Programme: Anamnesis 2023 (Day 3 - Evening Session)
Date: Friday, 8th December, 2023
Anamnesis is about remembering our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not remembering someone who is dead, like people in the world do; this is because our Lord is alive forever (Rev. 1:18). We are celebrating a living entity, who is alive and in our midst. In remembering Him, we should talk about Him and also know about His building. The essence of His appearing is to come and show us His building so that we too can be built up in like manner. Therefore, the essence of His appearing is that we may be built up.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2). When we see Him as He is, we will also be like Him. All that the Lord endeavors to do in His appearance is to show us the manner of His building. He wants us to see this building so that He can build us in that manner and we can be like Him.
Jesus, the Son of God, has His own building and God, through the prophets and apostles, has made us see the manner of His building. The essence of appearance is for building. When God told Moses about the building of the tabernacle, God warned him that he must build according to the pattern shown to him (Exo. 25:40, Heb. 8:5).
God has to give warnings when a building is taking place because it is not every building God will accept. He cannot dwell in anything that is not in alignment with His own pattern. Therefore, He has raised a pattern Son for us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ…” (Col. 2:2). There must be this acknowledgement and it must be by the full understanding of the mystery of God, the mystery of the Father, and the mystery of Christ. These are stratas of the building of our Lord Jesus Christ. If some of us do not acknowledge this, even though we company together, the building may not be entire. Therefore, our hearts must be knit together in love.
These mysteries are buildings. The appearance of our Lord Jesus will be from mystery to mystery. Every appearance has its own mystery, which means secret. The essence of every appearance is to open the secret of His building to us. Jesus will show the mystery He is embodying as a building because He wants to unveil Himself to us. The ministry of revelation is very important; this is why the things we are hearing are ladened with revelation. Every mystery will be revealed to us through the ministry of revelation.
“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29). Secret things must be revealed. When secret things are revealed, we are expected to do them. This means we have to do what is being revealed to us. Every appearance of our Lord Jesus is to open a mystery. It is when He reveals them that we understand them. Then the next thing God is expecting from us is that we should do them. We are being built when we do the things that are revealed to us. There is no building outside of doing, but there is also no doing outside of revelation. They have to be revealed first, after which we are expected to do them. If we are doing what is revealed, then we are being built. All the mysteries in Colossians 2:2 describe the building of the New Testament because that is the way Jesus Christ was built.
Paul writes from the prophets. “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 1:2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)” (Rom. 1:1-2). The prophetic writings are mysteries. They are kept secret for apostles to hack into them in order to bring the proper understanding and application. God has given us the King James Version of the Bible for preservation. The two scriptures that the minister believes the King James Version kept for us are Colossians 2:2 and 1 John 5:7. These two scriptures which are missing in many other versions are great omissions in the work of building. Almost all other versions of the Bible omitted 1 John 5:7. Four generations fought to keep the manuscript that was written in 1 John 5:7. What Satan is after is to create confusion. Some people say that God is one but expressed in three ways, which often creates confusion about the knowledge of the Godhead. Satan wants the knowledge of the Godhead to be treated with levity. He knows that when we get certain things out of the building pieces in the Bible, we will not get to where we are going. The appearance of the Lord is doing something significant this season. Colossians 2:2 is also another building block. Prophet Isaiah testified about Colossians. God resolved some of the affronts in the prophets. Every mystery is a layer of the building.
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6). In Colossians 2:2, the mystery of God was mentioned first, then of the Father, then of Christ. The way Isaiah arranged it was similar – mighty God (the mystery of God), everlasting Father (the mystery of the Father), and the Prince of peace (the mystery of Christ).
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” (Isa. 6:8). Isaiah is a messianic prophet. He had an encounter with the Godhead in Isaiah 6 when his lips were purified. The word "Us" in the phrase “who will go for us?” is the Godhead speaking. In Isaiah 7, he started prophesying. Then, chapter 11 talked about Him (Jesus) being filled with seven spirits. This means Isaiah could see Jesus from afar. When he talked about his building, he also rearranged it downward like in Colossians 2:2. He referred to Him as the “... mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). This means "The mighty God" talks about the mystery of God, "The everlasting Father" has to do with the mystery of the Father, and "The Prince of Peace" has to do with the mystery of Christ (Coloss. 2:2). This is the manual of Jesus' building.
God's servant said, “Jesus is the thesis of His learning”. When you learn Christ, the end is to come into life and peace. Then there is the mystery of the Father, where everlasting life is given. Everlasting life is real. The mystery of God raised our Lord Jesus as the mighty God. Our Lord Jesus is Christ, He is the everlasting Father and He is the mighty God. (Heb. 1:8). If we do not believe these things, we can never be like Him. Jesus is not just a good man; He arrived in God. Being a good Christian is not enough; there is a blueprint God has given to everyone who wants to look like Him (1 John 3:2). What God used to build Jesus up must also be found in us. The appearing of Jesus begins with the unveiling of Him as Christ. Then, every other mystery must also be revealed.
“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." (Rom. 8:29). God is using the building of Jesus as a template to raise other sons. We have been predestined, so we cannot choose our destinies by ourselves. I do not have a purpose; I am created by someone to meet a purpose. Your purpose is the purpose of God. It was a lot of labour to raise the Son. God did not raise Jesus haphazardly; He was raised doctrine on doctrine, layer by layer; until He became the express image of God's person (Heb. 1:3). God has raised a man that He is using to build others. If we do not look like Jesus, we have failed. The essence of everything is to look like Him. If that is in our hearts, then we will be calling for His appearing. He is showing Himself in order to show us the manner of His building.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Rom. 1:16). The gospel of Christ reveals the mystery of Christ. The mystery of Christ is housing the righteousness of God. When Christ is being taught, it is the righteousness that is being revealed.
The essence of the appearing is that we also are built in that manner so we can have a building called Christ in us. Paul knew how to form Christ in men (Gal. 4:19). Christ is already our culture in this community. Christ has been well laid, Christ has been well defined; we have learnt Christ, we have known Christ, and we are also preserving the knowledge of Christ so He would not be misrepresented.
There is a malicious attack on the body of what Christ is; walking through walls, levitating, etc swayed men, but Christ stayed – faith, hope, and charity stayed. The Lord appeared to a people and made them do those things so that the body can have a direction when those things fade away.
Every appearance has a requirement. For the next appearance, we ought to stand on charity. Everyone who failed that test could not receive the next appearance. It is not about us; it is about the One who is appearing. The appearance is still ongoing and there are requirements for it.
When it comes to revelation, whatever we do not understand, it is better to be meek and quiet about it. We should also not be offended. We can miss the Lord's appearing if we do not fulfill the ordinances of the previous season. There are some appearances that will not come if we do not fulfill some ordinances of charity. When Abraham met Melchizedek, they broke bread and wine. On this path, our love will be tested. Charity is the end of the commandment of Christ, and it is on this that we are receiving the second level of appearing. As a community, we are in the second level of appearing which is also moving to the third. The mystery of Christ is the power of God unto salvation.
“so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Heb. 9:28). The mystery of the Father is the second level of appearance. This appearance is not for everybody. How you know that you are looking for Him is Charity. Charity is not just loving the brethren only. We must also love our leaders— our fathers in the faith. Jesus has given to them, and entrusted to them, layers of understanding. If we do not love them, we would not be able to receive what God has given to them. We should not take some thoughts about our leaders even in our hearts.
“But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” (Jer. 10:10). The building of the Son of God is beyond mathematics; it is a building of God Himself that a man can house. What makes God sinless and deathless is not something small. He is not one who is avoiding sin; He does not know how to sin or how to die. There are stratas in the building of God that made Jesus who He is now and they are showing it to us bit by bit.
“And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20). The second appearing (as the everlasting Father) is an appearance that is in two manners – Alpha and Omega. Alpha is living, and Omega is True. Some may be offended along this path and not come to the nature of "True". At the corridor of everlasting life, the requirement moved from charity to fervent charity. This fervent charity should not just be amongst ourselves but also towards our leaders. There are still many parchments in this salvation. There will be many appearing. The first phase of appearing in salvation is the Lord appearing as one who is living (Heb. 12:22; Matthew 16:16).
Before Jesus Christ went to the cross, he was already the Son of the True God. He had finished the work. It was in finishing the work that He asked for Eternal Life. When you come to the nature of the One who is True, you look for Eternal Life. Eternal Life can only be laid on one whose nature is true – one who is abiding— an abider. The malice of Satan against this community is that He does not want us to abide. It is our time to war to abide.
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:19). We have to ascertain our lot by abiding. We have to war to abide. God is the one monitoring the work. If one does not keep previous commandments, He knows how to weed such out. God is measuring us; this is why we must keep repenting. They have to remove some people for the community to be pure. We must not go without repentance tonight. If we speak evil of our leaders, we will not get anywhere in the things of God.
Those who complain in the time of Christ will not move into the next phase – everlasting life (the Father). We are in that season of the true God. This is the time to be mindful of our conversations. We must cut off from those who speak evil of spiritual authority.
Blessings!