these areas so as to arrest the growth of the seeds of resentment, bitterness and anger. He needs to forgive his parents and to live on in the spirit of forgiveness. It is extremely important that we look at the history of our lives so that God can minister into those areas that handicapping us, hindering us and binding us. Only God can set us free.
The writer of Hebrews said, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us ..." (Heb. 12:1, NKJV, emphasis added).
There are many weights that come out of our past and ensnares us. We must let the Holy Spirit to minister into those areas and make us free.
2. Where are we going?
This question concerns our goals and objectives in our lives. Some Christians are aiming at nothing. Some are trying to aim at something but what they are aiming at amounts to nothing. What are we doing with our lives? We need to be able to manage our lives because God holds us accountable to what happens to our lives.
3. What is our value?
What is valuable to us? Life itself is valuable. Another is relationship. To have a loving relationship is one of the greatest challenges in the world today. Very few people know how to have a relationship. Even millionaires and successful men do not know how to have a relatioship because they live out of their head or intelligence. Relationship develops in the heart (the spirit) of men. And unless you have an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God dwells in you, you cannot have true relationship with others. Life without meaningful relationship is very shallow and very empty. Because of this people have search for substitutes; they thave to fill their emptiness with money, things that money can buy and all sorts of activities. Not all Church activities will cultivate meaningful relationship with God and with men. People in the Church talk about relationship but very often they fail to follow God's way.
The most basic thing in life is to know how to love and be loved. Even philosophers, psychologists, thinkers, Christians and non-Christians all agreed. But the Bible says God is love and unless you know God you do not know how to love. The reverse is also true:
John said, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:7, 8, NKJV).
God created us to love and be loved and never to hate and be hated. We are not designed to be haters. Whoever hates is dying and not living. Medical doctors testify that through hating, a person can develop breakdowns and will soon be overcome by chronic illnesses.
Amos' vision of the Plumb Line
Amos, a farmer, was called by God to be a prophet during a time when there was a lot of greed, a lot of injustice, a lot of false sense of security among God's people. Amos began to prophesy doom and the judgment of God toward Israel. And God gave him several visions concerning His judgment. One of the visions was the vision of the Plumb Line.
"Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me, 'Amos, what do you see?' And I said, 'A plumb line.' Then the Lord said: 'Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore'" (Amos 7:7, 8).
In other words, God has had enough of Israel's sin. The door of mercy was shut and He would judge them by His established Law of righteousness which became the reference point to His judgment.
This vision of Amos relates very much to the question of "Who we are?" because one of the most difficult things to do in answering the question is to find some reference point that will help us to know who we are. God's reference point is what we called a plumb line.
What is God's plumb line?
A plumb line is a measuring instrument. It measures walls; it measures a structure; it measures the force of gravity. A plumb line always hangs down.
What Amos said was, the Lord's people are like a wall that is out of line. And an out-of-line wall cannot stand but will soon come tumbling down. God is bringing a plumb line alongside His people to show them what they are really like. Right now He is putting a plumb line alongside Christians, measuring us to see what kind of wall our lives are like. And certainly He can find many of our lives very much out of line as well.
A plumb line is an interesting instrument because it measures something we call absolute. The law of gravity is an absolute law and so is God's Law. God's Word is His Law and is just like the law of gravity in the sense that we can never break the Word of God as we can never overcome or change the law of gravity. God's Law and God's Word will break us! If we are out of line with the Law of God we will break our heart (the inner man) and break our lives because the Law of God does not change - whether we believe it or not; whether we feel it is true or do not feel it is true. If you break it by disobeying His Word you will begin to destroy some area of your life because His Word is absolute truth.
The following passages of Scripture will help to clarify what I mean:
God said, "My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:20 - 23, NKJV, emphasis added).
Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63, emphasis added).
Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples in deed. And you shll know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31, 32, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. There is a close relationship between God's Word and your heart. Your heart is your "inner man" where your spirit dwells. You must keep God's word in you heart (spirit). God's Word is Spirit and Life. Therefore God's Life is imparted to you when the Spirit of God touches your spirit through His Word. On the other hand if you forsake God's Word and disobey His Word and Law you will get sick and eventually destroy your life.
2. God's Word also gives health to you flesh which means health to your total physical body. This also menas you have no room anywhere for sickness. So you should enjoy good health if you keep on obeying His Word. And if you are sick in the body God's Word can heal you completely.
3. If you abide in (live by) His Word you shall know the truth about God and His truth shall make you free from all sorts of bondages in your life - past or pesent.
Finally, if your life is out of line of God's Plumb Line you must repent. Repentance means forsaking our old ways and turning back to Him and to His Word. It simply means coming back to be in line with His Pumb Line again - no matter how it costs you!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The Mountain and the House
The two symbols, "mountain" and "house" are of great significance in the history of Israel. Wherever you see "mountain" mentioned in the Old Testament Scripture you can be sure it is symbolic of something. Wherever you see "house" mentioned by the prophets you can be sure it refers to God's House or God's Habitation. Furthermore the prophets and the psalmists ofter linked the Habitation of God or the House of God with mountains.
1. Isaiah the prophet said, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God of Jacob; ...." (Isaiah 2:2, 3, KJV, emphasis added).
2. Ezekiel the prophet said, "This is the law of the house; upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house" (Ezekiel 43:12, KJV, emphasis added).
3. Haggai the prophet also said, "Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord" (Haggai 1:8, KJV, emphasis added).
4. The psalmist said, "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever" (Ps. 125:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
5. The psalmist also said, "His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Ps. 87:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
Holy mountains of Israel
There were many mountains in Israel but four of them were said to be Holy Mountains. Each of these Holy Mountains provided a foundation for God's divinely inspired structure. And each of these structures was a House of the Lord or God's Habitation during that particular period of time.
1. Mount Ararat (Genesis 8:1 - 5)
When the Flood had ceased, having fulfilled God's purpose of judgment on the wicked world, the Ark of Noah rested on the mountains of Ararat. Here we have the Ark, being a "house" of God provided for Noah and his household who were found righteous before God (Gen. 7:1), rested on a Holy mountain of God!
2. Mount Sinai (Exodus 24, 25; Hebrews 12:18 - 21)
The revelation of the Tabernacle of the Lord (commonly known as the Tabernacle of Moses) was divinely given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The divine purpose in building the Tabernacle of Moses is summed up in the key verse:
"And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Ex. 25:8).
In other words, the Tabernacle was a temporary "house" of God or God's dwelling place. God's desire is to dwell in the midst of His redeemed people all through the Bible.
The Tabernacle of Moses was simply a portable tent with various curtains and coverings over a wooden structure. The foundation for the Tabernacle was provided by 40 sockets of silver (Ex. 26:19). The number 40 speaks of victory over judgment and silver speaks of Christ in His redemptive ministry. So the very foundation of the Tabernacle is Christ Himself!
3. Mount Zion (1 Chronicles 15 - 17; 2 Samuel 6:1 - 19)
Again the revelation of the Tabernacle of David could not be separated from a mountain - Mount Zion.
The Lord said, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; ..." (Isaiah 28:16, emphasis added).
Mt. Zion took on a special significance from the days of David and onwards because of the order of praise and worship established there in the Tabernacle of David. The people of God offered sacrifices of praise and worship before the Ark of the Covenant (God's "House"), the only piece of furniture in the Tabernacle of David. There were no Outer Court and furniture, no Holy place and furniture, and no veil. In fact the Ark of the Covenant had been transferred from the Tabernacle of Moses to the Tabernacle of David (2 Samuel 6:12 - 23; 1 Chronicles 15:1 - 29; 16:1- 3). The Tabernacle of Moses was left without the Most Holy Place and the Ark of the Covenant during that time. The people of God could simply and boldly enter to the Most Holy Place and minister to the Lord whose dwelling place was at the Mercy Seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant.
The Tabernacle of David spoke of the Church. As I mentioned before wherever you come across "Zion" in Scripture it always refers to the Church of Jesus Christ.
4. Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1)
"Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, ..." (2 Chron. 3:1).
Here in the building of the Temple of solomon (the House of the Lord) we are again struck by the significance of its site. Solomon's Temple was built on Mount Moriah.
Divine Significance of Mount Moriah
God spoke to Abraham, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off" (Gen. 22:2, 4, emphasis added).
Notice that Mount Moriah was called the "Mount of the Lord":
"And Abraham called the name of the place (Mt. Moriah). The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, 'In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided'" (Gen 22:14).
Abraham who "willingly sacrificed his only begotten son Isaac as a burnt offering" spoke of (in type) God the Father "willingly sacrificed His only begotten Son Jesus Christ for the sin of the world". This is a perfect example in applying the principle of hermeneutics to interpret the Scripture.
The principle of hermeneutics simply means this - All through the Old Testament God gets people to do typically what He Himself is going to fulfill actually.
Abraham and his son went a 3-day journey to sacrifice his son in obedience to God. Jesus later also went 3 days and 3 night's "journey" to sacrifice Himself. So the Temple of Solomon, the House of the Lord, was built on Mount Moriah on the basis of a sacrifice of God's only begotten son. Because of this fact the Temple of Solomon was a type of the Church.
Interpretation of the Mountain and the House
The Mountain
1. Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream: "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of Iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth" (Daniel 2:34, 35, emphasis added).
2. An angel said to John: "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time" (Rev.17:9, 10, emphasis added).
Therefore in Scripture a mountain is symbolic of a Kingdom.
The House
1. Paul said, "These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct youself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:4, 5, emphasis added).
2. The writer of Hebrews said, "... but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hop firm to the end" (Heb. 3:6, emphasis added).
3. Peter said, "... you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5, emphasis added).
Therefore in Scripture a house is symbolic of a Church.
Fragments of truth revealed progressively
As we have seen God and His Habitation are revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures in the form of various structures - the Ark of Noah, the Tabernacle of Moses, the Tabernacle of David and the Temple of Solomon. All these four structures were built by God's builders who received revelations from God. The revelation we get by studying these structures is progressive and each structure reveals a certain fragments of truth. We will not get the whole truth (as the sovereign God wishes to reveal) by just studying one or two of the structures.
It is beyond the scope of this message to study any of these structures in any detail. But it was found that the Temple of solomon was the embodiment in one structure of all that has gone before.
The Ark of the Covenant
It is interesting to follow the history of the Ark of the Covenant as it moved from one structure to another - signifying the presence of God in His dwelling place, moved from the Tabernacle of Moses, through the Tabernacle of David and rested in the Temple of Solomon.
First the Ark was placed in the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle of Moses and then it was taken from there and move into the Tabernacle of David where there was a whole new order of praise and worship, and singing with musical instruments. When the Temple was completed by Solomon the people brought the Ark into the Most Holy Place (1 Kings 8:6). There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets of stone which Mosses put there at Moreb (V. 9).
The Temple of Solomon
The Temple of solomon was absolutely magnificent as compared with the two Tabernacles. There was the one and the same Ark of God, one golden altar of incense, and one brazen altar and one molten sea. All these spoke of Christ as the one and only way to God. As the Temple was the embodiment of what were in the Tabernacle of Moses, there were 10 tables of showbread, and 10 brazen levers in the Holy Place and Outer Court respectively. There were also 10 golden lampstand in the Holy Place (1 Kings 7).
Notice that the number 10 speaks of govenment, restoration and law and order. Therefore the Temple of Solomon spoke of Christ but more especially of Christ in His Church.
The Heavenly Jerusalem and the Ultimate Mountain of God
All the four earthly Structures were designed by God, the Wise Master Builder, but He chose men in the actual building of them. But when it comes to the City of God, the new and Heavenly Jerusalem, this ultimate structure, it is God Himself alone who is the Architect and Builder - not man (Hebrews 11:13 - 16, 12:22 - 24; Rev. 3:12; 21, 22).
John wrote, "And he (an angel) carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, ..." (Rev. 21:10, emphasis added).
So we see the Ultimate Structure of God will also be associated with a Mountain! The New and Heavenly Jerusalem is the City of Salvation. It is the Tabernacle of God where He dwells with men.
John heard a loud voice from heaven saying: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, God Himself will be with them and be their God" (Rev. 21:3, NKJV).
1. Isaiah the prophet said, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God of Jacob; ...." (Isaiah 2:2, 3, KJV, emphasis added).
2. Ezekiel the prophet said, "This is the law of the house; upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house" (Ezekiel 43:12, KJV, emphasis added).
3. Haggai the prophet also said, "Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord" (Haggai 1:8, KJV, emphasis added).
4. The psalmist said, "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever" (Ps. 125:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
5. The psalmist also said, "His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Ps. 87:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
Holy mountains of Israel
There were many mountains in Israel but four of them were said to be Holy Mountains. Each of these Holy Mountains provided a foundation for God's divinely inspired structure. And each of these structures was a House of the Lord or God's Habitation during that particular period of time.
1. Mount Ararat (Genesis 8:1 - 5)
When the Flood had ceased, having fulfilled God's purpose of judgment on the wicked world, the Ark of Noah rested on the mountains of Ararat. Here we have the Ark, being a "house" of God provided for Noah and his household who were found righteous before God (Gen. 7:1), rested on a Holy mountain of God!
2. Mount Sinai (Exodus 24, 25; Hebrews 12:18 - 21)
The revelation of the Tabernacle of the Lord (commonly known as the Tabernacle of Moses) was divinely given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The divine purpose in building the Tabernacle of Moses is summed up in the key verse:
"And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Ex. 25:8).
In other words, the Tabernacle was a temporary "house" of God or God's dwelling place. God's desire is to dwell in the midst of His redeemed people all through the Bible.
The Tabernacle of Moses was simply a portable tent with various curtains and coverings over a wooden structure. The foundation for the Tabernacle was provided by 40 sockets of silver (Ex. 26:19). The number 40 speaks of victory over judgment and silver speaks of Christ in His redemptive ministry. So the very foundation of the Tabernacle is Christ Himself!
3. Mount Zion (1 Chronicles 15 - 17; 2 Samuel 6:1 - 19)
Again the revelation of the Tabernacle of David could not be separated from a mountain - Mount Zion.
The Lord said, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; ..." (Isaiah 28:16, emphasis added).
Mt. Zion took on a special significance from the days of David and onwards because of the order of praise and worship established there in the Tabernacle of David. The people of God offered sacrifices of praise and worship before the Ark of the Covenant (God's "House"), the only piece of furniture in the Tabernacle of David. There were no Outer Court and furniture, no Holy place and furniture, and no veil. In fact the Ark of the Covenant had been transferred from the Tabernacle of Moses to the Tabernacle of David (2 Samuel 6:12 - 23; 1 Chronicles 15:1 - 29; 16:1- 3). The Tabernacle of Moses was left without the Most Holy Place and the Ark of the Covenant during that time. The people of God could simply and boldly enter to the Most Holy Place and minister to the Lord whose dwelling place was at the Mercy Seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant.
The Tabernacle of David spoke of the Church. As I mentioned before wherever you come across "Zion" in Scripture it always refers to the Church of Jesus Christ.
4. Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1)
"Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, ..." (2 Chron. 3:1).
Here in the building of the Temple of solomon (the House of the Lord) we are again struck by the significance of its site. Solomon's Temple was built on Mount Moriah.
Divine Significance of Mount Moriah
God spoke to Abraham, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off" (Gen. 22:2, 4, emphasis added).
Notice that Mount Moriah was called the "Mount of the Lord":
"And Abraham called the name of the place (Mt. Moriah). The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, 'In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided'" (Gen 22:14).
Abraham who "willingly sacrificed his only begotten son Isaac as a burnt offering" spoke of (in type) God the Father "willingly sacrificed His only begotten Son Jesus Christ for the sin of the world". This is a perfect example in applying the principle of hermeneutics to interpret the Scripture.
The principle of hermeneutics simply means this - All through the Old Testament God gets people to do typically what He Himself is going to fulfill actually.
Abraham and his son went a 3-day journey to sacrifice his son in obedience to God. Jesus later also went 3 days and 3 night's "journey" to sacrifice Himself. So the Temple of Solomon, the House of the Lord, was built on Mount Moriah on the basis of a sacrifice of God's only begotten son. Because of this fact the Temple of Solomon was a type of the Church.
Interpretation of the Mountain and the House
The Mountain
1. Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream: "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of Iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth" (Daniel 2:34, 35, emphasis added).
2. An angel said to John: "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time" (Rev.17:9, 10, emphasis added).
Therefore in Scripture a mountain is symbolic of a Kingdom.
The House
1. Paul said, "These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct youself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:4, 5, emphasis added).
2. The writer of Hebrews said, "... but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hop firm to the end" (Heb. 3:6, emphasis added).
3. Peter said, "... you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5, emphasis added).
Therefore in Scripture a house is symbolic of a Church.
Fragments of truth revealed progressively
As we have seen God and His Habitation are revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures in the form of various structures - the Ark of Noah, the Tabernacle of Moses, the Tabernacle of David and the Temple of Solomon. All these four structures were built by God's builders who received revelations from God. The revelation we get by studying these structures is progressive and each structure reveals a certain fragments of truth. We will not get the whole truth (as the sovereign God wishes to reveal) by just studying one or two of the structures.
It is beyond the scope of this message to study any of these structures in any detail. But it was found that the Temple of solomon was the embodiment in one structure of all that has gone before.
The Ark of the Covenant
It is interesting to follow the history of the Ark of the Covenant as it moved from one structure to another - signifying the presence of God in His dwelling place, moved from the Tabernacle of Moses, through the Tabernacle of David and rested in the Temple of Solomon.
First the Ark was placed in the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle of Moses and then it was taken from there and move into the Tabernacle of David where there was a whole new order of praise and worship, and singing with musical instruments. When the Temple was completed by Solomon the people brought the Ark into the Most Holy Place (1 Kings 8:6). There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets of stone which Mosses put there at Moreb (V. 9).
The Temple of Solomon
The Temple of solomon was absolutely magnificent as compared with the two Tabernacles. There was the one and the same Ark of God, one golden altar of incense, and one brazen altar and one molten sea. All these spoke of Christ as the one and only way to God. As the Temple was the embodiment of what were in the Tabernacle of Moses, there were 10 tables of showbread, and 10 brazen levers in the Holy Place and Outer Court respectively. There were also 10 golden lampstand in the Holy Place (1 Kings 7).
Notice that the number 10 speaks of govenment, restoration and law and order. Therefore the Temple of Solomon spoke of Christ but more especially of Christ in His Church.
The Heavenly Jerusalem and the Ultimate Mountain of God
All the four earthly Structures were designed by God, the Wise Master Builder, but He chose men in the actual building of them. But when it comes to the City of God, the new and Heavenly Jerusalem, this ultimate structure, it is God Himself alone who is the Architect and Builder - not man (Hebrews 11:13 - 16, 12:22 - 24; Rev. 3:12; 21, 22).
John wrote, "And he (an angel) carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, ..." (Rev. 21:10, emphasis added).
So we see the Ultimate Structure of God will also be associated with a Mountain! The New and Heavenly Jerusalem is the City of Salvation. It is the Tabernacle of God where He dwells with men.
John heard a loud voice from heaven saying: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, God Himself will be with them and be their God" (Rev. 21:3, NKJV).
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Last Days according to God's Perspective
There are Christians every where saying that in the last days things are getting worse and worse. The situation of the world is going to be darker and darker. The antichrist is coming and there will not be any revival in Christianity. Instead there is coming a great falling away. The Church is going downhill and Christians are back sliding. Things are really bad.
At the same time some other Christians are saying that there will be a great revival in the last days. There will be a great harvest and in-gathering of souls. God is going to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. The first outpouring happened at Pentecost and the second outpouring is coming soon and many Christians will receive the double portion. The Church is going to be victorious and God is preparing a glorious Church.
The question is - which group of Christians is right? My answer is both are right. Things are going to get worse in the world, but at the same time things are going to get better in the true Church - the house of the Lord or God's Habitation. But when you allow the world to get into your Church then you are in darkness and things will get worse for you!
Isaiah's prophecies concerning the last days
"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 up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His way, and we shall walk in His paths" (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" (Isaiah 60:1, 2, emphasis added).
Notice that there are two prophetic streams in the last days - light and darkness. In Old Testament time the glory of the Lord has something to do with the Ark of the Covenant in the tabinacles and Solomon's temple. Right now the Church and His people, the Christains, are the habitation of God. But while God's light and glory is rison upon His people, darkness and gross (deep) darkness covers the world and the people of the world. So darkness and light flow parallel together all the way in the last days.
Questions concerning the last days
Isaiah said something about the last days in Isaiah 2:2, 3. Three questions come to mind as we read these verses - What is meant by the last days? When the last days began? And what is going to happen in the last days?
What the Scripture says about days and year?
Before we can understand what "last days" means we have to understand what "days" and "years" in God's viewpoint.
Let us look at the prophets because all prophets were caught up in God's perspective. In other words, they were caught up in the Spirit and they started to see things from God's viewpoint and God is not limited by time. This is very important because when Adam sinned time began for all mankind. But God is not bound by time - He is the eternal God. He is the past, present and the future and He is always at one eternal present. He works in time but He is not limited by time. When God deals with men He deals in what we referred to as time. Time is a little fragment of eternity in which God is working out His purposes in relation to creation and in relation to redemption.
Moses, the first of God's prophet, wrote a Psalm:
"Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generation. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man to destruction, and say, 'Return, O children of men.' For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night" (Ps. 90:1 - 4, NKJV, emphasis added).
It is very important to note that to man a "day" has only 24 hours. But to the Lord a day is "1000 years" - based on man's 24-hour days. Sometimes we call the Lord's day as 1000 years period of time.
Notice what Peter wrote to believers: "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:4).
Let us pick up the key words "years" and "days" in Psalm 90:
"For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; we finish our years like a sight" (V. 9).
"The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, ..." (V. 10).
"So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (V. 12).
"Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days" (V. 14)!
"Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil" (V. 15).
The outworking of people's years and days after the Fall
Let us go back to Genesis to see how long it took Adam to die after he sinned.
God said to Adam, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Gen. 2:16, 17, NKJV, emphasis added).
The question is, did Adam die within a 24-hour day or within the day of the Lord which is 1000 years? The answer is, Adam died two deaths when he sinned. He died spiritually in a 24-hour day and he died physically within the day of the Lord - "All the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died (Gen. 5:8).
It is interesting to note that the oldest man ever lived was Methuselah, Enoch's son - 969 years (Gen. 5:27). Therefore no one ever lives the full day of the Lord of 1000 years.
A picture of redemption
One of the most beautiful pictures of redemption is found in Exodus 12:1 - 7. God wanted each family of Israel to take a lamb on the 10th of the month and to keep it until the 14th of the same month. In other words, the lamb should be kept for 4 days before it was killed at twilight.
Why would God want the lamb be kept for 4 days?
Actually, from God's perspective, this is a picture of God's plan of redemption when Adam sinned. When Adam sinned, when time began, God immediately took His Lamb (John 1:29), the Lord Jesus, and kept Him for 4 days. From God's perspective this was 4000 years. The fact is, from Adam through to Jesus we have 4000 years approximately. And when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth His Son (Gal. 4:4).
Revelation of the last days
The writer of Hebrews said, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; ..." (Hebrews 1:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
Two time periods are mentioned:
1. Sundry time (KJ), time past, and time before the Cross mean the same thing. During this time period God spoke to His people through His Old Testament prophets.
2. Present time, latter days or time after the Cross is called the "last days". God speaks to us by His Son Jesus Christ through His Spirit. His apostles wrote the New Testament in the last days by the inpiration of the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah's prophecy
Let us go back to Isaiah 2 where he gave a prophetic view of the last days. Isaiah was seeing things from God's viewpoint.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it" (Isaiah 2:2, KJV, emphasis added).
Isaiah prophetically talked about the coming of the Lord Jesus in the last days to build His Church, the Lord's house.
Creation of man and redemption of men
There is a parallel truth running concerning the creation of man and the redemption of men. God worked 6 days in creation and on the 7th day He rested after creating a perfect man (male and female). Adam and Eve could have spent an eternal "honeymoon" in the Garden of Eden. But they blew it and messed it up by sin.
Similarly, God is working 6 days (6000 years) in full redemption. God's people had 4000 years before Christ came and He spends 2000 years to prepare His bride and then we have 1000 years of Kingdom rest. He already had a perfect bridegroom (Jesus Christ) and He is preparing His bride, the glorious Church (Eph. 5:25 - 27). Jesus is not going to marry a bride inferior to Himself. In the Bible He laid down certain marriage laws. And God is not going to give us marriage laws that He Himself would not keep. One of the marriage laws is, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbeliever" (2 Cor. 6:14).
Light and darkness in the last days
As mentioned earlier in the last days light and darkness are flowing together. Let us consider some passages (negative and positive) of New Testament Scripture concerning the last days.
Negative (darkness)
1. In 2 Timothy 3:1 - 7 Paul listed 18 moral blemishes in the last days - beginning with self-love and ends with lovers of pleasure. Also God's people will only display external form of godliness. Many will not maintain an intimate relationship with the Lord.
2. In 1 Timothy 4:1 - 3 Paul said in "latter times" some God's people will be deceived by wrong spirits and wrong doctrines.
3. Peter said, "... knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, ..." (2 Peter 3:3 - 8).
Positive (light)
1. In Acts 2 Peter quoted Joel, an Old Testament prophet concerning things happening in the last days. At that time the New Testament has not been written yet and Luke has not written Acts yet.
Peter said, "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; ..." (Acts 2:16, 17, emphasis added).
2. Isaiah said, "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established ..." (Isaiah 2:2, emphasis added).
Notice that the Lord's house, the present day Church is established by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit prophesied by both Joel and Isaiah. Therefore the purpose of Joel's prophecy is to lead us to Isaiah 2. If you only have Joel without Isaiah you have missed the purpose of Joel. That is where most Charismatic Christians missed it. God is telling us, our Charismatic "honeymoon" is over and He wants us to get back into the house of the Lord. He wants us to build (spiritually) a true New Testament Church - His end-time Church! But many Charismatic Christians take Joel's prophecy concerning the out pouring of the Holy Spirit to mean to build more Churches (physically) and have more Charismatic "honeymoon"!
At the same time some other Christians are saying that there will be a great revival in the last days. There will be a great harvest and in-gathering of souls. God is going to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. The first outpouring happened at Pentecost and the second outpouring is coming soon and many Christians will receive the double portion. The Church is going to be victorious and God is preparing a glorious Church.
The question is - which group of Christians is right? My answer is both are right. Things are going to get worse in the world, but at the same time things are going to get better in the true Church - the house of the Lord or God's Habitation. But when you allow the world to get into your Church then you are in darkness and things will get worse for you!
Isaiah's prophecies concerning the last days
"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 up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His way, and we shall walk in His paths" (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" (Isaiah 60:1, 2, emphasis added).
Notice that there are two prophetic streams in the last days - light and darkness. In Old Testament time the glory of the Lord has something to do with the Ark of the Covenant in the tabinacles and Solomon's temple. Right now the Church and His people, the Christains, are the habitation of God. But while God's light and glory is rison upon His people, darkness and gross (deep) darkness covers the world and the people of the world. So darkness and light flow parallel together all the way in the last days.
Questions concerning the last days
Isaiah said something about the last days in Isaiah 2:2, 3. Three questions come to mind as we read these verses - What is meant by the last days? When the last days began? And what is going to happen in the last days?
What the Scripture says about days and year?
Before we can understand what "last days" means we have to understand what "days" and "years" in God's viewpoint.
Let us look at the prophets because all prophets were caught up in God's perspective. In other words, they were caught up in the Spirit and they started to see things from God's viewpoint and God is not limited by time. This is very important because when Adam sinned time began for all mankind. But God is not bound by time - He is the eternal God. He is the past, present and the future and He is always at one eternal present. He works in time but He is not limited by time. When God deals with men He deals in what we referred to as time. Time is a little fragment of eternity in which God is working out His purposes in relation to creation and in relation to redemption.
Moses, the first of God's prophet, wrote a Psalm:
"Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generation. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man to destruction, and say, 'Return, O children of men.' For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night" (Ps. 90:1 - 4, NKJV, emphasis added).
It is very important to note that to man a "day" has only 24 hours. But to the Lord a day is "1000 years" - based on man's 24-hour days. Sometimes we call the Lord's day as 1000 years period of time.
Notice what Peter wrote to believers: "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:4).
Let us pick up the key words "years" and "days" in Psalm 90:
"For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; we finish our years like a sight" (V. 9).
"The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, ..." (V. 10).
"So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (V. 12).
"Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days" (V. 14)!
"Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil" (V. 15).
The outworking of people's years and days after the Fall
Let us go back to Genesis to see how long it took Adam to die after he sinned.
God said to Adam, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Gen. 2:16, 17, NKJV, emphasis added).
The question is, did Adam die within a 24-hour day or within the day of the Lord which is 1000 years? The answer is, Adam died two deaths when he sinned. He died spiritually in a 24-hour day and he died physically within the day of the Lord - "All the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died (Gen. 5:8).
It is interesting to note that the oldest man ever lived was Methuselah, Enoch's son - 969 years (Gen. 5:27). Therefore no one ever lives the full day of the Lord of 1000 years.
A picture of redemption
One of the most beautiful pictures of redemption is found in Exodus 12:1 - 7. God wanted each family of Israel to take a lamb on the 10th of the month and to keep it until the 14th of the same month. In other words, the lamb should be kept for 4 days before it was killed at twilight.
Why would God want the lamb be kept for 4 days?
Actually, from God's perspective, this is a picture of God's plan of redemption when Adam sinned. When Adam sinned, when time began, God immediately took His Lamb (John 1:29), the Lord Jesus, and kept Him for 4 days. From God's perspective this was 4000 years. The fact is, from Adam through to Jesus we have 4000 years approximately. And when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth His Son (Gal. 4:4).
Revelation of the last days
The writer of Hebrews said, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; ..." (Hebrews 1:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
Two time periods are mentioned:
1. Sundry time (KJ), time past, and time before the Cross mean the same thing. During this time period God spoke to His people through His Old Testament prophets.
2. Present time, latter days or time after the Cross is called the "last days". God speaks to us by His Son Jesus Christ through His Spirit. His apostles wrote the New Testament in the last days by the inpiration of the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah's prophecy
Let us go back to Isaiah 2 where he gave a prophetic view of the last days. Isaiah was seeing things from God's viewpoint.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it" (Isaiah 2:2, KJV, emphasis added).
Isaiah prophetically talked about the coming of the Lord Jesus in the last days to build His Church, the Lord's house.
Creation of man and redemption of men
There is a parallel truth running concerning the creation of man and the redemption of men. God worked 6 days in creation and on the 7th day He rested after creating a perfect man (male and female). Adam and Eve could have spent an eternal "honeymoon" in the Garden of Eden. But they blew it and messed it up by sin.
Similarly, God is working 6 days (6000 years) in full redemption. God's people had 4000 years before Christ came and He spends 2000 years to prepare His bride and then we have 1000 years of Kingdom rest. He already had a perfect bridegroom (Jesus Christ) and He is preparing His bride, the glorious Church (Eph. 5:25 - 27). Jesus is not going to marry a bride inferior to Himself. In the Bible He laid down certain marriage laws. And God is not going to give us marriage laws that He Himself would not keep. One of the marriage laws is, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbeliever" (2 Cor. 6:14).
Light and darkness in the last days
As mentioned earlier in the last days light and darkness are flowing together. Let us consider some passages (negative and positive) of New Testament Scripture concerning the last days.
Negative (darkness)
1. In 2 Timothy 3:1 - 7 Paul listed 18 moral blemishes in the last days - beginning with self-love and ends with lovers of pleasure. Also God's people will only display external form of godliness. Many will not maintain an intimate relationship with the Lord.
2. In 1 Timothy 4:1 - 3 Paul said in "latter times" some God's people will be deceived by wrong spirits and wrong doctrines.
3. Peter said, "... knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, ..." (2 Peter 3:3 - 8).
Positive (light)
1. In Acts 2 Peter quoted Joel, an Old Testament prophet concerning things happening in the last days. At that time the New Testament has not been written yet and Luke has not written Acts yet.
Peter said, "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; ..." (Acts 2:16, 17, emphasis added).
2. Isaiah said, "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established ..." (Isaiah 2:2, emphasis added).
Notice that the Lord's house, the present day Church is established by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit prophesied by both Joel and Isaiah. Therefore the purpose of Joel's prophecy is to lead us to Isaiah 2. If you only have Joel without Isaiah you have missed the purpose of Joel. That is where most Charismatic Christians missed it. God is telling us, our Charismatic "honeymoon" is over and He wants us to get back into the house of the Lord. He wants us to build (spiritually) a true New Testament Church - His end-time Church! But many Charismatic Christians take Joel's prophecy concerning the out pouring of the Holy Spirit to mean to build more Churches (physically) and have more Charismatic "honeymoon"!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Way of Approach to God
The Tabernacle of Moses sets forth a pattern of how sinful men approach the Holy God. The New Testament Scripture gives many reasons why we should study the Tabernacle of Moses. Here are some reasons:
1. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16, NKJV, emphasis added).
"All Scripture" includes the Old Testament Scripture.
2. "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4).
3. "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11).
4. ".... which are the shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ" (Col. 2:17, emphasis added).
5. ".... who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle" (Hebrews 8:5, emphasis added).
6. "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect" (Hebrews 10:1, emphasis added).
The Tabernacle of Moses together with its articles of furniture, furnishings of curtains and veils and its measurements are the shadows to bring us to the substance - just as the purpose of prophecy is to bring us to fulfillment. Our job is to keep on following the shadows through and eventually we will come to Him, the substance.
The purpose of the Tabernacle of Moses
The key verses of the whole purpose of the Tabernacle of Moses are found in Exodus 25:
"And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the furnishing, just so you shall make it" (Exodus 25:8, 9).
The whole purpose of God is to dwell among His people - He is Emmanuel, "God with us" (Matt. 1:23). This is being shadowed here.
Moses was faithful to the Lord in all the things he made (Heb 3:5). He made everyting according to the pattern - the blueprint given by God. When everything is finished the vey presence and glory of God come into the tabernacle. Similarly, God's Glory in His fullness can only come upon a Church that is built according to His blueprint.
Man's approach into the presence of God
Not only did God want to dwell amongst His people, but there was a way of approach that God wanted to teach men - how men were to approach into the presence of God.
Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6, NKJV).
It is clear that Jesus is the only way to God the Father. In fact Jesus is the only way back to God after Adam sinned and consequently, everyone after him lost the way, lost the truth and lost the life. We lost the way because Adam was cast out from the presence of God; we lost the truth because Adam believed the lie of Satan; and we lost the life because death (both spiritual and physical) settled in.
God's redemption plan from the beginning of time
Let us go back to Genesis 3 and let us take a serious look at what exactly happened after Adam and Eve sinned against God. The moment that happened time began - our clocks started to tick! Let us pick up the last four verses of Genesis 3:
"(V. 21) Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. (V. 22) Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever' - (V.23) therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. (V. 24) So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Edan, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life" (Gen. 3:21 -24, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. In Gen. 3:21 we have the first evidence of sacrifice. God Himself killed an animal for Adam and Eve's "tunics of skin".
2. Were Adam and Eve saved? I think they were. Between God and Adam was the blood and body of a sacrificial animal and the very fact that both Adam and Eve were willing to accept the coat of skin provided through the sacrifice of another, they were saved.
3. If Adam had eaten of the tree of life he and Eve, together with all those born after him, would have lived forever in an unredeemable state. And so God drove Adam out of the Garden of Eden (Vs. 23, 24).
4. Let us pick up some words from Verse 24:
(a). The word "placed" comes from the Hebrew word "shakan" which literally means "dwelling place", "lodging" or "habitation". In other words, the first tabernacle was at the east of the Garden of Eden - where God dwelled. Notice also that the tabernacle of Moses also faced east.
(b). God placed "cherubim" at the east of the Garden of Eden. In the tabernacle of Moses there were cherubim at both ends of the Mercy Seat where God dwelled. Cherubim were the guardians of the holiness of God.
(c). The "flaming sword" speaks of the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. And the Word was Jesus Christ Himself (John 1:1, 14).
Restoration of the Way, the Truth and the Life
It is a Biblical fact the what we have lost through Adam has been completely restored in Jesus Christ. This is what redemption means. In order to return to the Garden of Eden, in the presence of God, we have to go through the sword. Because to go through the sword means death someone has to die for us. The death of Jesus, the Lamb God (John 1:29) opened the way for us so that we can come to the presence of God again.
It is interesting to note that the early believers were called "the Way" (Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9; Acts 22:4). It is a paradox that we have Jesus Christ Himself gurarding the way to the tree of life. In fact the Bible says unless you come to jesus you have no life (John 5:40; John 10:10; John 20:31).
John also said, "He who has the son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12).
The Tabernacle of Moses as a Pattern to approach God
The tabernacle shows us how to come to the Throne of God which was on top of the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place. As the sinner comes to God, he must begins at the Gate of the Court, accepts the Blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. From there on he progresses with a walk of faith, step by step, until he comes to the ultimate, the full Glory of Gos as seen in the Most Holy Place.
The Gate of the Court
The Court Gate was the one and only way and entrance to the Court. Everyone has to come the same way. As we have seen, God had provided only one Gate in the tabernacle because there is only one way for man to approach God (John 10:1 - 10).
We could not reach the presence of God by doing good work, by Church membership and Church attendance or by the act of water baptism. The only way that leads to heaven is by the way of the Cross.
The Brazen Altar
The Brazen Altar was a place of burn offering. it was the place where the lamb was taken and was slain. It signified the flaming sword that guarded the Garden of Eden. It is a picture of Jesus, the Lamb of God to be slaughtered as a sin offering for us.
The Brazen Altar was made of acacia wood which was white, durable and "incorruptible". This speaks of Christ's sinless and incorruptible humanity. The structure was also overlaid with brass which is the symbol of strength and judgment against sin.
The Brazen Laver
The Brazen Laver was a place for washing and cleansing. The ministry of the laver points up to the ministry of the Word of God in our lives. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to convict sinners of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:6 - 12). It speaks of the cleansing that comes as the Word exposes areas of our lives that are not in conformity to the Standard of God. It also speaks of the washing of water by the Word (Eph. 5:26).
The Holy Place
The Holy place was the first part of the tabernacle. The second part was the Most Holy Place. The entrance to the Holy Place was called "The Door", and the entrance to the Most Holy Place was called "The Veil".
The Door which was the one and only entrance to the Holy Place speaks of the Lord Jesus as the one and only Way to God and into His Body, the Church. The Church is the place of priestly ministry, for we who are in Christ are made kings and priests unto God (1 Peter 2:9; Rev. 1:6).
The Golden Candlestick
The Golden Candlestick was actually a lampstand with seven branches, including the central shaft, upon which were seven lighted lamps. It was made wholly of gold, which speaks of the deity and Divine nature of Christ.
The purpose of the Candlestick was to give light and the light was sustained by pure olive oil. Jesus is the only light of the world and His light reflects and shines through the Church. Just as the candlestick needed oil to give light, the Church needs the Holy Spirit to give light to the world.
The Golden Altar of Incense
The Golden Altar of incense was for the burning of Incense unto the Lord and was positioned in the Holy Place before the veil. In Scripture, incense speaks to us of the prayer and intercession of believers which ascent unto God (Psalm 141:2; Rev. 8:3, 4).
The Table of Showbread
The Table of Showbread which was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold was placed opposite the Golden candlestick in the Holy Place. Upon this Table were placed twelve loaves of unleavened bread which were for the priests of the tribe of Levi to partake.
The word "Table" speaks to the believers today the Fellowship and Communion provided for us by the Lord. Just as God had provided the Table for His priests in the Holy Place, He has also prepared a Table in Christ for His redeemed people, the priests of His Church.
There were twelve loaves of Showbread on the Table before the Lord, one loaf for each tribe in the camp of Israel. All the tribes were represented before the Lord. Similarly, the Church is represented before the Lord as members of His Body. Every member of the Body of Christ participates in that One Bread.
The Inner Veil
The Inner Veil was a thick curtain separating the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place. It was to hide the Shekinah Glory from the eyes of men. It acted as a partition to separate sinful men from the Most Holy God. Only once a year, on the Great Day of Atonement, did Aaron, the high priest entered within the veil making atonement for his own sins and for the sins of the people.
The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant, containing the tablets of the Law, the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod that was budded, was the only piece of furniture in the Most Holy Place. On top of the Ark was the Mercy Seat, with cherubim of gold at both ends (Ex. 25:18 - 20). It was from here, from above the Mercy Seat that God spoke to Aaron (Verse 22).
The Veil was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ before His crucifixion. When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, shedding His Blood, as both Sin Sacrifice and High Priest, as both Offering and Offerer, God, by a miraculous act, rent the dividing Veil of the Temple (a type of the tabernacle) in twain (Matt. 27:51). This was a divine act of God.
The Way to the Glory and presence of God was now opened - thus restoring what was lost through Adam's sin.
1. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16, NKJV, emphasis added).
"All Scripture" includes the Old Testament Scripture.
2. "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4).
3. "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11).
4. ".... which are the shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ" (Col. 2:17, emphasis added).
5. ".... who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle" (Hebrews 8:5, emphasis added).
6. "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect" (Hebrews 10:1, emphasis added).
The Tabernacle of Moses together with its articles of furniture, furnishings of curtains and veils and its measurements are the shadows to bring us to the substance - just as the purpose of prophecy is to bring us to fulfillment. Our job is to keep on following the shadows through and eventually we will come to Him, the substance.
The purpose of the Tabernacle of Moses
The key verses of the whole purpose of the Tabernacle of Moses are found in Exodus 25:
"And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the furnishing, just so you shall make it" (Exodus 25:8, 9).
The whole purpose of God is to dwell among His people - He is Emmanuel, "God with us" (Matt. 1:23). This is being shadowed here.
Moses was faithful to the Lord in all the things he made (Heb 3:5). He made everyting according to the pattern - the blueprint given by God. When everything is finished the vey presence and glory of God come into the tabernacle. Similarly, God's Glory in His fullness can only come upon a Church that is built according to His blueprint.
Man's approach into the presence of God
Not only did God want to dwell amongst His people, but there was a way of approach that God wanted to teach men - how men were to approach into the presence of God.
Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6, NKJV).
It is clear that Jesus is the only way to God the Father. In fact Jesus is the only way back to God after Adam sinned and consequently, everyone after him lost the way, lost the truth and lost the life. We lost the way because Adam was cast out from the presence of God; we lost the truth because Adam believed the lie of Satan; and we lost the life because death (both spiritual and physical) settled in.
God's redemption plan from the beginning of time
Let us go back to Genesis 3 and let us take a serious look at what exactly happened after Adam and Eve sinned against God. The moment that happened time began - our clocks started to tick! Let us pick up the last four verses of Genesis 3:
"(V. 21) Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. (V. 22) Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever' - (V.23) therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. (V. 24) So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Edan, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life" (Gen. 3:21 -24, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. In Gen. 3:21 we have the first evidence of sacrifice. God Himself killed an animal for Adam and Eve's "tunics of skin".
2. Were Adam and Eve saved? I think they were. Between God and Adam was the blood and body of a sacrificial animal and the very fact that both Adam and Eve were willing to accept the coat of skin provided through the sacrifice of another, they were saved.
3. If Adam had eaten of the tree of life he and Eve, together with all those born after him, would have lived forever in an unredeemable state. And so God drove Adam out of the Garden of Eden (Vs. 23, 24).
4. Let us pick up some words from Verse 24:
(a). The word "placed" comes from the Hebrew word "shakan" which literally means "dwelling place", "lodging" or "habitation". In other words, the first tabernacle was at the east of the Garden of Eden - where God dwelled. Notice also that the tabernacle of Moses also faced east.
(b). God placed "cherubim" at the east of the Garden of Eden. In the tabernacle of Moses there were cherubim at both ends of the Mercy Seat where God dwelled. Cherubim were the guardians of the holiness of God.
(c). The "flaming sword" speaks of the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. And the Word was Jesus Christ Himself (John 1:1, 14).
Restoration of the Way, the Truth and the Life
It is a Biblical fact the what we have lost through Adam has been completely restored in Jesus Christ. This is what redemption means. In order to return to the Garden of Eden, in the presence of God, we have to go through the sword. Because to go through the sword means death someone has to die for us. The death of Jesus, the Lamb God (John 1:29) opened the way for us so that we can come to the presence of God again.
It is interesting to note that the early believers were called "the Way" (Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9; Acts 22:4). It is a paradox that we have Jesus Christ Himself gurarding the way to the tree of life. In fact the Bible says unless you come to jesus you have no life (John 5:40; John 10:10; John 20:31).
John also said, "He who has the son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12).
The Tabernacle of Moses as a Pattern to approach God
The tabernacle shows us how to come to the Throne of God which was on top of the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place. As the sinner comes to God, he must begins at the Gate of the Court, accepts the Blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. From there on he progresses with a walk of faith, step by step, until he comes to the ultimate, the full Glory of Gos as seen in the Most Holy Place.
The Gate of the Court
The Court Gate was the one and only way and entrance to the Court. Everyone has to come the same way. As we have seen, God had provided only one Gate in the tabernacle because there is only one way for man to approach God (John 10:1 - 10).
We could not reach the presence of God by doing good work, by Church membership and Church attendance or by the act of water baptism. The only way that leads to heaven is by the way of the Cross.
The Brazen Altar
The Brazen Altar was a place of burn offering. it was the place where the lamb was taken and was slain. It signified the flaming sword that guarded the Garden of Eden. It is a picture of Jesus, the Lamb of God to be slaughtered as a sin offering for us.
The Brazen Altar was made of acacia wood which was white, durable and "incorruptible". This speaks of Christ's sinless and incorruptible humanity. The structure was also overlaid with brass which is the symbol of strength and judgment against sin.
The Brazen Laver
The Brazen Laver was a place for washing and cleansing. The ministry of the laver points up to the ministry of the Word of God in our lives. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to convict sinners of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:6 - 12). It speaks of the cleansing that comes as the Word exposes areas of our lives that are not in conformity to the Standard of God. It also speaks of the washing of water by the Word (Eph. 5:26).
The Holy Place
The Holy place was the first part of the tabernacle. The second part was the Most Holy Place. The entrance to the Holy Place was called "The Door", and the entrance to the Most Holy Place was called "The Veil".
The Door which was the one and only entrance to the Holy Place speaks of the Lord Jesus as the one and only Way to God and into His Body, the Church. The Church is the place of priestly ministry, for we who are in Christ are made kings and priests unto God (1 Peter 2:9; Rev. 1:6).
The Golden Candlestick
The Golden Candlestick was actually a lampstand with seven branches, including the central shaft, upon which were seven lighted lamps. It was made wholly of gold, which speaks of the deity and Divine nature of Christ.
The purpose of the Candlestick was to give light and the light was sustained by pure olive oil. Jesus is the only light of the world and His light reflects and shines through the Church. Just as the candlestick needed oil to give light, the Church needs the Holy Spirit to give light to the world.
The Golden Altar of Incense
The Golden Altar of incense was for the burning of Incense unto the Lord and was positioned in the Holy Place before the veil. In Scripture, incense speaks to us of the prayer and intercession of believers which ascent unto God (Psalm 141:2; Rev. 8:3, 4).
The Table of Showbread
The Table of Showbread which was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold was placed opposite the Golden candlestick in the Holy Place. Upon this Table were placed twelve loaves of unleavened bread which were for the priests of the tribe of Levi to partake.
The word "Table" speaks to the believers today the Fellowship and Communion provided for us by the Lord. Just as God had provided the Table for His priests in the Holy Place, He has also prepared a Table in Christ for His redeemed people, the priests of His Church.
There were twelve loaves of Showbread on the Table before the Lord, one loaf for each tribe in the camp of Israel. All the tribes were represented before the Lord. Similarly, the Church is represented before the Lord as members of His Body. Every member of the Body of Christ participates in that One Bread.
The Inner Veil
The Inner Veil was a thick curtain separating the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place. It was to hide the Shekinah Glory from the eyes of men. It acted as a partition to separate sinful men from the Most Holy God. Only once a year, on the Great Day of Atonement, did Aaron, the high priest entered within the veil making atonement for his own sins and for the sins of the people.
The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant, containing the tablets of the Law, the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod that was budded, was the only piece of furniture in the Most Holy Place. On top of the Ark was the Mercy Seat, with cherubim of gold at both ends (Ex. 25:18 - 20). It was from here, from above the Mercy Seat that God spoke to Aaron (Verse 22).
The Veil was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ before His crucifixion. When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, shedding His Blood, as both Sin Sacrifice and High Priest, as both Offering and Offerer, God, by a miraculous act, rent the dividing Veil of the Temple (a type of the tabernacle) in twain (Matt. 27:51). This was a divine act of God.
The Way to the Glory and presence of God was now opened - thus restoring what was lost through Adam's sin.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
The Time of the Apostles and the New Creation
We are at the final stage of the restoration of God's pattern of creation seen in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Adam not only brought sin and death to the world but also created a gross unbalance to the teaching and practice of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Let us recapitulate what we have learned when we apply it to the Church. Genesis 1 teaches that in the Church all ministries and gifts of the Holy Spirit are opened to both men and women. Genesis 2 teaches that in the Church only men take responsibility in the areas of doctrine and discipline. The Ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the early Church showed that women should never hold an authoritative position where they tell men what to do. It is the will of God that this original pattern be fully restored. Otherwise, in the eyes of God, the Church is not fully redeemed!
The Apostles' Doctrine
After Peter's first sermon Luke recorded, "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer" (Acts 2:41, 42, NKJV, emphasis added).
Paul (or rather God) has given us the ingredients for a healthy Church growth. The primary requirement is upholding the apostles' doctrine (or teaching). The trouble is, the contemporary Local Churches practising all these - fellowshipping, breaking of bread and having prayer meetings except "steadfastly" following and upholding the apostles' doctrine.
Danger of taking a verse of Scripture out of its context
Paul's teaching is totally consistent with the pattern we dealt with in the first two Chapters of the Bible. On the one hand Paul upholds the equality of status, value and worth of every individual person, either male of female. On the other hand he makes a distinction between the male and female in their respective role and responsibility in the Church.
Confusion and trouble come when we take a verse of Scripture out of its context. In the original translation the books of the Bible were written without paragraph and verse number. These were put in by the translators. It will be better if we can read a book of the Bible through like a story without worrying about taking a sentence out of its context.
False basis of support for the feminists and the homosexuals
Let us look at a statement of Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28, emphasis added).
The above verse taken out of context is now becomes almost the sole basis for the Christian feminists because they take it to mean that there is no difference whatever between the male and female in the eyes of God. What men can do, women can do equally well or even better.
If you take that text and apply it to the relationship between men and women, can can prove that it is perfectly acceptable for homosexuals to get married provided they are both Christians. If that verse means now that we are Christians, if there is no difference between men and women then there is nothing wrong with homosexual marriage. A man can therefore free to marry another man or to a woman. Homosexual Churches actually use that verse to justify their existence. It is obvious that is the wrong meaning.
If you want to find the meaning of a text you have to look at the context - other part of the same chapter or other part of the same paragraph, usually one or two verses before and one or two verses after the text in question. So if you look at Galatians 3:38 in the context you will realize that the apostle Paul was not talking about role relationship (teaching of Genesis 2). He was talking about sons and heirs through faith in Christ Jesus. He was explaining the nature of the Abrahamic Covenant whereby the blessing of salvation came to mankind - both men and women.
Paul said, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26, emphasis added).
Notice that he did not say sons and daughters. Never in the New Testament was the early Church addressed Christians as brothers and sisters - always brothers. Never in the New Testament is a Christian fellowship described as sons and daughters of God - always sons. And all female Christians are also sons in Christ.
Paul further said, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Verse 27).
In other words, when I am baptized I have put on Christ -The One who is a free Jew. Once I am in Christ I am in a male Jew who is free, whether I am a Jew or a Gentile. Because I am in Christ I am Abraham's seed and I can claim the promise made to Abraham (Verse 29).
Galations 3:28 shows that Paul's teaching was totally in line with Genesis 1.
Paul maintained the teaching of Genesis 2
When Paul discussed family life, marriage and the role of men and women in the Church he applied Genesis 2.
Therefore in 1 Cor. 11 he said, "But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God" (1 Cor. 11:3).
Notice the chain of divine order of authority comes from the top downward - Christ, man and then woman. Paul did not say the head of every Christian man is Christ, nor did he say the head of every Christian woman is man. So, this divine order of authority is mandatory to all men - Christian or non-Christian.
Furthermore Paul continued to say, "For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for man. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels" (1 Cor. 11:8 - 10).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Here Paul picked up the whole basis of the teaching of Genesis 2 - woman was made from man; woman was made for man; woman was made after man (please read again my earlier message - "God's Pattern of Male-Female Role and Relationship").
2. A woman needs to have a symbol of authority over her head - spiritually it is the man; physically it is her long hair (Verse 15). Notice there is not one word in the original Greek about a woman wearing a hat in the Church. The length of a woman's hair is sufficient to reveal that she is accepting her identity in Christ.
3. The angels are watching whether the Church is following the divine order and that the women are covered by men in that congregation in worshiping, praying and prophesying (Verse 5). Whenever we are gathering together in a Church the angels are watching us. The women in the Church are vulnerable to supernatural influence because there are bad angels as well as good ones. The bad ones are demons and they are looking around for women who do not accept male protection!
So we see Paul was totally consistent in his teaching (based on Genesis 1 and Genesis 2). He summed this up:
"Nevertherless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of men, in the Lord" (Verse 11).
Therefore there would never be a Church made up of men only, or women only.
Paul's teaching in 1 Cor. 11 is very clear. The man needs to be masculine toward his wife and the womans need to be femine toward her husband. On the one hand, as the husband leads his wife he himself needs to be led by Christ. But on the other hand Paul and the other apostles' teachings say that whatever the woman's husband is like, he is the woman's head. In other words, whether the husband is a believer or a non-believer he is still the head of the woman. We must repect the head of the home whether he is a believer or a non-believer.
Peter also maintained the Creation Pattern
It is interesting to realize that Peter taught exactly the same thing as Paul. Both of them were utterly consistent with the whole Bible.
The first calling of a wife, after loving the Lord, is to love her husband and not the Church. The Church comes third. In a redeemed relationship the wife submits to her husband whether he is a believer or not and whether he is matured or not.
To the wife Peter said, "Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear (1 Peter 3:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Paul said the same thing regarding the wife's submission to her husband (Eph. 5:22).
2: Sometimes both the husband and the wife heard the Gospel together but the husband would not obey, whereas the wife obeyed and got converted. By the show of chaste conduct of the wife, even without the wife having to say anything, her husband would fear God and would soon accept the Gospel.
To the husband Peter said, "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understand, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered" (1 Peter 3:7, emphasis added).
Notice that the above verse is quite similar to what Paul said in Galatians 3:28. Both Paul and Peter upheld the teaching of Genesis 1.
Equal in ministry but unequal in office
According to the apostles' doctrine every ministry is opened to women in the New Testament but not every office - there is a difference.
Paul said, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11, 12, emphasis added).
The five offices listed: Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are Christ's gifts to His Church for the purpose of preparing Church members to take up the various ministries in the Body of Christ. Each of these five gifts listed can be an office or a ministry.
For example Paul asked Timothy to "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim. 4:5). Obviously Timothy did not hold the office of an evangelist but able to minister and do the work expected of an evangelist. Similarly any Christian, male or female, can be anointed and called to minister, to serve and to function in all these offices except that a woman cannot hold the office of a Pastor - simply because she cannot be in a position to have authority over men, to teach men and tell men what to do (1 Tim. 2:11 -15).
There are women who prophesy. For example, we have Philip's four daughters. There are also women teachers (Titus 2:2, 3). There are women who are given the name of apostle. For example, a woman called Junia:
Paul said, "Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who were in Christ before me" (Romans 16:7).
In fact, Paul, in Romans 16, listed 26 of his helpers and companions and 9 of them were women. But, no where can you find in the entire New Testament that a woman is called to be a Pastor or an elder or a teacher in an opened congregation where both men and women are present.
This is the balanced teaching of both Paul and Peter based on the pattern set out by God in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. How I wish the contemporary Churches have balanced teaching as well!
The New Creation
In heaven the sexual difference will go. Neither will men marry nor will women given in marriage (Matt. 22:30; Mark 12:25). That is because there will be no need for reproduction and the population in heaven will not increase. We shall be like the angels. Angels are created beings and they never reproduce; they are of fixed number. You will never be united with your marriage partner. Your marriage ends when one of you dies; and you will never be put together again. You and your wife will be brother and sister in heaven. And we all will have closer relationship with every one else.
The best news is, you will get a new body in heaven and your body will be of age 33! - the same age when Jesus died.
John said, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2, NKJV, emphasis added).
That is when you are fully redeemed (Romans 8:22, 23). The whole creation will be on the eighth day of creation. God is preparing us for a whole new world. He is restoring what is meant to be in the beginning. That is the whole Gospel! Amen.
The Apostles' Doctrine
After Peter's first sermon Luke recorded, "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer" (Acts 2:41, 42, NKJV, emphasis added).
Paul (or rather God) has given us the ingredients for a healthy Church growth. The primary requirement is upholding the apostles' doctrine (or teaching). The trouble is, the contemporary Local Churches practising all these - fellowshipping, breaking of bread and having prayer meetings except "steadfastly" following and upholding the apostles' doctrine.
Danger of taking a verse of Scripture out of its context
Paul's teaching is totally consistent with the pattern we dealt with in the first two Chapters of the Bible. On the one hand Paul upholds the equality of status, value and worth of every individual person, either male of female. On the other hand he makes a distinction between the male and female in their respective role and responsibility in the Church.
Confusion and trouble come when we take a verse of Scripture out of its context. In the original translation the books of the Bible were written without paragraph and verse number. These were put in by the translators. It will be better if we can read a book of the Bible through like a story without worrying about taking a sentence out of its context.
False basis of support for the feminists and the homosexuals
Let us look at a statement of Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28, emphasis added).
The above verse taken out of context is now becomes almost the sole basis for the Christian feminists because they take it to mean that there is no difference whatever between the male and female in the eyes of God. What men can do, women can do equally well or even better.
If you take that text and apply it to the relationship between men and women, can can prove that it is perfectly acceptable for homosexuals to get married provided they are both Christians. If that verse means now that we are Christians, if there is no difference between men and women then there is nothing wrong with homosexual marriage. A man can therefore free to marry another man or to a woman. Homosexual Churches actually use that verse to justify their existence. It is obvious that is the wrong meaning.
If you want to find the meaning of a text you have to look at the context - other part of the same chapter or other part of the same paragraph, usually one or two verses before and one or two verses after the text in question. So if you look at Galatians 3:38 in the context you will realize that the apostle Paul was not talking about role relationship (teaching of Genesis 2). He was talking about sons and heirs through faith in Christ Jesus. He was explaining the nature of the Abrahamic Covenant whereby the blessing of salvation came to mankind - both men and women.
Paul said, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26, emphasis added).
Notice that he did not say sons and daughters. Never in the New Testament was the early Church addressed Christians as brothers and sisters - always brothers. Never in the New Testament is a Christian fellowship described as sons and daughters of God - always sons. And all female Christians are also sons in Christ.
Paul further said, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Verse 27).
In other words, when I am baptized I have put on Christ -The One who is a free Jew. Once I am in Christ I am in a male Jew who is free, whether I am a Jew or a Gentile. Because I am in Christ I am Abraham's seed and I can claim the promise made to Abraham (Verse 29).
Galations 3:28 shows that Paul's teaching was totally in line with Genesis 1.
Paul maintained the teaching of Genesis 2
When Paul discussed family life, marriage and the role of men and women in the Church he applied Genesis 2.
Therefore in 1 Cor. 11 he said, "But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God" (1 Cor. 11:3).
Notice the chain of divine order of authority comes from the top downward - Christ, man and then woman. Paul did not say the head of every Christian man is Christ, nor did he say the head of every Christian woman is man. So, this divine order of authority is mandatory to all men - Christian or non-Christian.
Furthermore Paul continued to say, "For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for man. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels" (1 Cor. 11:8 - 10).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Here Paul picked up the whole basis of the teaching of Genesis 2 - woman was made from man; woman was made for man; woman was made after man (please read again my earlier message - "God's Pattern of Male-Female Role and Relationship").
2. A woman needs to have a symbol of authority over her head - spiritually it is the man; physically it is her long hair (Verse 15). Notice there is not one word in the original Greek about a woman wearing a hat in the Church. The length of a woman's hair is sufficient to reveal that she is accepting her identity in Christ.
3. The angels are watching whether the Church is following the divine order and that the women are covered by men in that congregation in worshiping, praying and prophesying (Verse 5). Whenever we are gathering together in a Church the angels are watching us. The women in the Church are vulnerable to supernatural influence because there are bad angels as well as good ones. The bad ones are demons and they are looking around for women who do not accept male protection!
So we see Paul was totally consistent in his teaching (based on Genesis 1 and Genesis 2). He summed this up:
"Nevertherless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of men, in the Lord" (Verse 11).
Therefore there would never be a Church made up of men only, or women only.
Paul's teaching in 1 Cor. 11 is very clear. The man needs to be masculine toward his wife and the womans need to be femine toward her husband. On the one hand, as the husband leads his wife he himself needs to be led by Christ. But on the other hand Paul and the other apostles' teachings say that whatever the woman's husband is like, he is the woman's head. In other words, whether the husband is a believer or a non-believer he is still the head of the woman. We must repect the head of the home whether he is a believer or a non-believer.
Peter also maintained the Creation Pattern
It is interesting to realize that Peter taught exactly the same thing as Paul. Both of them were utterly consistent with the whole Bible.
The first calling of a wife, after loving the Lord, is to love her husband and not the Church. The Church comes third. In a redeemed relationship the wife submits to her husband whether he is a believer or not and whether he is matured or not.
To the wife Peter said, "Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear (1 Peter 3:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Paul said the same thing regarding the wife's submission to her husband (Eph. 5:22).
2: Sometimes both the husband and the wife heard the Gospel together but the husband would not obey, whereas the wife obeyed and got converted. By the show of chaste conduct of the wife, even without the wife having to say anything, her husband would fear God and would soon accept the Gospel.
To the husband Peter said, "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understand, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered" (1 Peter 3:7, emphasis added).
Notice that the above verse is quite similar to what Paul said in Galatians 3:28. Both Paul and Peter upheld the teaching of Genesis 1.
Equal in ministry but unequal in office
According to the apostles' doctrine every ministry is opened to women in the New Testament but not every office - there is a difference.
Paul said, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11, 12, emphasis added).
The five offices listed: Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are Christ's gifts to His Church for the purpose of preparing Church members to take up the various ministries in the Body of Christ. Each of these five gifts listed can be an office or a ministry.
For example Paul asked Timothy to "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim. 4:5). Obviously Timothy did not hold the office of an evangelist but able to minister and do the work expected of an evangelist. Similarly any Christian, male or female, can be anointed and called to minister, to serve and to function in all these offices except that a woman cannot hold the office of a Pastor - simply because she cannot be in a position to have authority over men, to teach men and tell men what to do (1 Tim. 2:11 -15).
There are women who prophesy. For example, we have Philip's four daughters. There are also women teachers (Titus 2:2, 3). There are women who are given the name of apostle. For example, a woman called Junia:
Paul said, "Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who were in Christ before me" (Romans 16:7).
In fact, Paul, in Romans 16, listed 26 of his helpers and companions and 9 of them were women. But, no where can you find in the entire New Testament that a woman is called to be a Pastor or an elder or a teacher in an opened congregation where both men and women are present.
This is the balanced teaching of both Paul and Peter based on the pattern set out by God in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. How I wish the contemporary Churches have balanced teaching as well!
The New Creation
In heaven the sexual difference will go. Neither will men marry nor will women given in marriage (Matt. 22:30; Mark 12:25). That is because there will be no need for reproduction and the population in heaven will not increase. We shall be like the angels. Angels are created beings and they never reproduce; they are of fixed number. You will never be united with your marriage partner. Your marriage ends when one of you dies; and you will never be put together again. You and your wife will be brother and sister in heaven. And we all will have closer relationship with every one else.
The best news is, you will get a new body in heaven and your body will be of age 33! - the same age when Jesus died.
John said, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2, NKJV, emphasis added).
That is when you are fully redeemed (Romans 8:22, 23). The whole creation will be on the eighth day of creation. God is preparing us for a whole new world. He is restoring what is meant to be in the beginning. That is the whole Gospel! Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)