Believers’ Convention 2024 (Day 3 – Evening Session)
Date: Tuesday, 20th August, 2024
Minister: Pastor Benjamin Gin
Topic: The Son of God and His Ministry
Transcript Excerpt
(John 5:14-18) Jesus not only defied the law of the Sabbath; He also said God is His Father. According to the Jewish mind and understanding, He was making Himself equal with God. The Jews considered this blasphemous. What Jesus said called for a death sentence in their mind because He was introducing something to their mind that would bring an end to the reign of a king. However, Jesus’ saying that God was His Father is an announcement to end one kingdom and introduce another.
The work of the Father is the work of raising Jesus as a Son. The Father had not raised a Son like Him before; He was the first and He called God His Father. In some existing cultures, talking about the Son of God would call for a death sentence. In the North for example, one should not talk carelessly about the holy book, the holy prophet, or call anyone the son of God. They would term this person blasphemous and issue a death sentence. This behaviour is beyond culture and religion; it is about a spirit. Satan is threatening the coming of the Son of God; this is the season we have come into. The threat is not enough, it is a season.
The Church is yet to know the import of the Son of God like evil spirits do know. They know that if God can work and raise a Son, it is saying that the kingdom of God is come. It is saying that the eternal dream of God is taking shape and God is about to be embodied. To the understanding of spirits, it means that ‘a people are come’ who do not just look like God but have the essence of God. The Firstborn, Jesus, is the One who paved the way for such to happen.
Jesus, at the age of twelve, had already located the coordinates of sonship to be about His Father’s business (Luke 2:49). There is persecution and, oftentimes, killing when one calls oneself a son. This is because what the person means is that he/she is embodying God—spirit, soul and body. The Jews understood this very well. The announcement of sons of God means that God is raising a people that would stand and be like Him. It is a technology. To our company, that is not achieved in one service or reading a book; it is a life journey. Jesus is in piles and layers; we keep journeying from layer to layer until the ultimate coming.
Jesus was raised to be the mediator between God and man. The average believer thinks mediation is all about cleansing us from the works of the flesh but it is more than that. Until every rebellion and everything that does not look like God is removed from us, we are not reconciled. Until God is able to remove everything that is not of His life and replace it fully with His life, the work of mediation is not done. We must have holy fear.
“Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.” (Matt. 27:54). The centurion caught fear, this man had a close encounter like Peter did when He declared Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. God will open our eyes to see some things.
“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. [51]And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; [52]And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose…” (Matt. 27:50-52). The centurion was not in the temple. He was watching Jesus and He was seeing all the things that happened in Him (Matt. 27:54). In Jesus, they saw the earthquake and the renting of the veil. We must look unto Jesus and have great fear. Great fear is not to run away, but a season is being announced upon us so that things that need to give way would give way. That fear will make us submit to His dealings and allow us to let God do His work and to say that the Son of God is come.
(John 6:68-69; 1 John 5:20; Mark 15:39). Mark captured the account and emphasized that it was the Man Jesus that truly is the Son of God. The desire of the Lord is that man would be translated to become a son of God. That man will look at Jesus and see veils parting and understandings will come that will lead him to knowing Him that is true. We should desire the Lord to give us His fear.
Blessings!