Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry
Programme: Anamnesis 2022 – Day 4 Morning Session
Date: Saturday, 10th December 2022
The core of this meeting is remembering the Lord, that is, Anamnesis. God is doing something and He wants it to be remembered. God instructed the Israelites to document the signs that happened in Egypt when He brought them out of bondage, and rehearse it in their ears often. This is so that they would remember them and also be able to recount the deeds of the Lord to their children (Exo. 10:2; Deut. 4:9). The essence of remembering is so we will not forget. If we forget, we have lost something.
Whenever God does a new thing, we sing new songs to mark such times. Some of our songs will serve as a reminder that there was a time when God was speaking of everlasting life and Eternal Life in our midst. After the Isrealites passed the Red Sea, Miriam sang a song about the experience (Exo. 15:20-21). Such songs are to keep the memory of what God is presently doing because things will not always remain that way. When we no longer see the Red Sea opening and other similar mighty acts of the Lord, there is a tendency to forget and ask if God can furnish a table in the wilderness, like the Isrealites did (Psa. 78:19-31). In response to their murmuring, God gave them their desire, but through it, killed them; this was a result of their forgetfulness.
A name is preserved by teaching the values of that name. When children keep values, people ask which families they hail from. There is a reason God wants us to remember and not forget the great things He does. He leaves milestones in our lives and requires us to watch over them. Men sometimes plant trees that remain even after they have left a place to serve as a memorial that God was once there.
God will not speak to us when we are on a spot, rather He speaks to us when we are journeying so we must keep on moving. God asked the people to keep moving even when they saw the Red Sea. God will stop speaking to us if we stop moving. God took the children of Jacob into Egypt as a family and brought them out as a nation. They needed Egypt for their family to multiply into a nation.
When the day of deliverance came, God asked the Israelites to take a lamb per family, and families which were too small were to merge (Exo. 12:7-10). They were required to kill the lamb, eat it and put its blood on their lintels because the angel of death was going to pass over them. That angel of death was not from hell but from God. God has the power of both death and life. There seemed to be no logical correlation between the deliverance that was promised to them and the instruction to eat; eating bitter leaves with a lamb that was not mature (Exo. 12:7-8). It is a possibility that not all Israelites came out of Egypt. Some of them must have been content with life in Egypt, but that was not a home in the sight of God.
Sometimes, difficult periods may appear as though things would never be better. However, we can not become what God desires us to be unless we go through tough times. Some of us run away from the course we have been planted in and go into other courses. God desires that we know He will be with us as we go through what is ahead of us.
On the path of life, there is suffering. What people call suffering is actually a life of the course (of truth). It is not the wickedness of God but a course that comes with its demands. Instead of jumping ship, we should ask what the course is all about. In education, a student who is oblivious of the course content is most likely to fail. There are many things involved in the course of Eternal Life, so it is important that we are well aware of our destination.
There is a way to come to God. We must be led to tread that way (Rom. 8:14). God is bringing us up to be led. This is why He will tell us the destination He is taking us to, but will not show us the route we would go through, lest we run back. The children of Israel were excited to meet with God. He instructed them to sanctify themselves and come meet Him at Mount Sinai, but no one must get too so close as to touch the mountain (Exo. 19:10-15). When the people of Israel heard the thundering around the mountain, they ran back and asked that Moses should hear God on their behalf instead. They did not know that the essence of the activities around the mountain was to instill fear in their hearts. Even Moses said he exceedingly feared and quaked around the mountain (Heb. 12:21).
In Egypt, God used the ten plagues to do something He could have accomplished with one plague. God also intentionally hardened the heart of Pharaoh so that He could deal with Pharaoh. Pharaoh thought he could contend with God, not knowing he was no match for Him. Satan is not the opposite of God; he is only a creature. Satan is merely an instrument for fulfilling God’s will. God is not intimidated by Satan. Satan is busy walking to and fro throughout the earth (Job 1:7), whereas God is beckoning on us to give us rest (Matt. 11:28). God is saying that there is a journey ahead of us and desires that we keep all the things that He is saying to us.
At Passover, Jesus gathered His disciples and broke bread with them (Matt. 26:26). In Egypt, every family took a lamb for the Passover. However, a super lamb came much later, representing a combination of all the lambs of those families. John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29). At Passover, He gave His body to be eaten in remembrance of Him (Lk. 22:19), thereby changing the order of the feast (Passover) because He is the only One who could fulfill all of God’s will and satisfy the divine mandate. In that one being is a Father and the judge of the whole earth.
The first lamb that was slain in Exodus 12 was not slain by Pharaoh but by the elders of Israel. Likewise, during the time of Jesus, it was the elders of the Jews that took Jesus and sold him. That action represented the twelve tribes laying hands upon Him, making Him a sin offering and a scapegoat (Jn. 19:15-16); so He who knew no sin became sin (2 Cor. 5:21). As Jesus became sin, eyes were fastened on Him and at that point, He became as the serpent lifted in the wilderness (Jn. 3:14; Heb. 12:2); and from that day, a new faith began.
Works can not be added to faith, faith should produce works instead (Jam. 2:19). Jesus instituted a new faith and there are things locked up in that faith. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. [30] Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Rom. 8:29-30). The calling, justification, and glorification are things locked up in our faith. Hence, Paul’s statement in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
God wants us to keep a memory of what He has done in giving us Jesus. Events can lose their importance if there is no commemoration of them. There must be action attached to show our remembrance. Everything about our faith is hinged on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Every religion ends at death except for Christianity. The champions of all other religions ended at death but Jesus remained after death. God wants the experience of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and of the bread and wine to be fresh in our hearts. There is a way to show that we believe so that everything about that event can become fresh in our lives.
"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19). At the table of communion, each disciple was given a bit of bread and asked to eat it, not swallow it. Chewing the bread typified their involvement in the breaking down of Jesus’ body; however, this was a blessing for them. There is a sweetness that is harnessed when food is chewed, which cannot be obtained with swallowing. This is why bread served during communion is not swallowed but chewed. This is so that we can get and be part of the benefits contained in it, and it can be ours. By drinking the wine, our conscience also takes part in it. If our conscience is not a part of it, we can despise the bread and wine.
The death of Jesus was sufficient to solve man’s problem because sin was dealt with. However, Jesus had to resurrect to show us how to live. After Jesus resurrected, He appeared to two of His disciples and opened the Scriptures to them, proving to them how the Son of Man will die and rise again, but they still did not understand (Lk. 24:25). They were slow in heart to believe. Afterwards, He took bread and broke it and as they ate it, their eyes were open (Lk. 24:31).
Blessings!
Summary
1. God is doing something and He wants it to be remembered. God instructed the Israelites to document the signs that happened in Egypt when He brought them out of bondage, and rehearse it in their ears often so that they would remember them and also be able to recount them to their children (Exo. 10:2; Deut. 4:9).
2. Whenever God does a new thing, we are expected to sing a new song to mark such times. After the Isrealites passed the Red Sea, Miriam sang a song about the experience (Exo. 15:20-21). Such songs are to keep the memory of what God has done, and they would be useful in strengthening our faith and trust in God when tough circumstances come.
3. We cannot become what God desires us to be unless we go through some tough times (to drop flesh). As such, God desires that we trust Him to see us through every season. What people call suffering on the path of life is actually a life of the course (of truth). It is not the wickedness of God but a course that comes with its demands (to drop flesh).
4. Jesus' journey of death to the cross began on the night of Passover. That night was when He broke bread with His disciples, signifying that He was the new Passover Lamb (Jn. 1:29). When Jesus became sin for every man on the cross, He became a typification of the serpent lifted in the wilderness to save men (Jn. 3:14; Heb. 12:2). It was from that day a new faith began.
5. Everything about our faith is hinged on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus was sufficient to solve man’s problem because sin was dealt with. However, Jesus had to resurrect to show us how to live.