Programme: Writing the Vision (October Edition)
Date: Saturday, 21st October 2023
Transcript Summary
1. “But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 3:14). The veil of the old covenant can still be upon the heart of a saint if he/she has not yet come into the life/understanding of the New Testament. It is the ministration of Christ can take it away and prepare one for an open-face interaction with glory. One cannot be a beholder of the glory of the Lord except he/she has an open face. Veils cannot go except eyes are opened and when eyes are opened, people would turn to the Lord (Acts 26:18).
2. There are two glories — the glory of the former and the glory of the latter. The former glory is the old covenant which God made with the house of Israel, while the glory of the latter is the one God writes in the fleshy tables of the heart (2 Cor. 3:3). In the former, God wrote on stones and they radiated glory (Exo. 31:18). Yet, it was death because the amount of glory it had was limited. Therefore, it could not engrave what was written on it in the hearts of men. However, when one is unlimited in glory, that person will surpass death.
3. Just as God took away the Old Testament and brought about the New Testament, He would take away this present heaven and earth. A time is coming when we will no longer remember this present world because it would be completely obliterated (Isa. 65:17). This shows that God can wipe out the old and reconstitute it, so that it would not be remembered. He can do this for a person’s sin (Heb. 10:17-18). He can make a person’s mind completely new through the ministry whose glory excels (2 Cor. 3:10).
4. God can raise a person to be higher than death. Death is the enemy that has tied down mankind. The Bible refers to it as the last enemy (1 Cor. 15:26). It is not easy to minister above death or to swallow death in victory (1 Cor. 15:54). We should be people who conquer death and even become more than conquerors.
5. It takes the change of body to be able to swallow up death in victory. Before the present heaven and earth would pass away, human beings, especially people of God, would have had new bodies – bodies terrestrial and celestial (1 Cor. 15:40). The body is the house of the spirit and soul. One can never be a priest without a body and it is only a priest that can come into the Holiest of All (Heb. 10:19-20). The limitation of our present bodies is that it does not yet have the capacity to enter into the Holiest; but as we present our bodies, we make them worthy to participate in entrance into the priestly function.
6. We can enter the Holiest of All while on earth because a believer can be on earth and journey upwards in the spirit. This will not be done by prayer, but by walking in the spirit (obedience). It is not any kind of Christian that can enter, but all Christians have the right of way if they are willing to live for entrance. We enter by the kind of lifestyle we have chosen to live on earth. When you enter, spirits will see you and it will cause a pain to Satan because you have left him.
7. Entrance means interpreting the structure of the tabernacle. When God carved the tabernacle, He was showing us a model of life that we should live after, and anything short of this on earth is a shut off from entrance. This is why we should not be obstinate about revealed instructions and words.
8. Walking means journeying; it is a means of life transportation. By your walk, you can live in heaven while you are on earth. You can walk to a point where you will arrive in the bosom of the Father. Your walk is a practice by which God shows you how you can be with Him. Your walk suggests your abode. How much life a person has is determined by how much the person has walked. It is only God that knows the measurement of death in a person and how much one has to walk to defeat it. Death cannot be dealt with by letters because it is a mystery.
9. The New Testament is in a book in the blood and heart of Jesus. It is when a thing is in the heart that it can be shown to others and can become a covenant. The harbourer of the testimony is God but He intends that His children will come of age and develop a heart of flesh (Eze. 36:26). A heart of flesh is a heart that has the capacity to respond to the Spirit, thus allowing God’s nature to find expression.
10. When God is giving us spirit, He is giving us glory. One who can minister spirit at this level is one who has been built up to that pedigree. For one to have glory, one must have the capacity to carry it. One must be a spirit to keep the ministry of glory alive. To be a spirit is not to be bodiless, but to come to a place where you can carry spiritual responsibility. A person of glory is one who can answer to glorious things and can carry out God’s demands for glory. It is God who makes a person an able minister of the New Testament (2 Cor 3:6). God enables us by blessing us with spirit.
11. Ministering the glory of God is ministering the Spirit of God, for the spirit of God is the glory of God. It is by ministering the glory of God that condemnation is taken care of and death is annulled or eliminated. When Jesus comes back to earth, some will be closer to Him because of how much death has been eliminated or conquered in them. One who has conquered death is more than a conqueror. We conquer death by the amount of glory that we have received. We have to receive glory and honour as against our death.
12. “But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away…” (2 Cor. 3:7). Before we are engraven upon, we have to be written upon; both are ministrations. The essence of writing is to show us the pattern we are to follow. Writing is the first grace unleashed by God. When God has written on a soul, He has traced the pattern of what is to be engraved. The work of glory is fully finished when engraving is done.
13. When God writes on us, we are enlarged and become wider in our thoughts. Then, our minds will work better than death and see it as a prey. Engraving is a sword to remove and excavate the death that is in us. Death is inside us by works. Some men have difficulty in obeying God because the engraving in them is deep. Therefore, when God is engraving, more effort and attention needs to be given to that graveyard. But anywhere there is a grave, there is a victory.
14. It shall be said of us like it was said of Jesus that He swallowed up death in victory. He could do this because glory came upon Him. God is writing laws in us that will make us swallow death in victory (Isa. 25:8). There is grace for as many of us who are not yet standing, that we may stand on our feet and receive resurrection. But even after we have received the spirit, we should obey it because the times over us have changed.
15. The world of murmuring and complaining is the graveyard of Satan, but we must leave such places and not be found there. They do not look for the living among the dead, therefore, we must leave our graveyards. An angel has been sent to roll away the stone that spells defeat and discouragement. The grave has been opened, so we must begin to prepare our minds and do our part of walking out of our graveyards.
Blessings!