Programme: Believers’ Convention Prayer Meeting (Week 2_Day 1)
Date: Monday, 22nd July 2024
Transcript Summary
(Jer. 33:12-13). This is the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning Judah. The cities of Judah and Benjamin had fallen into ruins and destruction came upon the people of God because they refused to be led, guided and kept by God. Thus, God allowed a terrible nation to take them and lead them by the hand out of the land of promise..
To lead them out of the land of promise is a figure of what is being spoken to us concerning the land of promise. There were no serious departures after entering the land by the people of Israel until the times of the kings. The rulers of this land were kings, prophets and priests – men who shepherded the flock of God. Though they entered the promised land, they were not in the land throughout; they were always taken out and brought back.
David was a complete leader of Israel and no other king could step into his role. David was not just a king, he was also a shepherd. He was a king, priest, prophet and psalmist. Immediately David mounted the throne, Israel began to dwell in peace. Of all his children that sat on the throne, the one that benefited more from the grace of the throne was Solomon—Jedediah.
Every other king did not extend on the throne; they did not bear fruits of exploits. Exploits in this sense is not that of conquering nations, but towards God. When exploits are moved upwards, the warfare is with spirits. David made conquests and advanced in worship. A king that is valuable in God is one who will perform exploits in the spirit and pave the way for people to get to God.
A king can be very interested in natural exploits that would cause men to praise him, and the majority of the kings of Israel failed because of this – they were interested in another kind of exploit. In the era of the kings of Israel, it was glorious to build houses and altars for gods; kings of the earth saw it as an exploit. To search out other gods on earth is giving mediums to men to access the realms of those gods. Kings felt inferior if they were unable to do well in the exploits of gods.
Satan knows how to fight different manifestations of God with different tools. In the past building a house for a god is to carve the image of that god and this was an exploit. To bring an image of any god is to import an invisible encounter and make it manifest on earth, showing to mankind beings that exist in another dimension. This was the reason those kings of Israel fell. This is why, in the days of Daniel, scriptures say “They that do know their god shall be strong and shall do exploits.” (Dan. 11:32).
The wisdom of this world promotes that the earth is a product of the theory of evolution (which is false) (Heb. 1:10). God laid the foundation of the earth but that is not a work. The earth became a work when He finished with heavens and came to earth to begin to work for 6 days. The way the years of the stars are calculated according to astronomical knowledge shows that they are lesser than the earth in age; the earth is older than every star. This is the Bible and nothing is as sure as the Bible! Thus, we should follow scriptures and not what the world teaches about the earth.
The prophests from Jeremiah to Malachi were not prophets of deliverance to Israel, rather, they were prophets of sufferings. These were prophets with the spirit of Christ in them. God used them as a sign of suffering of Christ in their generation. What these prophets did on earth was too strong; what they gave to the world, not just Israel, was a gift. These were prophets of the promises of God; they were prophets of the word, mind, will and Kingdom of the Lord.
God made promises to man (Rom. 1:1-2). What the scriptures are holding are His promises. Thus, the purpose of the prophets is to archive promises. What God kept secret are the things He hid in the prophets, now being made manifest. Israel failed to discern these prophets because they did not know them and their manner.
Our promised land was discovered by some pilgrims and they entered it, dwelt there and some of them passed away from there. Satan fought people in our promised land, for it is a land that devours its inhabitants (Num. 13:32-33). We need to stay in the land until we receive all the promises. There are wars to be fought on that land and Jesus is well able to give us this land. The enemies of this land are spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12).
Jesus overcame all spiritual wickedness and at the end, He overcame the dragon. He used His life on earth to overcome spirits that are wicked. The wars in the promised land in the book of Joshua are wars against wicked occupants. Thus, Israel had to slay them and for every slay, there was rest. We should not rest until we have conquered all the wicked spirits.
God has different ways of fighting spirits because there are places in wickedness. Thus, different patterns are required to fight these spirits because they have different manners. One needs to wait for instructions to overcome certain spirits of wickedness. Those kings in the promised land were taught by spirits on how to dwell in the land and not be taken; they were all men of stature. When Abraham was in that land, men of stature were not there, but after some hundreds of years, they grew. This is because Satan knew that Israel was coming back and he had to do something to the bodies of men in the land.
There are men of stature and giants that we will meet in the promised land. Stature is a perversion of everlasting life; the city was built after an everlasting pattern. The land was existing not to leave, for it was an everlasting occupation. It could only take God to take it out. Satan wants to advance the world above God’s standard, but there is nothing he can do. A lot of Christians want to copy the world but that is not where the answer is – the answer is in God!
There is a prophecy of the promised land in the New Testament; there is an occupation but Satan moved people away from there. Thus, we no longer see men on earth who are in the promised land. The promised land is not about natural acquisition. There is a manner of man that we ought to be which cannot be captured by religion, but only by revelation and appearance. Jesus needs to show us how our brethren look like.
The early New Testament saints had entrance into the promised land. We see this is in the book of Hebrews, as we can see movements of men. A lot of people had not entered. The reason Paul went to Peter was for them to see Christ (Gal. 1:18-19). One cannot have access into the everlasting gospel without being kept through faith (1 Pet. 1:3-5). The power of God is the gospel of Christ that would preserve unto salvation. This is another evidence that the Hebrew church was taught Christ after Paul came.
The fact that one has entered everlasting life does not mean that one cannot come out, but it would be difficult to do so. Satan will fight such a person and make one not do well in everlasting life. The seven churches in Revelation (Rev. 2 – 3) were everlasting churches; they were in the land of promise. They had gone so high that what they were waiting for was Eternal Life.
Everlasting life is gradual; it transits from incorruptible to undefiled to unfading (1 Pet. 1:3-4). We need all the land to inherit the fullness of blessing. Everlasting life has gradual deposits; it is a measure unto the fullness. All the measure of the fullness of the land are twelve in number. They are persons of God and they are all divided in the tribes. The height, base, length and breadth of the city is twelve; it is twelve thousand furlongs but twelve measures also. This means that in the city, everything about God’s fullness should be complete. The fullness of the Godhead bodily is in Christ (Col. 2:9).
(Col. 2:9-10). This is not the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; it is the body of everlasting life carrying Eternal Life. That is who the everlasting Father is. Those are the things the four living creatures (Ezek. 1:5) catch in a figure; it means that the fullness lies four squared. The fullness of the Godhead bodily is still the tribe of the Godhead bodily.
Jesus came to the churches in Revelation and all the things He was saying were works. The walk in the midst of the seven golden candlestick was His coming until the last coming (Rev. 2:1). He came to check His work in them and was expecting a finished work but He found some of those works faulty. These works were not perfect enough for Him to come (Rev. 2 – 3). For works, He comes; but for reward, He comes quickly (Rev. 22:20).
(Rev. 22:7-12). This scripture is not for a church in the Sanctuary but to an everlasting church. When Jesus says ‘I will come to you’, it is for works, but when He says ‘I come quickly’, He is coming for reward. Jesus will keep coming until the work is finished. The work is just one work – the work of God.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood are works. To eat His flesh is to do His flesh (John 5:63) and to drink His blood is to do His blood. Both are doings; they are the first and last works respectively. The essence of the evil doctrines in the book of Revelation (that is, the doctrines of Nicolatians, Jezebel, Balaam, and so on) are to stop the work; such will fight against both the flesh and the blood. What was fighting against the churches in the book of Revelation were doctrines, not precepts. The things that the churches are meant to be doing are doctrines.
The first work is an image and the second work is likeness. (Gen. 1:26). Likeness is more of living; it is the manifestation of an image. One needs to do a work for the image to speak. To be like God is higher than having His image. Likeness has the same meaning as an engraving. An express image is an image that is expressing; it is a living image. An image is an edifice, it is not dumb. There is something about an image behaving exactly the way God wants it. This is the work God wants on earth. Going to university can build something in a person, but such may not live in the reality of that thing. This is because the person has not received the substance in full.
A graver is someone who carves; likeness is someone who carves. If a man stands, he is just an image, but when he moves, he is carving, which gives a greater demonstration of his person. One of man’s carvings are his expressions (for example, laughter). An express image is likeness. In the Hebrew language, likeness is more expressive, it is the concrete model while image is to shade; it is a phantom or an illusion. When something is expressive, it is not an image, but a likeness. Men do not want to shade, for they want to make likeness.
Blood is where the code of the image is. What the image should be doing is stored in the blood. For all those years before Jesus was manifest, God was building Him and pouring Himself into Him. God is an expert in building.
Word and testimony are not the same. Without the word and the testimony, reward will not come. It is only an express image that can receive reward. The work has to be finished because the reward comes quickly and one who is not expressive will be slower. Jesus had people with Him so they could have an expression. The reason He is taking men in and out is to build them so they can be fully expressive. They are skills of the ministration of the Spirit to cause them to respond as apostles of the things of God.
The entirety of the Son of God is the bread and the blood. All that the Father gave the Son is the bread and blood. The Father is not just a building, He has life (John 5:26). One may be standing physically or may be mobile, but may not have a building; such does not have flesh. Thus, we should come to eat flesh. One cannot eat flesh without hearing flesh, then such can do flesh. If one does not hear it enough, such would not be able to eat it. What one hears most is what one will do.
Blessings!