Rebellious children of God/Obey God and eat the good of the Land/ “Babylon is fallen!”/Entering into God’s rest, the Promised Land/God’s power to the faint and the weary/Woe unto you… Chorazin, Bethsaida…”

 

 

 

GOD’S BLESSINGS FOR HIS PEOPLE UNDER THE NEW COVENANT

 

God has in store great blessings for His people in the Promised Land under the New Covenant.  All the promises of God given to His people under the Old Covenant can be inherited by His people under the New Covenant. We, the members of His Body, are the children of promise, the spiritual descendants of Abraham, who was the father of faith.  Let us now meditate on the 34th chapter of Ezekiel.  The Lord commanded Prophet Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel because the Levitical priesthood failed to deliver goods to His flock.  Instead, the priests suppressed and drove away the flocks under their care.  The flocks were finally scattered abroad.  God judged the shepherds of Israel through the hands of their enemies.  At the same time, God gave promises of restoration and blessings to His people under a new covenant of peace (Vs.25).  God is today gathering His people scattered abroad under the new covenant in the one Body of Christ.

 

His promises of restoration and of blessings in verses 21 to 31 are for us, and not for the people of the physical Israel who rejected Christ and the new covenant of God.

 

God promised through His prophet in verse 22, “Therefore will I save My flock….”.  This promise is being fulfilled in the ministry of Christ Jesus.  God is saving His flock from the four corners of the world through the Blood of His Son.

 

In verses 23 and 24, God referred to “My servant David”.  This prophetically refers to the ministry of Christ Jesus, the Seed of David, and not to the earthly rule of King David.  These promises of God were not fulfilled during the rule of King David because there were wars, violence, sin, insecurity, judgment of God, etc. prevalent in the physical kingdom of David.

 

In this background, I am led by the Spirit to give you an insight into the blessings of the Kingdom of Christ.

 

“Therefore will I save My flock, and they shall no more be a prey: and I will judge between cattle and cattle…..” (Eze.34:22).

 

If you are saved by the Blood of Christ Jesus, you would join His flock.  His flock shall no more be a prey.  Under the Old Covenant, the people of Israel became a prey to their enemies as and when they forsook the ways of God.  The enemies of the nation of Israel under the Old Covenant were termed as heathens, whereas the enemies under the New Covenant are the Devil and his unseen rulers.

 

The Lord does not want His people to become a prey to the Devil under the covenant of the Blood of Christ Jesus.  People who are ignorant of the truth concerning the Blood of Jesus fall a prey to the Devil.

 

Under the Old Covenant, God did not have the personal fellowship with every cattle of His flock.  Instead, He chose leaders like Moses, David, etc. to rule and judge His flock. Even when these leaders failed to obey God on some occasions, the judgment of God devoured the flocks under them. However, under the New Covenant, God knows each and every cattle of His flock so intimately that He calls them by name.  God can thus judge between cattle and cattle.

 

If you know the truth, the truth will set you free today.  Please remember that you are no longer a prey to the Devil or anyone in this world.  In Christ Jesus, you are complete.  There is no spot in thee.  Thou art fair!

 

Confess through your mouth that you are not a prey to the Devil who has brought this disease to your body. Command the sickness in your body to leave you under the Covenant of the Blood of Jesus Christ. Command the unhappiness in your family to disappear in the Name of Jesus Christ.  Command your strained marriage to be restored in the Name of Jesus Christ.

 

In the Promised Land, you should command all the curses brought on your family through the sins of your forefathers to be removed from your house through the Blood of Jesus.

 

“And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David: He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd” (Eze.34:23).

 

God set up one Shepherd over His people the moment Christ died on the Cross and rose from the dead. Through the Cross of the Lord Jesus, God made both the Jews and the Gentiles one by breaking down the middle wall of separation (Eph.2:14-18). There is now one Shepherd over His people, irrespective of whether they are the Jews or the Gentiles. Seeing Christ through his prophetic eyes, King David said in Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my Shepherd”.  All the children of God redeemed by the Blood of Jesus have one Shepherd only, though they belong to different denominational churches, nationalities or races.

 

If you know the truth that Jesus is your Shepherd, you “shall not want” because He Himself feeds you.  God supplies all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil.4:19).  In the past, you had sought human help for supplying all your need.  Confess through your mouth today that Christ Jesus is your Shepherd and that you shall not want.

 

“And I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them: I the Lord have spoken it” (Eze.34:24).

 

The Lord of the Heaven and the earth has become our personal God under the New Covenant.  And His Son Jesus has become our Prince in His Kingdom.  What a privileged people we are today! The God of the Old Covenant, Whom the people of Israel were frightened of, has become our personal God.  The God Who judged His people instantly when they rebelled against Him has now become a forgiving God.  The Word became flesh and dwells among us, and we behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:14-17). Whenever we backslide in our spiritual life, His grace upholds and restores us.  He does not condemn us but chastens us out of His fatherly love (Heb.12:7-11).

 

If you know the truth that you have a personal God and that Christ is your Prince in the Father’s Kingdom, no power on this earth can overcome you.

 

“And I will make them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.” (Eze.34:25).

 

God made a covenant of peace with the people through the Blood of Jesus Christ and caused the evil beasts to cease from the Promised Land. The Promised Land under the New Covenant is not a physical land or a physical kingdom.  It is a spiritual life intertwined with the life of Christ and with the lives of the other members of His Body, the Church. It is a spiritual place where we find the Tabernacle of God in our midst.  On the Cross of Calvary, the works of Satan were destroyed completely so that he could no longer put the people of God in bondage to sin and sicknesses. The evil beasts symbolical of the satanic powers were stripped of their powers on the Cross itself so that the people of God could live a life of victory in the Promised Land safely, even in the wilderness. The Antichrist and the False Prophet who are described as beasts in the 13th Chapter of the Book of Revelation have no power or authority over you if you have entered the Promised Land under the New Covenant.

 

There is indeed a wilderness in the Promised Land.  Often in our spiritual life, we are driven to a wilderness where we suffer loneliness or fear or insecurity. However, in this wilderness, the Devil cannot overcome us because Christ our behalf not only overcame the evil one in the wilderness after his 40 days’ fast on our behalf but also finally triumphed over him and stripped him of all his power through the blood of the Cross.  Whenever we face the wilderness experience in our life, we should not get disheartened but remember that the Devil had lost all his power over us when Christ died for our sin and rose from the dead.

 

Since many of us are ignorant of this truth, we tend to give a place to the Devil and thus allow him to tempt and oppress us in the wilderness. If you know the truth, the truth will deliver you.

 

We can dwell safely in the wilderness and also can sleep in the woods. Normally, nobody would like to stay in a jungle surrounded by wild beasts. Since the Devil has been stripped of his power in the Promised Land, we can sleep in the spiritual jungle of the Land.  All of us do sleep in our spiritual life at one time or the other.  But the Devil has absolutely no power over us.  He cannot annihilate us spiritually during our spiritual slumber in the comforts of our life.

 

At times, we rest from our labors in the Vineyards of God. A weary minister may go on a short vacation along with his family.  A minister may not be spending much time in his prayer at times due to his bodily fatigue or due to some other reasons.  But the grace of God surrounds him.  The powerless Devil cannot attack him during this period unless he gives a place to the former.

 

The preachers often quote the instance of Peter’s slumber in the garden of Gethsemane as the reason for his denying Jesus.  According to them, if Peter had prayed for an hour, he would not have fallen into the temptation. Peter denied Christ not because he could not pray but because the prophecy of Jesus at the time of the Last Supper had to be fulfilled.  Jesus had prophesied that Peter would deny Him thrice that night before the rooster crew much before they entered the garden of Gethsemane.

 

By imploring Peter to pray for at least one hour so that he should not enter into temptation, Jesus revealed to Peter the secret of prayer that in order to overcome temptation, he needed the spiritual strength from God so that he might not enter into such temptation in his life. Jesus did not mean the temptation of Peter to deny Him at that particular time but the temptation Peter would face in his entire life towards the lust of the flesh and the lust of the world, especially after the ascension of his Master into the heaven. Prayer prepares us in our spiritual life so that we may not enter into temptation at all. These days, we do not pray before entering into temptation but pray only after entering into temptation.

 

No doubt, one should spend more time in prayer for his spiritual growth and for his effective ministry. But at the same time, let us bear in mind that even we cannot pray for some reason, the Devil has no power to attack or oppress us because the Blood of Jesus around us had stripped the Devil of all his power. In other words, the covenant of peace through the Blood of Jesus had destroyed his power.

 

“And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing” (Eze.34:26).

 

Under the New Covenant, God has made us and the places all round His will (Zion) a blessing.  He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph.1:3). His very presence i.e. His Tabernacle is in the midst of us, the members of the Body of Christ. Every spiritual blessing means all blessings and does not exclude “physical blessing”.  God’s blessing touches our spirit first and then percolates down to our body.  When we get saved in our spirit by the Blood of Jesus, the curses of sin in our body also disappear.  Some preachers wrongly say that spiritual blessing does not include divine healing or financial prosperity.

 

God did not create the spirit and the body of Adam separately.  God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul (Gen.2:7).  God first made the body of man and then gave him the breath of His life.  The breath of life given by God to Adam became a living soul. When Adam committed sin, his living soul became dead. The dead soul of man was restored to the life in God through Christ Jesus.  Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior become living souls, having been quickened together with Christ Jesus (Eph.2:5).  When a man is saved by the Blood of Jesus, his whole man is blessed by God.  This is the truth.  If you know the truth, the truth will deliver you.

 

God has caused showers of blessing to come down in their season.  Why do not we receive “showers of blessing” as promised by God? God’s promise is always true.

 

The heaven-sent revival or the latter rain would have broken out long ago.  But it tarries.  The showers have been withdrawn and there has been no latter rain (Jer.3: 3). Who is blameworthy for this?

 

As far as God is concerned, He is not to blame because He has appointed for us seasons for the former and latter rains and seasons for the harvests (Jer.5: 24).  Alas, no harvest is in the offing and the appointed harvesting seasons are almost past.  Heed to the prophetic message from God by His prophet Jeremiah who bewailed, “your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you” (Jer.5: 25).  God’s eyes are upon all your ways; they are not hid from His face, neither is your iniquity hid from His eyes (Jer.16: 17).

 

Why does revival tarry?  Why our prayers for revival have not yet been answered?  Is God to blame for this?  Is the Lord’s hand shortened, that He cannot save our nations from peril and disaster?  Is His ear heavy, that He cannot hear our prayer for revival? No! Then, who is to blame if your nation is lost?  It is your iniquities – the iniquities of the chosen people of God –, which have separated you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear (Is.59: 1-2).

 

Unless we repent and turn to God with a humble heart, we cannot receive the showers of blessing that God intends to send us.

 

Many of us in our churches sing at the top of our voices, “showers of blessing we need”.  But we do not repent of our trespasses and backslidings. If God wants a nation to be blessed, the national leaders of that nation should repent and turn to God.  If they have killed their enemies or destroyed their nations through their might, they should repent in sackcloth.  God will not bless their nation if they simply pray, “God bless our nation”.

 

For a revival of the Church, individual members of the Church, the Body of Christ should humble themselves, and pray, and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways; they should repent and return to God (2 Chr. 7:14, Hosea 6:1-3 and Rev.2:5).

 

“And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them “ (Eze.34:27).

 

In our mission fields, though our evangelists work to bring a few people to the saving knowledge of Christ, yet their trees do not yield their fruit in the absence of showers of blessing. Under the New Covenant of peace, through the showers, the Lord is prepared to pour out His Spirit on our mission fields. Let us beseech the Lord to fulfill His promise of showers in place of a few drops here and there. I believe that the Lord will fulfill His promise of blessings because He has already broken the bands of our yoke, and delivered us out of the hand of the Devil and his forces through the Covenant of the Blood of Jesus Christ.

 

When God fulfills His promise of showers of blessing, there would be such an abundance of divine blessings, both material and spiritual, especially in the lives of the children of God that, on seeing their prosperity, the other people would glorify God.  This world is to be blessed by God only through you and me, the members of the Body of Christ. The whole earth will yield the increase when the world-revival breaks out.

 

Let us believe that God will send “showers of blessing” in the Promised Land.

 

“And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid”.

 

“And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more”.

 

“Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them and that they, even the house of Israel, are My people, saith the Lord God”.

 

“And ye My flock, the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God” (Eze.34:28-31).

 

In the Promised Land, there is a plant of renown.  This is the five-fold ministry of the Body of Christ which was born on the day of Pentecost. This plant was planted by Christ on the day of Pentecost.  The five types of ministers as ordained by God under the New Covenant are the servants to the other members of the Body. They serve and feed the people of God in their spiritual life in the Land so the latter need not suffer hunger any longer. Through this wonderful ministry of these five types of ministers, the people of God would receive abundance of blessings and would not bear the shame of the heathen any more.  The people of this world cannot suppress the people of God in the Promised Land.  In the Promised Land, they are well protected by the Blood of Jesus Christ and are fed by the plant of renown.

 

We thus know that the Lord our God is with us in the Promised Land and that we are His people of the New Covenant.  We are the flock of His pasture.  Amen.

 

Rebellious children of God

 

Who are the rebellious children that rebel against the living God? Let us meditate on Is.30:1-3. Maybe, you are a born-again Christian. If you commit the following acts, you are a rebellious child of God that adds sin to sin. Rebellion against God is the most horrible sin which cast down Lucifer from the Heaven.


(i) Taking counsel from the ungodly people of this world in matters of business, marriage, etc. There are many children of God who seek counsel from the advocates/jury in matters pertaining to divorce, etc. They never seek God for His counsel through His ministers.

(ii) Taking a covering of this world but not of His Spirit. There are many children of God who trust in the riches of this world or in the protection of their rulers but do not trust God for their material blessings or for their protection. Though they claim to have received the Holy Spirit baptism, they deny Him by their sin of rebellion.

(iii) Going down into Egypt for counsel, strengthening themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and trusting in the shadow of Egypt. Pharaoh or Egypt is typical of a political system/government that trusts in its own strength or might. This system of governance is opposed to the power of God being manifested through the Church. The Church, the Body of Christ, is above every power, every authority, every dominion, in this world. Christ has given all His authority and dominion to the Church and not to any political system or power of this world whereas Satan has given all His authority and dominion to the Antichrist who administers the kingdom of Satan through the present political powers.

 

Dear child of God, if you go to Egypt for counsel, you are submitting yourself to the authority of the antichrist. Be careful.

 

 

Obey God and eat the good of the Land

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Is.1:19-20).

 
After accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, you have entered the Promised Land. Having entered the Promised Land, you are supposed to inherit the great blessings that are in store for you.

“Since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for him” (Is.64:4).

There are indeed blessings that men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, for those people redeemed by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ.

These blessings are the good of the land you have now entered through the Blood of the Lamb. No men have not heard, nor perceived by their ear, neither hath their eye seen these great blessings reserved by God for the Church.

In order to inherit these blessings, you have to obey His Word. If you live in a relationship which is not scriptural, you have to cut it off (Matt.5:29-30). Touch not unclean things.

Today, the Lord is calling you to come close to Him and to obey Him so that you can inherit the blessings that God has prepared for you since the beginning of the world.

 

Babylonian is fallen!

 

John reveals in the chapters 17th and 18th of Revelation on the mystery of Babylon and of the beast on which a woman rides. This woman is revealed as seated on a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns, arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication (17:3-4). The riches of this kingdom are further narrated in 18:12-13.

 

Upon her forehead was name written:

 

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND

ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.


She was drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.


There is purely an economic and materialistic kingdom in this world, being established on the foundation of money and wealth, and not on the laws of God. In other words, it is a kingdom of trade and industry. Every ruler has committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies (18:3). This materialistic kingdom is quite opposed to the kingdom of Christ. This kingdom does not trust in the one true God but in the wealth of nations. This materialistic kingdom makes every ruler forget God and His laws so that he, by virtue of his material prosperity, commits spiritual adultery with this global economic system. It has corrupted the whole world (19:2).



It we read the church history, the rulers of this world who worshipped the god of materialism, and who did not worship the true living God and Christ killed many believers. The gospel of Christ did not allow them to lead a sumptuous and materialistic life. Nor did it allow them to help the needy because Christ preached that the rich cannot enter the kingdom of God. They had a free hand to accumulate wealth by suppression and exploitation of the weak. In every nation, this economic system suppresses the poor and the weak. The millionaires of this world are a part of this Babylonian system.



The waters where the whore sits are “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues”. This whore, symbolical of this global economic system, reigns “over the kings of the earth”(18:15, 18).



What about the mystery of the beast that carries this woman? (18:7). It “shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition….” (18:8). It has the seven heads and ten horns (18:8). This is the same beast as described in the 13th chapter of Revelation. This is none but the Antichrist. This clearly shows that this global economic system is propped up by the political

power of the Antichrist or his kingdom.

According to John, the ten horns, representing ten kings, had not received their kingdom at the time he wrote the book of Revelation. But they would receive power as kings one hour with the beast (18:12). The word “one hour” is not literally one hour of our worldly clock. This shows a very short period of time within which the kingdom of the ten horns would receive their political power from the beast, the Antichrist.

We now see a powerful economic kingdom emerging through the EU. The European Common Market is about to control the whole economy of this world. These ten horns “which thou sawest upon the beast”, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (17:16). As we are aware, the economic power of the US Dollar was ruling the whole world. Economy of every nation is still being controlled by the Dollar diplomacy. Now slowly, the currency of EU, called Euro, is gaining momentum. Euro is thus eating the flesh of the Dollar system. These ten horns hate the hegemony of the Dollar system, which has pervaded the global economy.


The sins of this whore, the present global economic system controlled by the Dollar “have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (18:5). God is now remembering her iniquities and judging her by plagues (17:1 and 18:21).



John describes the severity of the divine judgment on the whore in 18:9-24 and 19:1-3). An angel proclaims in Rev.14:8, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication”. All nations are thus partaking of the divine judgment on Babylon. The fall of the twin trade towers in USA due to the terrorists’ attack on 11 September 2001 is symbolical of the downfall of the present global economy system controlled by the Dollar. In every nation, its economy is not sound with unemployment soaring high, and with poverty showing its ugly head.

Even developed nations are not free from economic ills.

 

John exhorts the members of the Body of Christ to “come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (18:4). These days, we find that plagues like SARS, AIDS, etc. are spreading their tentacles everywhere, especially creating a great panic in those countries that believe in the god of materialism.

 

The Babylonian rule of this world leads to self-gratification and materialism. Let us not follow the global principles of accumulation of wealth by becoming richer and richer at the cost of morality, holiness and righteousness.



The people of God should come together in the one body of Christ, leaving the filthiness of the Babylonian rule. The people of God should not be materialistic-minded but should be Christ-minded. Let them not accumulate wealth but share their material blessings with the other members of the Body of Christ who are poor and needy. During the New Testament period, the disciples sold their possessions and shared their material things with the other people of God. They should thus come out of Babylon lest her plagues should take hold of them.

 

 

Entering into God’s rest, the Promised Land

 

Better Covenant for us

 

In the 3rd chapter of Hebrews, we study the ministry of Moses under the Old Covenant and the ministry of Jesus under the New Covenant.  Moses as a servant was verily faithful in all his house.  But Christ “was counted worthy of more glory than Moses inasmuch as he who hath buildeth the house hath more honor than the house” (3:3).  Christ was faithful “as a Son over His own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (3:6).

 

Under the New Covenant, we are the house of God built by God, Jesus being the Chief Corner Stone.  We would remain as the House of God if we hold fast our faith till the end.

 

God wanted the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land (the land of Canaan).  It was not His will that they should remain in the wilderness over a long period of 40 years, just with their seeing His works by way of miracles.

 

Evil heart of unbelief

 

They had “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (3:12).  God was grieved with them because “they do always err in their heart: and they have not known My ways” (Vs.10).  God swore in His wrath, “They shall not enter into My rest” (Vs.11). The land of Canaan was a place of rest for the people of Israel.

 

Sin of unbelief

 

“But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Vs.13).  Unbelief is a sin. These days, the people of God do not take God at His Word. They have fallen into the trap of the Devil through unbelief. Jesus could not perform miracles during His earthly ministry on many occasions because of “unbelief” (Mark 16:14).  Today also, the people of God harden their hearts through the deceitfulness of sin. The Devil makes the people of God doubt the promises of God so that they do not hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of their hope firm unto the end. Do you have “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God”? If some miracle is not performed by God in the manner we want it, or if there is some delay in receiving some blessing from God, we fall into the temptation of departing from the living God.  We do not hold Him firmly till the end.  Half-way through, we leave Him and go our way. The Devil rejoices over this. Backsliding or departing from the living God takes us backward from the Promised Land.

 

Being partakers of Christ

 

We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end (Vs.14). Our confidence in Jesus should be unshaken and firm.  It should be steadfast unto the end. We are made partakers of Christ in this very world.  The people of this world would find Christ in us. These days, the people of God want to receive only some morsels of blessings from God through miracles like the people of Israel under the Old Covenant.  Have you ever thought of being made partakers of Christ?

 

Remaining in the wilderness all the years

 

“Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses….. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (16-19).

 

Similarly, not all the people of God redeemed by the precious Blood of Jesus enter the Promised Land. They want to remain in the spiritual wilderness being satisfied with the morsels of divine healing or some miracles. They do not know that there would be “showers of blessing” in the Promised Land (Eze.34:25-26).  They are grieving the Holy Spirit by their unbelief.  If they remain in the wilderness for a long period, they will also perish as the people of Israel did. The people of Israel had encountered a physical death in the wilderness because they grieved God by unbelief. Similarly, we also face a spiritual death in this wilderness if we do not enter the Promised Land.

 

Rest for the people of God

 

Let us now proceed to the chapter 4 of Hebrews. In this chapter, the Holy Spirit teaches us in detail of the rest for the people of God under the New Covenant.  All the people of Israel could not enter the rest because of unbelief. This place of rest is none but the Promised Land. The gospel concerning the Promised Land was preached to the people of Israel also in the same manner as the gospel of Christ is preached to us today (4:2). But the word preached to the people of Israel did not profit them, “not being mixed with faith” (4:2).  The gospel of Christ does not end with our acceptance of Jesus as our Savior and with our receiving some morsels of blessings from God. In many churches, they claim to preach the “full” gospel, whereas the word “full” is not mentioned as an affix to the word “gospel”.  We find “the glorious gospel”, and not “full gospel”.  It is the gospel taking us to the glorious land.

 

God did rest the seventh day from all His works (4:4). There was “another day” for the people of Israel under the Old Covenant (4:8).  “For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day” (Vs.8). That was a day of rest in the Promised Land.

 

We have to rest in the perfect work of God’s redemption for us through the Blood of Jesus as God rested from His perfect work of creation. It is our faith in the finished work of salvation for us through Christ Jesus. Christ will not again go to the Cross for saving us from sin or for healing us. “There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God” (Vs.9). In this place of rest, we have to depend upon God 100%, and to have fellowship with the members of the Body of Christ, the Church.

 

Ceasing from our own works

 

“For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his” (Vs.10).

 

Entering into rest does not mean physically resting from God’s ministry.  Here, we have to do what God wants us exactly to do in His vineyard. We should not do more than or less than what He wants to do. If you are an evangelist, you should abide in your calling. If you are a prophet, you should abide in your calling.  You cannot be both a prophet and a pastor of some local church. If you are an apostle, you cannot confine yourself to the pastoral functions of a local church. You should not be an all-rounder.

 

Here, you have to cease from your own works. Doing your own works means taking on your shoulder many responsibilities which are meant for the other members of His Body. It is a body ministry, each one of us performing our individual role as a team.

 

“Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (Vs.11).

 

 

God’s power to the faint and the weary

 

O dearly beloved bride of Christ, do you feel weak in your body and spirit today as you sojourn in the wilderness of this world?  Do you faint over the inordinate delay in the fulfillment of His promises to you?  Are you still caught in the web of the Devil, having exhausted all your strength?  Do you shed tears today as your hope of reconciliation with your estranged spouse has come to naught?  Are you still afflicted with that deadly disease despite the best medical treatment being taken by you over the years?  Do you find yourself in a narrow place in your career, having been suppressed by your bosses?

 

Do you know that our Lord “giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might He increaseth strength”? (Is.40:29)

 

Today as you read this message, you can find your Shepherd stand by your side and strengthen you in your mind, body and spirit. He gives His power to you.

 

In these days of stress and strain, even the youths faint and become weary.  The young men utterly fail (Is.40:30). We always use the word “tension” for every discomfort or problem.

 

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Is.40:33).

 

There is a line of demarcation between the young men of this world and the people of God.  Some of the people of God may be old in their age.  But, the people of God who wait upon the Lord renew their strength and mount up with wings as eagles. Waiting upon the Lord means relying upon God only and not upon any human being in this world.

 

This world with its best scientific and technological advancement cannot given you perfect healing in your mind and body. If you believe Jesus today, you shall renew your bodily strength that has been gradually failing these days in your life.

 

As we wait upon the Lord, you can renew your strength in body, mind and spirit.  Whenever you face “tension” either in your house or in your office or in any place, you should remember this promise of God. Just wait upon the Lord in a moment wherever you are. You will find your inner man renewed with His strength.  His peace will flood your mind, whatsoever the problem.  Let the whole world before you be under “tension”. But you will feel the fragrant presence of your Shepherd if you wait upon Him.

 

As we wait upon the Lord, we can renew our strength in body, mind and spirit.  We can fly to any height with our wings as eagles in this world.  Let the people of this world wait upon the powers that be in this world. But let us wait upon the Lord Who has all the powers over heaven and earth.

 

 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth” (Ps.121:1-2) 

 

We run and are not weary.  We walk and do not faint. We should claim and appropriate these wonderful promises of God.  The physicians of this world prescribe bodily exercises like walking and running for improving our failing health.  Similarly, our Heavenly Physician commands us to run away from the worldly entertainments and pleasures to the Mount of God before us. He wants us to climb up His Mount as Moses climbed the Mount of Sinai to commune with Him. Let us run to His Mount for communion with Him through prayers and meditation of His Word. Oh, as you spend your time at His feet, both your spiritual and bodily weaknesses or your diseases will flee. It is His Mount and not a hospital or a nursing home where you can renew your bodily strength.

 

Let us walk over the land still possessed by the Devil and drive him out of this land which does not belong to him. It is our responsibility to preach the gospel to those who are held in captivity by the Devil.  As we walk performing our ministries in His Vineyard, we do not faint at all.  If one is actively engaged in the right type of ministry in His Vineyard according to His perfect will, he/she will not faint at all.

 

“Woe unto you, Chorazin, Bethsaida…..”

 

In the 11th chapter of Mathew, Jesus upbraided the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.  Jesus warned the inhabitants of the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, of a judgment upon them harsher than upon the cities of Tyre and Sidon and Sodom, which were known for their ungodly and wicked ways.

 

God performs mighty works or miracles so that people may repent.  In other words, mighty works of God must end in conviction of sin in the hearts of people. According to Jesus, had the same works been done in the cities like Sodom which was known for the most abominable sexual sin, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes and their cities would have remained “until this day” (the day means the time when Jesus lived).

 

Mighty works should not be construed as a sign of God’s happiness or tolerance towards those who have received such miracles or who have seen such wonders.

 

On seeing the mighty works of God, we should repent in sackcloth and ashes.  Repenting in sackcloth and ashes means turning away from sin and returning to God for His mercy in a spirit of humility.

 

If we do not repent, His judgment upon us will be harsher than upon those who have died in sin without hearing the glorious gospel.

 

Mighty works also include the great and gigantic strides made by the Christian nations in the field of science and technology through which they are occupying the commanding heights in the world economy today.  It is God Who has exalted them in the comity of nations. The people in these nations have heard the glorious gospel umpteen times and have seen “the mighty works” of God.  If they still live in sin and do not repent in sackcloth and ashes, they are “exalted unto heaven”; they “shall be brought down to hell”.  If these mighty works had been done in other non-Christian nations, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

 

If the leaders in your nation are legalizing the gay-marriage, a sodomite sin,  God will judge your nation in a manner harsher than a non-Christian nation where the sodomite sin may be more prevalent than in your nation.

 

 

 

 

 

(T.Job Anbalagan)