Most Holy Call to Pray (CTP, 6th April, 2021)
Topic: Unveiling the Two Works of God’s Love
Minister: Rev. Kayode Oyegoke
“For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” (Isa. 66:2). A poor heart is a heart that has been worked on in the Outer Court, while a contrite spirit is a holy heart that is raised by the Sanctuary. A trembling heart is one that has been made of quick understanding in the fear of God (Isa. 11:3). A poor heart or meek spirit describes a heart that can receive the gospel of peace and hear faith. The church has not really heard the gospel yet because there are no poor hearts in it.
It is the faith in the Lord Jesus and love towards all the saints that will help a heart to transition into the state of being poor (Eph. 1:15). This faith involves trusting the Lord beyond your understanding, because God wants us to believe Him beyond the results we can see. The dealings of the faith in the Lord Jesus is closer to the charity dealing in Christ; it is love towards all the saints. At times, God will allow us encounter and learn to love some saints whose burden is equivalent to the whole body of Christ. The essence of this is to prove our faith.
The fulness of a poor heart is such that would gain entrance into the first dimension of the Kingdom of God, while a contrite spirit moves one further in the Holy Place. A trembling heart is one that has broken into the veil of the Holy of Holies. This type of heart is raised by the word of the fear of God. A man who is in the realm of the Holy of Holies has to be extra courteous, because such is the kind of man with the potential to give God rest.
Rest will come when works have been finished (Heb. 4:3-4). It starts in the realm of Everlasting Life, but it will not finish until the works of Everlasting Life have ended. Therefore, even when one has believed and entered into rest, it does not mean he has fully rested. The work that will be done in a high priest (i.e., an everlasting soul) will prepare him for the good works, which are good things to come. This is the work that would ultimately qualify the soul for rest.
The works constitute the nature of the Father. As such, when God was working in the six days of creation, He was revealing everything about Himself. That He rested after His works typifies that it had been a burden in His heart to rest. Therefore, anyone who is coming to God has to learn this path of rest because this is the ancient path to Eternal Life. God rested Himself in eternity because He is sure that anyone who will find Eternal Life will find Him. We need to draw near unto God so that He can also draw nigh to us (James 4:8). However, God can only meet with us in the Holy of Holies.
God blessed and sanctified the seventh day because this was when He rested from all His works (Gen. 2:3). However, the seventh day is still lower than Eternal Life because it is not yet the realm of immortality. It is a day to cease from works and come into rest (Heb. 4:10). The seventh day is the sanctification of Everlasting Life; it is still a day in the Holy of Holies. You cannot rest on the seventh day if you do not have what it takes to rest. You need to have worked to qualify for rest on the seventh day.
The men in the days of Genesis used different landmarks to walk in different “days”, but the Israelites were people of the years (Gen. 47:9). They were a generation that could not calibrate days but years. Days are nearer to Eternal Life because when God came to the earth in the beginning, He started with the creation of days. When the light for days is shining, rest has come. ‘Day’ is an announcement of rest; therefore, each day should teach us how to rest. Each work in each day is a stature of rest. When all the works have been done in you, God will require rest.
Anyone who cannot manage rest can never be an Ark. The Ark is a box of rest; it is a beast of rest which knows how to operate rest. The Ark has a sense decked with the wisdom of resting. It likes to be situated in woods because it is also made of wood. Trees are everlasting creatures while woods are God's everlasting works. A wood that has been hewn down to make furniture has stopped working because it has been cut off from its source of life.
Death is actually a state of rest. The reason why Jesus was killed was so that He could reap life. To lay on the cross is to be dead as a tree that no longer has life. For any labour to cease, the works must have been finished. The ark is a dead wood made from a tree, upon which works have been finished (Exo. 25:10). Jesus was dead to many things, therefore, He did not seek to show Himself to Cephas who instigated His crucifixion or Judas. We must also get to a place of the death of the cross because it is a discipline of rest (Matt. 16:24, Gal. 2:20).
When God is cutting (working and perfecting) us, no one should plead for or pity us. Rather, those who should be pitied are those who remain untouched by this process. This was why Jesus prevented people from weeping for Him at the time of His crucifixion (Luke 23:28). The essence of the work that happens inside the Testament is to cut trees into woods. As such, a time will come when those trees (souls with everlasting stature) will overcome the dragon because they would love not their lives unto death (Rev. 12:11).
God will not rest until He finds woods because they are His tabernacle. ‘Wood’ refers to ancient age because they are everlasting works. They reconcile the invisible and visible realms. The nature of woods is that they can serve man and also yield to God. As such, they will be made a house of God (a house of the covenant).
The heart of an ark are the fleshly tablets and this is what God wants to turn us into. The ark is the custodian of the covenant. The summary of the commandment is to teach man how to make God rest. The covenant of rest is higher than that of life and peace, for they are the commandments of the High Priest (Mal. 2:5).
Eternal life is not an ordinary realm. Without Everlasting Life, we cannot do or obey Eternal Life. Only a dead person can do Eternal Life. Everlasting Life kits us up to enter Eternal Life.