Programme: Writing the Vision (May Edition)
Date: Saturday, 20th May 2023
Transcript Summary
1. Creature awaits the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:18-21). The creation was made subject to vanity in hope. God has a hope — He has a strong end in view. God purposed that man would partake of incorruption. God has substances in Himself which He desires to give creation in the fullness of time. In the fullness of time, He would begin to release the material of the incorruptible seed. The incorruptible seed is packaged in words. Although it seems like foolishness to those who are lost (1 Cor. 1:18), it has been purposed from the foundation of the earth that God would commit this hope to man through the foolishness of preaching.
2. God’s intent is to deliver incorruptible substances/elements/materials to man via the word and preaching. Thus, men must be raised to preach the substances that make up the incorruptible seed — God’s things. Many men do not value the incorruptible; they would turn their back on it. But God wants every son whom He has given the opportunity to hear the gospel and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, to fulfil His thought — which is to partake of the incorruptible.
3. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end (Jer. 29:11)”. God has an expected end in mind for man. Although we were conceived in corruption, He has ordained us to be incorruptible (Jer. 1:5). The preaching of the incorruptible to us is not a coincidence; it is intentional because we have a predestination. We should nurse this same hope that God nurses. Hope that is seen is not hope (Rom. 8:24). God subjected creation in the hope that He would deliver creation from corruption into incorruption (Rom. 8:20-21); He purposed that man would be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The essence of the gospel is to broadcast, project and share the very hope that God has in mind. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." (1 Cor. 15:19).
4. God purposed incorruptibility in His heart from the beginning. God knows what to give to the corruptible man to make him incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:43). Therefore, no angel, whether alive or fallen can separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:35-38). It is love that made God purpose the incorruptible for man. It is a purpose borne out of love; it is not because of anything we did.
5. “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (1 Cor. 15: 49)”. The same way we have borne the image of the earth, we would also bear the image of the heavenly. In Romans 1:23, some people turned the image of the incorruptible God to the image of the corruptible man; this is the agenda of Satan. Satan wants man to settle for less. He has been fighting for ages to limit man. For example, he reduced the quest of man to living well on earth and going to the present heaven.
6. Satan has brought forth different hopes to man to divert man's attention from God’s intention. But in the scriptures, it is revealed that there is a company of sons who would be made sons of God by being made incorruptible. If they would be sons of God, then they have to be born of God (1 John 3:9). Sons are born, and it is the incorruptible seed that is responsible for their birth (Rom. 8:20). The incorruptible seed is what can birth the children of God. This conversation of change and transformation is transmitted by the preaching of the word. This seed is transmitted to us through preaching. When the seed comes to us, we must first believe it against every whisper of evil spirits and assault of men who do not understand. For this reason, we must stay and wait on it until we believe and lay hold on it.
7. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” (1 Pet. 1:23). Being born again is a birth process. Heaven is redeeming men from corruption unto incorruption through a process. Thus, we must be ready to follow through. We are delivered from the bondage of corruption to the glorious liberty of the children of God by a birthing. In the process of being born, we would be led, instructed and subjected to certain conditions. There are commandments, dealings and sufferings, despisements, rejections or misunderstandings that we must endure. Oftentimes, people abort their seeds early because of this process. But we should hope to the end for the birth of the incorruptible seed in us.
8. While undergoing our birth, we should not be in haste. Although we often do not see a clear-cut noticeable change; this is the same way we are unaware of what goes on in a seed of maize that is planted. There is a need to keep hope for seasons to pass over it and for natural elements to work on the seed; this is when we expect the seed to sprout. But that is not the end; the seed must be allowed to still grow up the more. In the same vein, we grow in the process of being born by the incorruptible seed (1 Pet. 2:1-2). Therefore, we ought to cooperate with the Spirit and the Word in order to go through the process, knowing that faithful is He who has called us and He will do it (1 Thess. 5:24). He is the One who "works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). The incorruptible is the hope which God has for man, and He desires that we have this same hope and go through the dealing (endure the process).
Blessings!