Programme: Believers’ Convention Prayer Meeting 2024 (Week 4_Day 1)
Date: Monday, 29th July 2024
Transcript Summary
1. “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, [23] to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, [24] and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” (Heb. 12:22-24). Those who are written in heaven are those who constitute the Church owned by the Firstborn. We cannot be called the Church of the Firstborn except we have come to Zion. Zion is a place of activity that can respond to the living God. In Zion, the living God is comfortable to run the activity of the living life that He is.
2. Zion is the city of the living God, not the temple. There is a difference between a temple and a city. The temple is the heart of the city. One can be in a city and not in the temple. God is comfortable in Zion to build an extension parameter around the temple. This means Zion can take an extension of the life of the temple. This tells us that Zion is also a very high place.
3. “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.” (Heb. 9:1). God also blessed the earthly tabernacle with divine order or service. Divine nature is a sure nature. Another word for something sure is steadfast. The words spoken by angels were steadfast, it means it was sure (Heb. 2:2). God gave angels something that can remain. This is why we cannot deal with that anomaly that Lucifer brought upon souls without going up the mountain.
4. “For the LORD hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for his habitation. [14] This is my rest for ever: Here will I dwell; for I have desired it.” (Ps. 132:13-14). God chose Zion because Zion was able to rise up to Him. This does not mean that Zion is God’s habitation, but that Zion evolved into something higher. God needs Zion to start with. God can put a foundation on Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Out of Zion will come the company of those who can house God. God chose Zion to make it a habitation for Himself because she yielded herself to the Lamb to be groomed into a habitation.
5. Psalm 132:11-15. God can build divine life out of Zion. What God is looking for is the conversation of divine life; a people who can respond to Him at this pedigree, whom He will commit divine life to. God makes His choice of sons from Zion. God is expecting an activity that will cause the poor in Zion to receive bread from Him. Though they are in Zion, they would not end there but go up further by being more hungry. One can get to Zion and stop being hungry.
6. Giving Zion bread is giving her flesh— the flesh of the Son of God which one cannot eat except one is hungry in Zion. The purpose of the flesh is to make them become an habitation of God. To give her bread is to give her the word of God that will build her up. When these people have been hewn from the Sanctuary by being built above Zion to stand upon it, that satisfaction with bread is for them to have the building that will make them the habitation of God.
7. “I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. [17] There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. [18] His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish.” (Ps. 132:16-18). Lamp speaks of light. There is a light God has ordained for His anointed. For something to bud is to show a sign of fruitfulness.
8. God’s statement to David in Psalm 132:11-12 was not just God promising him a son that would sit on the throne but also promising him other children who will also sit upon the throne with the Firstborn (Isa. 8:18). So the key to the throne is covenant and testimony (Ps. 132:11). Covenant is the work of God that would annul the final enmity into total surrender to God — an enmity that comes behind making demands so that we do not give all to God. The Firstborn is the teacher of the covenant. This is why He is called the Mediator; that mediation is by teaching. Ministers show a partial ministry of the Lamb; the Lamb ordains them to co-work with Him.
9. In the days of His flesh, Jesus worked in people and gave them life in different measures. There is no one Jesus appeared to that He never gave life to. Those whom Jesus called Apostles had more life. Without this sight, we cannot understand Jesus or preach Jesus in the days of His flesh well. In the days of His flesh, Jesus worked with the power of everlasting life; He was a minister of everlasting life.
10. God, in diverse manners, spoke by the prophets (Heb. 1:1-2). When God began to give the spoken word for His people to have direction was when the kingdom was transiting from a non-king governing dominion. Initially, the rulership of the kingdom of Israel was priestly, levitical, and prophetic; God did not allow them to have a king, rather He gave them judges. The judges came when Israel needed deliverance from their physical enemies. After some time, the prophetic ministry took that role. Samuel was both a prophet and a judge. Samuel was not raised until when Eli had begun to fail in his duty. Then God looked up to Saul, he failed also. Then God began to raise David. God began to raise prophets alongside the Davidic throne; that was the era of kings and prophets.
11. Prophets like Samuel and Elijah were deliverers. When Israel was going astray, they made sure Israel returned back to God. Those prophets held them from backsliding. When God saw that the backsliding of Israel would be healed, God released prophets to speak to them— their prophecy is what we have recorded in the scriptures. They also began to prophesy concerning Jesus and New Testament times; about another covenant, another season, testament, people, because the first covenant had failed.
12. There were prophets who prophesied up until the people of Israel were led captive into Babylon. Prophets like Haggai and Zechariah were post-exile prophets. Then prophets of scriptures like Nahum to Malachi did not bring any particular deliverance to Israel, rather, their ministry was directed towards preparing Israel for the coming of Jesus. Isaiah prophesied that they have a common enemy that is not man, and a super-Messiah has to be raised to handle the enemy.
13. The chief aim of Psalm 132 is to raise a body of people from Zion and set them on a mountain. These saints become superior Zion that God can entrust with life and make them sit on the throne. In Psalm 133, the calling is more than just servants, they are brethren the prophets. One cannot obey Psalm 133 without having obeyed Psalm 132. God can entrust testimony to servants. One must have finished service to be an enabled ‘brethren’ for the precious blessing of life. God wants to bless the Church with life.
14. ‘Blessing’ is called ‘dew’ in Psalm 133, whereas in the previous chapter it is called ‘bread’ (Ps. 132:15). However, brethren must have the unity of life for life to be given to them. When brethren unite together, they become Aaronic, they become high priests. If the four sons of Aaron could come together, they would have been like their father. They came out of Aaron divided, but they needed to galvanize together to have the strength of their father. That is when they become a horn that would later bud. Unity is not just a round connection but the followership of order or alignment. The sons need to align one after the other, if it is to be like Aaron’s head. So the brethren need to find their places in the alignment of unity.
15. Jesus wants to see alignment of unity in His children. The children of Jesus are like the sons of Aaron. Anytime they are to be presented, they must be arranged in order from the least to the greatest. This order signifies that they are healthy. God wants the stone to be well set. This is the training God will do to the Church of the Firstborn.
16. Jesus has obtained eternal salvation for us (Heb. 5:9), but we have to get to a place to get it. If we get to heaven without Eternal Life, we will realize that we are not yet saved. Salvation consists of two things: everlasting and eternal. We should be certified safe. God will raise both the spirit and soul, making them more than being perfect. Everlasting life is “perfect”. Eternal life is “perfect-perfect”; it is another kind of perfection that we will gain sense of.
17. “And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” (Isa. 25:6). This is a feast of blood. These things are the better things that the blood speaks (Heb. 12:24). The voice of the blood is the second voice of the Son.
18. “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: [26] Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. [27] And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” (Heb. 12:25-27). The things that colonize us are things or properties of the enemy’s blood, and they need to be taken away. Face must be destroyed. Face is stronger than veil. Veil covers the nation while face covers the people. Satan has weakened all nations. Out of the nations, a people would be raised who can confront face. We cannot deal with face except the Lord prepares a feast of fat things, which comes from the ministry of Jesus’ face. Jesus’ face is also a provider of His covenant— the blood of the everlasting covenant (Heb. 12 and 13). That is His shepherdic role as a priest.
19. Satan is not an angel of veil, he is more than the veil. He has a veil different from his covering. To deal with him, one has to go far to ‘face’. God knows how to pull out Satan so he can be judged. When men with the testimony have been given birth to, Satan will appear. In Revelation 12:3, Satan appeared as a dragon in his true strength because the testimony revealed him. This is what God wants.
Blessings!