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THREE MOUNTAINS OF PROPHETIC PRESENCE

THREE MOUNTAINS OF PROPHETIC PRESENCE 

Psalm 125:2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the LORD surrounds His people
There were three mountains surrounding Jerusalem and they were Mt. Zion, Mt Gibeon and Mt. Moriah. Upon each of these mountains at one time or another there was either a tabernacle or a tent or a temple for priestly and congregational worship and sacrifice for Israel. Mount Moriah and Mt. Zion were so close as to blend into one mountain and Mt. Gibeon was about a one-hour walk to the west. We are going to look at when these places of worship existed on those mountains and how they got there, and today we will be focusing upon the tabernacle of David which was really a tent and not as structured as the tabernacle of Moses on Mt. Gibeon or the temple of Solomon on Mt. Moriah. The story of David’s tent (the tabernacle of David) has significant meaning for the Church today regarding the prophetic fulfillment of times of an abundance of the presence of God in and upon his people before the return of the Lord Jesus to the earth.

James quotes a prophecy in the book of Acts regarding the restoring of the presence and power of the Spirit that will come in the end days to God’s people. 
Acts 3:20 … And he will send you times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord and send Jesus Christ back to you as appointed. For he must remain in heaven until the final restoration of all things spoken through the prophets…
These times of refreshing of the presence of the Lord are linked to the final ingathering of God’s people on the earth amongst all the nations and there is a special mention of the ‘Tabernacle of David’ that will be rebuilt at that time. Reading on in ch.15
Acts 15:16 In that time I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it so that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the people who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’

I mentioned the Tabernacle of Moses. God commanded Moses to build that in the wilderness – it was about the size of half a football field with an outer curtain fence and with an inner tent of two chambers called the Holy place and the Most Holy Place. Joshua ended up taking the Ark and the tabernacle across the Jordan River and set it up in Shiloh where years later a foolish incident occurred where Israel took the Ark from the Tabernacle Just before the rule of King Saul, thinking that would give them victory. The Ark was stolen by the Philistines who were judged by God for doing this by having boils and tumors break out on their skin, so the Philistines finally abandoned the Ark and sent it back to Israel where it sat disregarded for 20 years in a place called Keriath Jearim. The Tabernacle of Moses finally ended up on one of those mountains surrounding Jerusalem, Mt Gibeon, but without the Ark of the covenant. 
David became king after Saul and early in his reign God put it in his heart to gather Israel together to bring back the stolen and then discarded Ark of the presence of God and he brought it back and set it inside a tent on Mt. Zion as the tabernacle of David, where it stayed for forty years as the place of worship and rejoicing. Meanwhile the Tabernacle of Moses on Mt Gibeon remained as a place of sacrifice for sin and priestly offerings but it never again housed the Ark of the presence of God.  
Unlike the elaborate Tabernacle of Moses which had three compartments – the Outer Court, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (where the Ark used to occupy).
David radically departed from tabernacle worship with its blood sacrifices for sin.
David's Tabernacle had only one compartment, the Most Holy Place - and there was no veil! Priests could offer sacrifices of praise and incense and attend to the showbread and the lighting of the candles but there were no blood sacrifices, and everyone could come freely to that tent to praise and worship the Lord – men, women, musicians and singers.
The ark of the presence of God was finally placed in Solomon’s Temple on Mt. Moriah by king Solomon after David had died. David had wanted to build a permanent glorious temple for the presence of God and God refused him and said that his son Solomon would build it. But David amassed materials, including stones, timber, and precious metals for its construction and also provided Solomon with the detailed plans and design for the Temple that God gave to him, and stones were being shaped in the nearby quarry. 
So the preparations for the Temple overlapped with the ongoing praise and worship and close fellowship with the presence of God in David’s Tabernacle. When Solomon began building the Temple he attended the tabernacle of Moses over on Mt. Gibeon for sin offerings and feasts just as Israel had been doing for all those years but without any experience of the presence of God in the Ark. And when Solomon’s Temple was completed the Ark was moved from David’s Tabernacle into the Holy of Holies of the Temple with great rejoicing and celebration.

I believe that the prophecy that James quoted in Acts about the rebuilding of the Tabernacle of David was referring to the days in which we now live as God’s people who have been made alive by the Spirit of the Lord, because God has put it into our hearts in these days as he did with David to seek after the presence of the Lord. And God has been releasing through the Holy Spirit in recent years the liberty and freedom of praise and worship that David saw in his Tent of God’s presence. In those times David wrote beautiful psalms and spiritual songs to the Lord which we still sing today.

And just as in the other tabernacle on Mt. Gibeon there were rituals and sacrifices but no Ark of the presence of God, this speaks of certain expressions of institutional Church (not all) or ideological religious activity that is not exercised to seek the life and liberty and truth of the Holy Spirit which burned in the early church and somehow fell away. 

And at the same time as those two tabernacle expressions were being seen – Moses Tabernacle on Mt Gibeon and David’s Tabernacle on Mt Zion - we see that stones were being quarried nearby for Solomons Temple. We are those living stones experiencing in these days the chiseling of God’s transforming dealings upon our lives. We are living stones being shaped in such a way that we will fit together relationally and functionally as his spiritual Temple to contain and express the life of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. 

Solomons temple was the final dwelling place of God upon the earth and is symbolic of a Church that will be made ready for the return of Jesus. There is symbolism of the two numbers that are repeated in the dimensions of this Temple which are the number 10 and the number 120. The number 10 speaks of the finality of the work of trials and testings of faith upon our lives (The 10 trials of Deuteronomy 8, 10 days waiting Acts 2 etc) and the number 120 (end of all flesh Genesis 6 and Acts 2) speaks of the end of human effort and the release of grace in the expression of Jesus through our lives. 
The Temple porch was 120 cubits high (2Chronicles 3) and was overlaid with gold, which speaks of the nature of God. There were 10 lampstands of gold instead of one in the tabernacle of Moses, and there were 10 tables of 12 loaves of showbread instead of one – that is 120 loaves of showbread speaking of the fulness of order and government (12) and communion and relational unity. This is the future promise of the expression of the final dwelling place of God’s people before he returns - relating in unity together in the earth - and we can look forward to the days when by the grace of God that gathering of God’s people all over the globe will emerge. Let God put it into your heart as he did with David to seek after the presence of the Lord and wait inh is presence and let him speak to you. One thing I give people assurance about is - God will answer that prayer. Amen

 

DANIEL AND APOCALYPSE NOW AND NOT YET

DANIEL AND APOCALYPSE NOW AND NOT YET 

The word apocalypse (Apocalypto or revelation) means ‘the unveiling of things that have been hidden or covered up’. God hides things from us until he is ready to reveal them to us, and people cover things up until God is ready to expose them. Both these meaning of apocalypse are occurring in our world at the moment - like never before. The idea of apocalypse occurs in two stages – first there is a gradual unveiling of many things being in the process of change at the same time without any clear indication of what they are going to change into – the winds of change – Now and not yet. The second and final change stage is a suddenness of something new happening that stops us in our tracks as the manifestation of a momentous change finally occurs. It was like that on the day of Pentecost. Jesus told 120 people to wait in an upper room for the ‘promise of the Father’ and they did. Jesus had told them that they would be ‘baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’. Jesus had been unveiling to them in his teachings the wonder of things to come but they did not fully understand what he meant. They knew something was going to happen but they did not know when, or what it was going to look like. Then the day of Pentecost arrived And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:2). The entire world was changed that day and the rest is history.

I believe that we are currently living in the apocalyptic days where there are signs of great change occurring in all nations of the earth, but we do not know how many years it will be before God accomplishes his final purposes for the world and his Church and for each individual soul, and we don’t know what it will look like. But Daniel prophesied that there would be a coalition of ten nations or world rulers that will seek to rule the entire world in the end days. The 120 in the upper room had to wait ten days for the apocalyptic outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but they were not told it would be ten days – Pentecost - and the number ten speaks of times of faith and patience through times of trial and testing (Deuteronomy 8:2). And we are in times of trial and testing and patience on such a global scale like never before. 

I’m revisiting last week’s talk about Daniel’s apocalyptic prophecy in Daniel in chapter 2 about King Nebuchadnezzar having a dream where he saw a vision of a great statue that had a head of gold and shoulders and arms of silver and an abdomen and thighs of brass and legs of iron and feet and toes of iron and clay. And a stone was supernaturally cut out from a mountain, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Daniel said to the king ‘There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will come to pass in the latter days – the end times. (Daniel 2:28) This vision depicts the nature of the world kingdoms from Babylon down to the present day and history shows us the dates when these world kingdoms actually ruled. The Scripture goes on to say ‘And in the days of those rulers the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed…It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever’…The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

The actual feet of iron and clay represents a multitude of global rulers that are already in existence and have been for some years with we don’t know how many years to go before the identity of the ten toes is fully revealed (Apocalypto). I believe that the overall ‘feet nations’ – not the toes - are current global nations made up of both harsh totalitarian governments and fragile democracies that are currently attempting to mix together through trade and political alliances but who cannot form a lasting bond. And in the meantime apocalyptic events are cascading upon the world at an alarming rate. Daniel’s prophecy was pointing to what would happen in the ‘latter days’ and he placed those ‘latter days’ events in the time frame of being ‘in the now and not yet days of those rulers.’ That means in the apocalyptic days of the global nations out from which would one day emerge those ten rulers who attempt to rule the earth. 

The great stone represents Jesus Christ over his Kingdom of faithful people. That Kingdom smites the image on the feet and ten toes of a ten-nation world empire destined to yet emerge at the end of the age, whenever that will be – now and not yet. The feet are present now but the toes have yet to emerge on the world stage and be identified. So I believe we are in the ‘days’ of preparation when God will set up his end time Kingdom in a new measure of spiritual power and authority to be revealed in greater measure in God’s people than ever before in the earth. Indeed, there is a wind of the Spirit blowing in the Church exposing much darkness in the Church and at the same time revealing more light and truth to the Church for those seeking God and his Kingdom. The Now and Not yet theme is mentioned four times book of Revelation where it refers to Jesus as the one who is and was and is to come. 

God’s people will be God’s living stones supernaturally cut out of a mountain and built together as God’s dwelling place in the earth – God’s House, the Church. The prophet Haggai said  ‘I will shake all nations… and I will fill my house (Church)with glory…The glory of this latter house (Church) shall be greater than the former, says the LORD (Haggai 2:6-9). In the days of Haggai that Scripture was prophetic not only for Israel and for the Church – but for each of us individually as his House, as temples of the Holy Spirit. The ’setting up’ of this Kingdom is a work in process – now and not yet.
The apocalyptic culmination of political darkness and evil in the earth will be the ten toed nations. The apocalyptic culmination of Spiritual light in the earth will be the Bride of Christ. These are both works in progress – now and not yet. One is a work of corruption and will be the work of man and one is the work of purification and will be the work of God’s grace.

Ephesians 5:15, because we live in times of much corruption see that you walk responsibly and diligently and wisely, redeeming the time thoughtfully, seeking to understand what the will of the Lord is. (NKJ)
On a personal level in this apocalyptic time of change this will mean thoughtfully assessing our way of seeing things and doing things and inviting God into the reordering and redeeming of what we might think of as the lost or wasted times of our past. We can now become aware of his appointed times of new beginnings for us with a new understanding of his will for an ‘all things new’ future for our lives.

This becomes a new way of living in the grace of God amidst the outer turmoil and darkness and disorder of the world. Paul must have asked himself at times ‘Why am I in prison, why did I get shipwrecked, beaten up, ignored and insulted? The answer for Paul was - that is where Jesus was. And we can be where Jesus is at any time by his grace, with all things working together for his design and purpose to come to pass in our lives. 

The world cannot take us to where only God destined us to be. God moves forward with his overall plan for the world, and he moves forward with his designated plan for our lives. There is an energy which directs us, moves us and carries us, even though we cannot see where it is taking us. That energy is the hidden power of the wind of the Spirit which blows where it wills, and God’s apocalyptic changes happen gradually and then suddenly, perhaps after times of enduring patiently through times of difficulty. 
We cannot see our final destination but with this kind of faith we see through the present disorder of this world system, and we can enter into the eternal order of God’s Kingdom. God’s grace lifts us across the bridge from the world of fear and stress into his world of stillness and rest where we can learn to trust that we are being carried by the power of his grace to becoming who we should be and doing what we should be doing. 
The true Church is out there somewhere – Now and not yet.
The Bride of Christ is in there somewhere – Now and not yet.
The true self God designed for you to be is within you somewhere – Now and not yet.

 

 

DANIELS PROPHECY OF THE END TIME KINGDOMS

DANIELS PROPHECY OF THE END TIME KINGDOMS 
I want to revisit my last talk about the Lord’s prayer which says ‘Your Kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven’. In that talk I mentioned prophesies from Daniel and Revelation about the disruption of worldly kingdoms in the end times. I’m discussing today the link between the prayer of ‘Your Kingdom Come’ and visions that Daniel saw concerning the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven in greater measure in the days to come.  

The Book of Daniel is a key book in the unlocking of revelation concerning the prophetic purposes of God, particularly concerning end-time events in the ‘latter days’ and there are other visions of Daniel and Revelation that enlarge upon this basic vision. I want to share these prophesies not as dogma but because I have a conviction about the meaning of these prophesies and their relevance to the days in which we live and my approach will be to let Scripture interpret Scripture – all I can do is submit this approach for your discernment.
Daniel was one of the Jews living in captivity after Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon conquered Jerusalem and took hundreds of thousands of Jews into captivity for seventy years. God gave Daniel favour in the court of the king who found Daniel ‘ten times better’ than all the magicians and astrologers that were in his realm in all matters of wisdom and understanding. We can compare how God gave Joseph and Moses favour with Pharaoh.

In chapter 2 Nebuchadnezzar had a dream where he saw a vision of a great statue that had a head of gold and shoulders and arms of silver and an abdomen and thighs of brass and legs of iron and feet and toes of iron and clay. And a stone was cut out from a mountain but not by human hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. This vision terrified the king, and he demanded that whoever was chosen to interpret the dream for him had to get it right or he would be killed. and when Daniel heard this, he prayed and asked for guidance and mercy from God and he offered to interpret the dream.

This vision may be one of the most important prophetic visions in the Bible since it lays the foundation for the rest of the book of Daniel and also the Book of Revelation or the apocalypse of John.  This vision also gives an understanding of many other end-time events. Daniel said to the king ‘There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will come to pass in the latter days (ah???rîyt? yom – time of the end) (Daniel 2:28)  and the ‘latter days’ refers to what would happen to Israel and the Church and the world in the end times. This vision depicts the nature of the world kingdoms from Babylon down to the present day and history shows us the dates when these kingdoms ruled. 
Daniel gives the king the interpretation that God showed to him.
Firstly Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the head of gold, representing the Babylonian empire from 606 BC according to history(v.12)

Secondly He told the king that the two shoulders and arms of silver represented the cruel double empire of Medo-Persia which would overtake his kingdom (in 536 BC - history)

Thirdly Daniel told the king that the kingdom of the abdomen and thighs of bronze would defeat the Medes and Persians. And history show that this was Greece –Alexander the Great, (331-333 BC)

Fourthly There were two legs of iron which would break in pieces and subdue all the other nations. History show us that this was the Roman Empire which would defeat the kingdom of Greece in 63 BC and rule the entire known world. The significance of the two legs of iron is that the Roman empire would later be divided into the Eastern and Western Empires. And the political and cultural and religious disparity between East and West still remains.

The fifth and final worldly kingdom of the feet and ten toes of a mixture of iron and clay speaks of a ten-nation world power that will emerge at the end of the age. And we read the emergence of that divided and divisive kingdom in Daniel 2:41’And as you saw that the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the fragile clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw the iron mixed with fragile clay, so they will mix with one another in posterity (zera), but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
The iron in the feet is the expression of the ongoing nature of harsh dictatorial rule that represented the Roman empire in the statue. And the fragile earthly clay represents people. God made Man from the dust of the earth. And that clay speaks of government by the people for the people - democracy. This mixture of dictatorships and democracies mixing together but not holding together is a picture of the fragile nature of our global political and economic community that we see today and have for some years. This ten nation configuration of power is seen in the book of Revelation 17:12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings. 
These kingdom rulers will one day join forces from amongst the global prominent nations in Europe and Asia and Africa and the Middle east and the Americas and Oceana and the South Pacific – down under. It is a remarkable fact of history that there has never been a conventional war between two democracies, but today we see Russia as a dictatorship attacking Ukraine which is a democracy, and we see China threatening Taiwan, a democratic republic, and Israel being attacked by Hamas and other Islamic terrorist entitles. The differences between the ideologies and cultures of these two distinct rules of order will never hold together for long.  

The Scripture says ‘they will mix with one another in posterity  (Hebrew = zera = posterity which means planning together for a forever future. But we know they will not hold together despite the trade agreements and so-called treaties. So that ten toed kingdom is a configuration of ten nations that will plan to rule their world together forever, and this reflects their arrogance or hubris. The word hubris in the original Greek means an ‘insolent presumption towards God’. This is seen in the corrupt and oppressive political and financial power that is becoming rampant in these days. 
 
Then the vision goes on to say that a Great Stone smites the image on the feet (10 toed kingdom). And Daniel says ‘And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever’,
Daniel interprets the great Stone as the Kingdom of Heaven and goes on to say ‘just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold and it shall stand forever. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
I believe that the ’days of those kings’ has already begun and I believe we are living in times of global events that even the media are calling apocalyptic. And who or what is the great stone?
The stone/rock represents Jesus Christ over his faithful people and the rock smites the image of a ten-nation world empire at this end of the age. Jesus said “on this rock I will build my church (Matt 16:18). God’s people will reflect the rule of love and faith and justice of the Kingdom of Heaven, and this stone is cut out of a mountain without human hands. This is in stark contrast to the building of the tower of Babel, where man-made brick (beno – baked gleaming white bricks) is used to build a kingdom that will rule forever and reach to Heaven, just like the 10 toed kingdom. And that kingdom was scattered just as will be the final man-made kingdom that plans to rule forever. 
‘In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed’ . I submit to you that means that at some time and I have no idea when, by the grace of God and through the Holy Spirit the Kingdom of Heaven will begin to be expressed in greater measure in God’s people than ever before in the earth. This will prepare a people who understand what it means to believe and pray ‘Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven’ they will desire the will of God in their lives more than their own. It is time to be guided by the Holy Spirit to hear what God is saying to his people corporately and individually and to see with eyes of faith what he is doing from Heaven and to be part of that being done in the earth.

 

 

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN 
The Lord’s Prayer says Our Father who is in heaven holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we say your Kingdom come, we are not talking about the afterlife but about God’s Kingdom being experienced here on earth. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Psalm 103:19 

The Kingdom of God rules over all other kingdoms on the earth and God desires that his rule and order in heaven is expressed in the earth. However, most people are living only under the rule of one of a multitude of different kinds of kingdoms in the earth, ranging from dictatorships through democracies and on to superstitious religious or tribal cultures. And most people only see an earthly kingdom in action and are not aware that a heavenly Kingdom even exists let alone its being in command of all that happens on earth. I believe we are living in days when God is opening peoples’ eyes to see his Heavenly Kingdom being displayed on earth.

A kingdom is a governmental rule of order presided over by a ruler. There are thousands of political kingdoms in the world and there is a multitude of ‘rules of order’ and different ways to protect and enforce that rule of order. 
Australia is a parliamentary democracy that is directly and indirectly under a Monarchy that has vowed to honour and serve God as the overarching rule.
America is a republic that has declared ‘In God we trust’ and that they are ‘A nation under God’. As to how faithfully those two governmental systems serve that Godly rule depends on the integrity and sincerity of the political leadership in maintaining those spiritual and cultural foundations. At the moment those foundations are being eroded, and God is holding everyone to account. 
If Australia became a republic, who would designate what would be the overarching rule and value that we upheld, and who would protect and enforce what that overarching rule and value would be from that time on for our lives, and who would appoint the leader? Maybe just leave it to the politicians? - think about that when there’s a referendum. But for us the Bible says ‘pray for rulers and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence’(1Timothy2).  
Our constant mindset of prayer remains as ‘Your Kingdom come’.
People today also create their own personal kingdoms of rule and order over whatever overarching ideologies they choose to embody, so there is a lot at play when it comes to discussing whose will gets done on earth as it is in Heaven.

In the Old Testament Israel saw much evidence of the rule of a Heavenly Kingdom in the earth through miraculous interventions of God in their life. Things were seen being done in Heaven that were also being done on the earth. 
Elisha saw into the heavens that God’s angels were defeating the Syrian army that were fighting against Israel at the place where Elisha and Gehazi were staying, so he said to his terrified servant Gehazi ‘Fear not: for greater are they that are with us than they that are against us. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray that you would open his eyes, that he may see. (2Kings 6:1) God opened Gehazi’s eyes to see the Heavenly battle.
Daniel was praying to God and saw the four winds of heaven in turmoil churning up the seas (Daniel 7). Daniel saw four great beasts that prophetically symbolise powerful earthly kingdoms that still exist today also disrupting the churning seas, and the seas symbolise the global population. And in the Book of Revelation chapter 13 this same vision of kingdom disorder and disruption gets prophetically amplified as something yet to occur globally in the nations of today’s world. There is much that needs to come to pass in history yet, but we could be seeing the beginnings of this unfolding before our eyes at this time. We are living in a time of the clashing of kingdoms. ‘All things are being shaken and the things that are man-made will be removed, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, and are given grace, by which we may serve God’ (Hebrews 12:27)

In the New Testament we need eyes of faith to ‘see’ the Kingdom of God. Jesus always saw the Kingdom of God and he also saw the kingdom of the earth and lived in both. He did not live a secular life that was separate from his spiritual life, but the Kingdom of God was his true reality. He saw what was done in heaven being done in the earth. He put God first and he did what he saw his Father do. One day Jesus said to the listening crowds “Truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son does also. 
For Jesus things happened twice – God did it in Heaven and Jesus did it on earth. God’s will was done on earth as it had been done in heaven. He teaches us that in the lord’s Prayer. 

The Father showed Jesus how Lazarus was to be raised from the dead when everyone was telling Jesus to come and heal him. The Father showed Jesus through the Holy Spirit the multitudes being fed with the miraculous loaves and fishes. Jesus saw the lame man take up his bed and walk at the pool of Bethesda and then spoke it into being.

How do we see the Kingdom of Heaven and live a life that expresses the Heavenly Kingdom of God in the earth? Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, unless one is born from above (anothen) he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). 
When people ask when we will see the Kingdom of heaven being active in the earth the only answer is – when it starts to be seen in our lives – as the love and compassion and the justice and mercy and truth that is in Christ. If we ask for the Holy Spirit to become active in our lives we will be guided by the Holy Spirit to hear what God is saying to us and see with eyes of faith what he showing us to do. We will pray prayers of surrender to receive God’s answers and get his results rather than our demands for our own wishes. Paul says that the devil’s strategy is to blind people’s minds to see the things that God is doing from Heaven -The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the message of the glory of Christ (2Corinthians 4:6) But the Bible also says that ‘Greater is he who is within you than he who is in the world (1John 4:4). 
When we have faith in the work of the Kingdom of God in Heaven, we begin to understand the spiritual reality that God’s will in Heaven is waiting to happen on earth in our lives and that becomes our new reality for everything we aspire to. 
We may not see the spiritual battles going on in the heavens like Elisha, but we can often sense the spiritual oppression and know that there is an activity of darkness happening and we can have faith that God is at work in the world of the unseen to overcome that darkness and to shield us from it. We can trust that the Holy Spirit will bring his word alive to us as we read the Scriptures and that things will unfold in our lives that we realise only God could have arranged for us, and things on earth will start to become what is being done in heaven in front of our eyes. 

There are things happening on the world stage that reveal the disorder and disruption by ungodly religious and cultural and Marxist dictatorships that defy the rule of law and seek to demolish democratic principles that honour the God of the Bible. This is happening in the Middle East where Israel is being attacked from all sides, and it is happening in too many other democratic nations from within. Godly foundations are being eroded through weak national leaderships that grasp for worldly power through corrupt and deceitful means. We live in a nation that has been given the Gospel but it has become indifferent to it over the years in its preference for the ‘good life’. But the good life is fast becoming the not so good life, and the tide is turning on the failed social and political experiments of recent times. This coming year will be a defining year for our nation as we take hold of What Jesus has already won for this nation. God is raising up his Kingdom in this Great South land of the Holy Spirit and we can personally expect to receive his grace for his Kingdom to be on display in our lives. Israel had to possess Canaan the Land of Promise (Numbers 34) which measured 300,000 square miles which is 777,000 square kilometres of territory (300,000X2.59) but the land of Promise that God wants possessed today is the territory of people’s hearts to believe and ‘receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ (Gatatians 3:14). God has gone before us to ‘Go in and possess the land’. Your heart of faith and love can be a window for the hearts of others to see the Kingdom and a door for others to enter into the Kingdom.

The Journey of the Wise Men

The Journey of the Wise Men 

Ancient Babylon was home to the first civilization to study the stars, and some wise men called Magi, who were scholars and astronomers noticed something extraordinary in the heavens. For centuries, these wise men had studied the Jewish prophecies passed down during Israel’s captivity in Babylon, and those prophesies included the foretelling of a Messiah. When an unusually bright convergence of planets began to shine as an apparent brilliant star in the eastern sky, they interpreted it as the sign of a great ruler’s birth. Ancient astronomers didn’t distinguish planets from stars but interpreted them as ‘wandering stars’.

The Magi (and the Bible doesn’t say how many there were) then set out on a long journey westward, heading to where this bright star shone. The distance from Babylon to Jerusalem is about 1000 kilometres and it is estimated that it would have taken weeks to months to finally arrive. And the Gospel of Matthew says In the days of Herod the king, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it arose and have come to worship him (Matthew 2:1). Jesus was born when the star first arose, and their arrival in Jerusalem was quite some time later.
Their inquiries about the “new king of the Jews” reached the ears of Herod the Great, the local ruler, appointed by Rome, and he was deeply unsettled. Herod feared this child might threaten his dynasty, a potential Messiah heralding a kingdom that could upend his tenuous grip on power.

Summoning his religious advisors, Herod demanded answers. The scribes pointed to the ancient prophecy of Micah, which pinpointed Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah. With cunning pretence, Herod secretly met the Magi, urging them to locate the child (paidion) – a young child, not brephos – a babe – Luke 2), and report back so he could “worship” him too. Satisfied that his plan to eliminate this rival was foolproof, Herod congratulated himself on his deceit. 
The Wise Men continued their journey, guided by the radiant star, and Matthew writes And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: (Matthew 2:11). SO - the star rested over a house in Bethlehem (not out in a stable in a field, but in a kaluma, a guest room in the family home of Joseph - after the other guests had long left and where Mary and Joseph would have stayed on with the child Jesus for some time after the birth). Inside, the wise men found the child, Jesus, with Mary and Joseph. And they reverently knelt and worshipped him, presenting gifts of profound spiritual significance:
Gold symbolises God’s divine nature and kingship. (Exodus 25:10, Hebrews 9:4)
Frankincense, this incense represent prayer and spiritual devotion. (Psalm 141)
Myrrh foretells the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus. (Mark 15:23).

That night, all their plans changed. Warned in a dream by an angel not to return to Herod, the Magi departed by another route. Meanwhile, the same angel appeared to Joseph, instructing him to flee with Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath.

Realizing the Magi had outwitted him, Herod erupted in a fury, and he ordered the massacre of all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two. This event is a remarkable replay of the story of Pharoah ordering the massacre of all male children at the time of the birth of Moses. Pharoah, like Herod feared for his own dynasty, and Moses became the deliverer/saviour of Israel and Jesus became the deliverer/saviour of the world.
But Herod’s reign of terror was short-lived and after his death, an angel appeared to Joseph again, instructing him to return to Israel. But learning that Herod’s son, Antipas, ruled Judea with more cruelty than his father, Joseph was wary, and being guided once more by the angel, he led his family to Galilee, settling in the quiet town of Nazareth. 

The birth of Jesus was written in the stars, and the Bible says that the stars speak forth the knowledge of God. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God and his splendour is written in the stars. Each day utters promise to the next day, and the night sky unveils knowledge to us all. Without a sound without a word and not a voice being heard - The world can hear its silent shout as everywhere his truth goes out. (Psalm 19:1-4) - The life of Jesus, the Word revealed in the skies

The journey of the Wise Men, steeped in prophecy and faith, speaks to us of the precision of how God’s plans unfold in our lives also, even in the midst of human schemes and suffering and our own mistakes and frailties. 
God wrote the narrative of the life of Jesus and he has written the narrative of our lives – David said in Psalm 139 ‘Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! (Psalms 139:16)
There is a book about you with your name written on it and there are special events ordered by God on record that God has purposed for you. These special events are called ‘Kairos times’. There are two kinds of times in the Bible – the special eternal Kairos time event and Chronos time – clock time - with its seconds and minutes and hours and years of ordinary day to day time that passes away. 
Jesus lived in both Chronos time and Kairos time like all of us. Not everything in the everyday clock time life of Jesus needs to be in the Bible because it is not merely a history book but a book of revelation and faith and purpose and meaning concerning the eternal work of God. We have been reading about the eternal Kairos event of the birth of Jesus - and the visitation of the wise men when eternal light shone as a wandering star at his birth. And so it is with us - God’s book about us is not merely a history book of but a narrative of the eternal purpose and meaning that he has planned for our lives. 
I believe that we are living in a time when God is restoring his Kairos events for us that we may have lost or neglected throughout the Chronos minutes and years of our busy everyday lives. But God is restoring those years – not in clock time but in our awakenings to his Kairos purpose and meaning to us through the work of the Holy Spirit.
That is for all of us – all of humanity, and this signifies forgiveness and restoration of his eternal purposes for us. This is what brings a renewed connection with God and forgiveness and the healing of our souls.
We don’t get the Chronos years back, but we can miraculously get the Kairos events back. We can have ten years of lost eternal Kairos opportunities restored in a few Chronos weeks or months – and I’m seeing that happen in people right now. In fact the Apostle Paul saw one Kairos moment restore his entire past on the road to Damascus, and then he learned to manage living in both time frames in perfect harmony.
There is a bright star continually shining in the heavens for us to unveil a life of fulfilment in God. It is time to let God begin to rewrite our narrative and we will have so much to be thankful for. We can let God rewrite his eternal events back into our life when we interrupt our busy clock time and ask God to awaken us to the present moment Kairos experience of partnership with him, learning to infuse our natural time frame with God’s supernatural time frame of eternal purpose and meaning.

 

 

NEWBORN KING

NEWBORN KING 
Caesar Augustus as the emperor of Rome decreed that a census be held so that everyone in the empire could be taxed according to their property ownership and other possessions. They all had to go to their place of birth to be registered so Joseph who was of the house and lineage of King David had to take Mary to Bethlehem, to his family home. The Scriptures had prophesied that the true King of Peace would be born in Bethlehem at that very time, in a small village nearly five thousand miles distance from the palace of another king, Caesar Augustus in Rome. And we read the amazing prophecy of Micah, over seven hundred years earlier that declared that Bethlehem would be the place of the birth of Jesus.

Micah 5:2. O Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are but a small Judean village, yet you will be the birthplace of my King who is alive from everlasting ages past!” God will allow his people to become subject to their enemies until she who is to give birth has her son; then at last these fellow countrymen—the exile remnants of Israel—will rejoin their nation in their own land. And he (The Son) shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and his people shall remain there safely, for he will be greatly honoured all around the world. He will be our Peace. 

Joseph and Mary were sent to the right place at the right time for the birth of Jesus, fulfilling the seven-hundred-year-old prophesy of his birthplace, and becoming the King of Peace.
Joseph walked beside the donkey that carried his wife. He was getting weary, and the journey was tiresome for Mary, and he knew he had to get his wife to the place of his family’s household and out of the cold, and the time was getting close for her to give birth. They finally arrived at the family home where they were warmly welcomed and invited inside. The dwelling complex was the usual cluster of rooms surrounding a central courtyard and it became clear to Joseph that the house was overcrowded, and that all the guestrooms were occupied. The word for guestroom in the Bible is kataluma, and this is the word for ‘Inn’, as in Luke 22:11 which states in the narrative that ‘There was no room at the Inn’. So we are not talking about two travellers trying to book into a local tavern that had already filled its quota in such a busy season, and they did not have to go and look for a stable in some paddock up the road. What the story is saying is that Joseph and his wife would have to stay in the stable of the family home, downstairs, in that warm place where the animals slept and fed. 
Joseph saw the signs of the oncoming birth in the drawn face and the discomfort in Mary’s eyes and he settled her as quickly and gently as he could.  Then Mary gave birth to her child and a baby cried its baby cry of shock as it entered the world. The smile upon Father’s face in heaven became a laugh of joy, which was echoed by Joseph in the earth, who would now adopt the role of the child’s earthly father. 
On earth it was the natural and familiar scene of new birth. In the universe it was the most supernatural of any birth in history. It was also ordained that this birth would become the most celebrated event for all time, being celebrated annually by millions upon billions down through the ages, many of whom have scarce idea of what is really being celebrated.

Nearby, where shepherds were looking after their sheep upon the hills a huge shining star having reached its zenith was lighting up the entire night sky. The shepherds looked up in wonder at this light and suddenly the lights of shining angels dazzled them and they became terrified and ran and huddled together. The Angel Gabriel appeared above them, sent to tell them of the birth of Jesus. He told them not to be afraid, and that he had great and marvellous news for them, for all the world to hear. He told them that they would find a child, the Newborn King of the universe, God the Saviour, wrapped in simple clothing in a nearby stable. Suddenly Gabriel was joined by a multitude of angels as the brilliant night sky resounded with their voices singing, and they listened enraptured at the magnificent words. “The glory of God is being seen in the heavens, and his love and goodness is creating a new era of peace for all mankind.” The angelic song about this new creation in the world was the magnificent sequel to their song of the first creation of the world as we read in the book of Job after God challenges Job and says ‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined, and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:4,7,8).

When the angels’ singing had stopped, the shepherds were guided to the place where this extraordinary event was taking place in the earth. These simple shepherds became the emissaries to the world of the birth of this king of kings, this child, and all who heard them were astounded and amazed.

A great light shone that night. The light shone upon a newborn child who would bring light into this world, to every person born into this world (John 1:9). And this light would be contested by darkness as always, but the conflict now rose to a new height. Time waited for the outcome, the verdict, the final encounter between light and darkness on a cross that would come one dark and stormy day. Time would wait until Father was ready, then this light would be able to overcome darkness in every single life.

God with us means more than just alongside us. It means he is within and through our being, and more than that, we are within and through his being. Jesus had declared this mystery of the human/ Divine intersection of life and being when he prayed to the Father in front of the  disciples “I have given them the glory you gave me—the glorious unity of being one, as we are— I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one—so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me. (John 17:22)
This Divine intersection of our being with God is how we get to ‘know God’. The Holy Spirit speaks into our spirit the mind and words of Jesus, and we ‘see and know’ Jesus in this way. Faith lets us speak to him as a person, person to person. 
1John 2:27 But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need to learn another person’s personal perception of God to know what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true.
This does not mean we disregard Scriptural teaching. This Scripture simply makes alive and real the personal and individual whisper of God into our spirit as the wisdom and understanding of the mind and heart of God that we need in any given situation and at any given time. That is what Jesus accomplished for us. That becomes the light to our path allowing us to express our unique and truest self in the best possible way. That is our faith.
Christmas waits to be truly celebrated within this understanding. Without Christmas there is no way we could ever have known God and become one with him. Amen

MESSAGE AND MESSENGERS

MESSAGE AND MESSENGERS 
Before the fall of Adam and Eve, God the Father's plan was already in motion to bring about a new creation of humanity in the earth combining God and humanity in his Son, Jesus. This was not an afterthought of God after the fall but a divine plan for union of human mortality and Divine immortality (John 11:26), giving humanity a path to oneness with God, and Jesus was fully aware of this from before time began, knowing that becoming human was the only way for humanity to experience the fullness of God's love, and he would become its most perfect expression.

For ages, the earth suffered under the weight of its brokenness. Humanity was lost, unable to heal itself. Suspicion and hostility toward Father God, sown by Lucifer, had led to a distorted view of God in the earth. Many saw Him as distant and judgmental, fostering a religion of fear and appeasement. But God had a greater answer-not a set of rituals or rules, but Himself. Jesus, as God and man, would bridge the gap between heaven and earth. He would step out of eternity and into time, exchanging pure Spirit existence for Divine within human existence.

In this grand mission, the Holy Spirit played an essential role. The Spirit would partner with Jesus, sharing every moment of His earthly life. This partnership ensured that the Holy Spirit, too, would intimately experience human existence. After Jesus completed His mission, the Holy Spirit would continue the work of revealing God's love and drawing humanity into communion with the Divine.

To begin this new chapter, God sent a Divine seed to earth, choosing Mary, a young and humble woman, to receive it. The angel Gabriel appeared to her, announcing that she had been chosen to bear a child-Jesus, the Son of God. Although Mary was initially confused, having never been with a man, Gabriel explained that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her, and she would conceive a child by Divine power. He reassured her that this was God's will, and Mary, in faith and humility, responded, "Let it be done unto me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

Mary was betrothed to a man called Joseph and in the cultural context of Mary and Joseph, betrothal was a formal, legal agreement between families, often formalized with a written contract (ketubah) and the couple was considered legally married, so if there was a breach of honour to that contract, either party could initiate divorce proceedings. 
The betrothal period typically lasted about a year, and during this time, the bride remained in her parents' home, and the groom prepared a place for their future life together, often by building or preparing a home.

When Joseph discovered that Mary was going to have a child he was deeply troubled but he resolved to act with compassion, planning to quietly divorce her. However, an angel appeared to him in a dream, telling him that Mary's child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and would save His people from their sins. Joseph obeyed the angel's command, and he took Mary as his wife while refraining from consummating their marriage until Jesus was born.

Following Gabriel's announcement, Mary journeyed to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was also experiencing a miraculous pregnancy. Elizabeth, though elderly and previously unable to conceive, was carrying John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for Jesus. When Mary greeted her cousin, Elizabeth's unborn child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaimed, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" (Luke 1:42). Mary responded with a song of praise, glorifying God for His faithfulness and mercy.

Elizabeth gave birth to her son, and her neighbours and relatives rejoiced with her. At the circumcision ceremony, it was assumed the child would be named Zechariah, after his father. However, Elizabeth insisted he be named John, and when questioned, Zechariah, who had been struck mute for doubting Gabriel's prophecy, wrote the name John on a clay tablet and  Immediately, his voice returned, and he praised God. This moment marked the end of a long silence, both for Zechariah and for the people of Israel. Zecharia being struck mute for a season of time was symbolic of Israel, who had not heard a prophetic voice for 400 years since the prophecy of Malachi. Malachi's prophesy came from the last verse of the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament, and the final words of Malachi declared that God would send the prophet Elijah before the coming of the Messiah and that he would turn the hearts of the children to their fathers and the hearts if the fathers to their children.

Zechariah, under the prophetic anointing of the Holy Spirit, prophesied over John, declaring, "You, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins" (Luke 1:76-77). John's life and ministry would pave the way for the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah. When John the Baptist began his ministry of preparing the way for Jesus many in Israel believed that he was Elijah whom Malachi had prophesied about, and even Jesus said that John had come in the spirit of Elijah - This is the one about whom it is written: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you. (Matthew 11)
During that 400 year spiritual silence from the time of Malachi God's people had been waiting for a clear word, a new revelation of his presence among them, Emmanuel. This silence reflected the darkness and disorder of a world longing for hope and direction. With John's ministry and Jesus' baptism, this silence was fully broken for all the world to hear God and have his presence amongst them. 
And today, we find ourselves in a similar time of waiting through another season of relative silence from Heaven into a world that is rife with uncertainty, division, and spiritual disconnection. Many voices in this global culture clamour for attention yet rarely bring clarity or wisdom. 
But in the midst of this, God is stirring the hearts of His people, to hear his voice and to awaken others and turn their hearts back to him. Just as John's mission was to prepare the way for Jesus, the Holy Spirit is working in us who believe to bring light and hope to the world.

This preparation doesn't rely on loud proclamations or dramatic gestures but on God's people hearing his voice and responding with consistent acts of love and faith as he moves through our everyday lives inspiring us to reflect God's mercy and truth in our everyday interactions.
Zechariah's regained voice reminds us that God's word always comes at the appointed time. As we await a fresh movement of the Spirit, we can take comfort in knowing that God is never silent without purpose. In these moments of waiting, God prepares us to receive and share a deeper level of being in his presence amongst us, Emmanuel. When His voice breaks through, it will be with clarity, cutting through the confusion of the world.
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
Malachi prophesied before the 400 years of silence that God would turn the hearts of the children to their fathers and the hearts of the fathers to their children at the time of his first coming into the world - and in the days of his second coming into the world. Today this means that there will be a grace upon families that will become reunited in the love of God and one another, seen as simple yet powerful acts of kindness, and words of encouragement, and lives grounded in compassion that become beacons of hope. This is how the Holy Spirit works today, just as He did in the time of Mary, Joseph, and John the Baptist. Jesus chose ordinary people and God accomplished extraordinary things, drawing the world closer to His heart.

As Zechariah declared, "The tender mercy of our God, by which the Daystar shall visit us from on high, will give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, guiding our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:78-79). This promise remains true for us today. In the midst of the darkness of today's world of chaos, the light of God's love is beginning to shine. As we choose to live in that love and its light, we will witness the hand of God bringing order out of chaos and bringing unity, hope, and peace to people in our own personal world.

 

PRINCE OF PEACE

PRINCE OF PEACE 
Isaiah prophesied around 720 BC about a time and a place where great light would confront great darkness (Isaiah 9:2). The great light that he writes about occurred with the birth of Jesus, the first Christmas around two thousand years ago, and the place was in the Middle east in a region called Galilee of the Gentiles, where the darkness of the tyranny of the Roman empire had overcome all the nations and cultures that opposed it. 
Isaiah 9:2 By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; And for those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death a light has shined upon them
Isaiah writes further about Jesus as that great light and the Prince of Peace…
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David forever more. The dedication of the LORD of hosts will do this.
In the time of Jesus, Galilee of the Gentiles was a place where idolatrous darkness opposed the one true religion called Judaism. And even Judaism opposed itself from within through doctrines of legalism and hypocrisy and pride, and this caused Jesus to tell them at that time that ‘they had missed their day of visitation (Luk 19:44). Galilee of the Gentiles was the battlefield of good against evil and of light against darkness, but it was to become the wellspring of life out of death. 
Jesus, the light of the world of the first Christmas lived in Galilee of the Gentiles, which was under the control of the Roman Empire. He grew up in the towns of Nazareth and Capernaum and announced his ministry in Nazareth at 30 years of age when he preached in the synagogue to the Jewish people of his own hometown and said,
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted and to proclaim liberty for the captives (Luke 4). After saying this, the Jews whom he had grown up with were incensed with anger and wanted to push him over a cliff. 
He was the great light that shone among that region of darkness, but the nation of Israel remained blinded to that light. However, the Apostle Paul wrote that this blindness would be lifted in the end times before his return – blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25).

After three and a half years of his ministry Jesus would finally go to Jerusalem where he would die for all mankind and rise again from the dead, and to where he would  return at the end of the age. At that time he will overcome the final rebellious assault of great darkness against the power of his kingdom of great light. Isaiah’s prophecy would then find its fulfillment through Jesus the Prince of Peace whose Kingdom will never end Amen. 

And over two thousand years after the first Christmas, the world remains in great darkness, longing for a great light. Paradoxically, while Christmas is celebrated annually as a festive holiday, the miraculous significance of its great light is mostly misunderstood, along with the profound darkness that pervades a corrupt world. This darkness is also evident in the growing determination of many people to destroy Israel. The world is currently witnessing an increasing hatred of Jews which Jesus prophesied to his followers in Matthew when he said ‘and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake….and then will the end come…(Matthew 24:9f)’. This hatred is currently being fueled by certain sections of politics and the global media. At the same time, many Jewish rabbis and religious Orthodox Jews worldwide are fervently awaiting their promised Messiah.
A great light is poised to shine, signaling God’s loving desire of good will for all people. Israel, who did not receive him and who missed the day of his (first) visitation will finally be gathered together and brought into his great light, and we who have believed and yet not seen him will also be his signs of light and hope in today’s world as the Prince of Peace.
Peace, (Eirene in Greek), speaks of oneness, harmony, and togetherness, and just as different musical notes can create harmonious chords to be played in a symphony, we too can align our will with God’s will, and bring that same peace and harmony and goodwill into our relationships. This harmony is grounded in trusting that God is always working on our behalf in unseen ways. And that is the core essence of our faith. God is the composer and conductor of life’s grand symphony. He alone knows what lies ahead, orchestrating the course of history and the details of our individual lives. The choice is ours: will we invite Him to play in our band, or will we choose to play in His grand orchestra? ‘For we are his masterpiece (workmanship - poi??ma- production,), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God had prepared beforehand for us to walk in’. Ephesians 2:10

Jesus knew that his father God had prepared all the supernatural works for his Son to walk in and he declared this when he said ‘The Son can do nothing – only what he sees his Father doing… John 5:19J. Jesus saw what Father had already done. Jesus didn’t hurry to go and heal Lazarus – He saw what the father had done, and he raised Lazarus from the dead. It is the same with us if we look at that picture of being in harmony with God as like being part of his orchestra. The conductor knows the score – and Jesus followed his Father’s timing just as we are called to follow God’s timing as our Conductor in his orchestra. The Bible says that God makes everything beautiful in ITS time … whatever God does shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it, that men should be in awe of Him. That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been (Eccl. 3:11f). And our role is not to rush but to wait patiently, like an instrument resting through symphonic pauses. 
We pray Lord that we do not miss our day of visitation but be mindful that as our Emmanuel, our God with us, your day of visitation is an invitation for us to join you every day all day. Amen.
Paul O’Sullivan  - spiritcode.podbean.com  - pauloss@me.com

 

GOSPEL PARABLES 16 GOOD SAMARITAN

GOSPEL PARABLES 16 GOOD SAMARITAN
The background to this parable is yet another story about the Jewish Pharisees and legalists taking opportunity to appear righteous in front of Jesus for the sake of impressing the crowds. To do this they would pose theological questions to Jesus for which they believed they had a smart answer. A lawyer (an expert in Mosaic law) decided he would ask Jesus a question that he could himself answer brilliantly and then parry with Jesus to and fro, and so appear to be as wise if not wiser than Jesus. 

Luke 10:25 And then a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered back, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” And Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will have life.” But he wanted to justify himself (appear righteous) and said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” (pl??sion; a person that is near or close in a variety of ways). 
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (These people are distancing themselves – the opposite to becoming near and close as neighbours)
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Jesus had just told a story of a man who was found beaten and helpless and left for dead. When Jesus told them that a priest came by, the crowd’s hopes were raised, only to fall when he passed by without helping. Next, a Levite arrived, and the crowd’s hope rose once more, but he too distanced himself from the injured man, leaving the crowd wondering about who was next. The crowd might have expected a Jewish man to be the hero, and perhaps this story was about the privileged religious leaders of the day, but Jesus was not trying to make that statement, and in any case, many may have even excused the priests and Levites, knowing that priests and Levites were bound by special rules when it came to touching the dead. (Jesus was saying something else) - And the big surprise was that a despised Samaritan was the compassionate hero in the story and what he did highlighted the true meaning of mercy and loving our neighbour.

Jesus is not making a point that Samaritans are better people than Jews, or that all priests and Levites are hard hearted people. The shock element of who is who in this story is more about the fact that you can’t predict where and when true compassion is going to occur just by having preconceived ideas about a person’s role or status or tribal identity. The parable points out that genuine mercy and compassion is always seen when one person helps another person who is in a helpless or vulnerable or deprived situation by coming close rather than by distancing themselves. And the real issue here is that Jesus proclaims showing mercy as I would say the core relational value of the Kingdom of God. And this just happens to be the answer that the smart lawyer finally gives to Jesus about ‘who is my neighbour’. The Lawyer decisively said to Jesus ‘The one who showed him mercy.’

It is mercy that generates closeness and acceptance and mercy responds to the vulnerability that we all feel as limited human beings. This is also seen in God’s creation even by animals of all varieties in coming to the aid of a helpless young fledgling of a totally different and distinct species. God has woven his mercy into the world of all living creatures. A big goose mothering a baby cat and a cat playing with  a baby bird (and 100 more examples)

There is a lot of talk about mercy and compassion these days but sometimes it seems kind of shallow like a superficial compassion. It's more about looking merciful and virtuous than actually caring, and it's more about having the correct moral high ground than actually helping people. And that can actually lead to some needy people adopting a victim mentality where they start to see themselves as helpless and always needing to be rescued. This can be dangerous because if someone or some special identity group can convince people that they're helpless then they can control them. And in today’s global culture there are people in power that cultivate that kind of dependency to stay in control.

And in this parable Jesus upholds this powerful theme of mercy as the overarching core value of God’s love and compassion throughout the Bible. Mercy is not only a feeling of compassion – it is a healing energy that generates concern and care and closeness like no other demonstration of love and faith. But mercy loses its healing power when it is done out of obligation or duty or condescension or guilt – that is not how God works.
We see God’s powerful nature of mercy and compassion on display everywhere in the Bible and we see it emphasised in the writings of at least seven of the Old Testament prophets. And David in the Psalms passionately proclaims the enduring mercy of God about ninety times. 

God’s mercy is first seen in the Bible in the book of Exodus Chapter 25 where God commands Moses to construct a mercy seat to cover the Ark of the Covenant which contained the presence of God in the tabernacle and the temple. It was crafted from pure gold which represented the very nature of God, and it shows how God’s desire is to be intimately near to his people, not distant or removed but right at the centre of Israel’s life and worship. It is the place where God meets humanity, not with condemnation but with a desire to show grace. The mercy seat was flanked by two angelic beings called cherubim, with their wings spread over it and their faces turned toward it as though even the heavenly beings are in awe of God’s loving compassion expressed through His mercy and emphasizing the sacredness of this place.

The nature of God’s mercy is also that it does not ignore sin or negate justice because mercy gives people enough time to consider their attitudes and behaviour and change before the consequences of their behaviour overtake them. 
‘The Bible also says The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ (Lamentations 2:22).
In the New Testament God’s mercy is seen in Hebrews chapter eight where God’s mercy is central to our understanding of how near and close God wants to be with us. The Old Covenant focused on adherence to the Law, and people having to do rituals of washings and sacrifices to come near to him. But in the New Covenant God writes the Commandments in our hearts and Jesus comes to dwell within us and give us his heart of obedience to the Father’s will in all things.
‘For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people… for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their unrighteousness (being out of alignment with me), and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:10)
God’s mercy draws us close to himself by pulling us out of our self-conscious mindset of imperfection and unworthiness which makes us feel at a distance from him. Our sense of helplessness can become a pathway towards God and not a pathway into isolation. 

We are called to be vessels of God’s mercy in a world that desperately needs it, and the Holy Spirit within us will always be prompting us to respond mercifully to others as he carries that compassion of the Father and Jesus to those around us. Jesus was ‘moved’ with compassion physically (plagchnizomai – in his inner body) when he saw the helplessness of the crowds around him. (Matthew 14:14).

The Bible says that mercy triumphs over judgement (James2:13) but it also says that people who show no mercy to others will receive judgement without mercy for their wrongdoing in the form of the unpleasant consequences of their wrongdoing. This is a sad reminder of how a person can unwittingly choke off the flow of God’s mercy even to their own self. The key to keeping the flow of God’s mercy open is to start by opening ourselves up to God’s mercy which endures forever. We make it something between God and ourselves and seek to live in his acceptance of us in our weakness and helplessness. That humble movement of our heart towards God is the truest expression of genuine faith that a person can have, and the Bible says that our hearts are purified by faith (Acts 10). From within that sea of God’s mercy we can look with eyes of mercy upon another person in their helplessness and that draws us into their need.

The prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for someone in their struggles and their helplessness is an exercise of God’s mercy through us, where we can have faith that God is at work supernaturally to draw that person close to him and bring them his strength and comfort. Mercy often looks like patience in everyday interactions because it resists being triggered into resentment or anger. Listening before speaking can invite a person’s heart into God’s mercy simply because they are being heard. Being listened to and heard can often lead to a person being healed. Mercy flows from heaven when we choose to respond with kindness rather than harshness even when someone is being difficult or insensitive. Mercy can simply be believing the best about others, even when there is reason to assume the worst. Mercy means refraining from judgment or harsh criticism and rather seeking to understand someone’s vulnerability. That kind of mercy can allow a person to step out of the shadows of their own darkness and into God’s transforming light.

Paul OSullivan – spiritcode.podbean.com  -  pauloss@icloud.com

GOSPEL PARABLES 15 TWO SONS

GOSPEL PARABLES 15 TWO SONS 
Today I’m sharing the parable of the Two sons from the Gospel of Matthew (21:28).
The background to the parable of the Two Sons is that the Pharisees and Jewish leaders were strongly resisting what Jesus was saying and doing and questioning his authority, as they had with John the Baptist, so Jesus speaks this parable to them,

Matthew 21:28 “What do you think of this? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I prefer not to,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I will go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you, for the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed John for he came to you as an upright and Godly man and you did not believe him. And even when you saw that, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

The Godliness and anointing and spiritual authority of John the Baptist was at the centre of the argument that the Jewish leaders were really having about the authority of Jesus - before he spoke the parable of the Two Sons. 
What did the Jewish leaders see in John the Baptist that they did not want to believe? 
They did not want to see or believe that John the Baptist was from God because if they believed that then they would have to believe that Jesus was also from God. The whole crowd saw John the Baptist baptise Jesus and they all saw the dove of the Holy Spirit appear above the head of Jesus and they heard the voice from Heaven say, ‘this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased’. As well as that, the tax collectors and prostitutes received the baptism of John the Baptist, but the Jewish leaders had refused it.

Jesus is saying a lot here about choices and preferences and our willingness to believe in Jesus and trust him and do what he says, or we may resist and walk our own path of self-advantage. We may give a nod to doing what is right because it looks good but deep down resent that we are not fully in command of our own destiny and desires, and in this story the two sons are being weighed in the balance of either determining their own destinies or doing the will of their father. This Two Sons theme occurs in another three major stories in the Bible - the stories of the prodigal son, and Jacob and Esau, and Cain and Abel. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
In the Two Sons parable Jesus is comparing the responses of the tax collectors and prostitutes with the responses of the legalistic Pharisees and Jewish leaders, and the situation in this parable resembles the story of the prodigal son. In the Prodigal Son story the father wants to bless both the sons, but the prodigal son goes his own way then has a change of heart and discovers his heart of gratitude and love and honour for his father. The older son is self-righteous and resentful of the mercy shown to the wayward son, just as the Pharisees are resentful of the mercy Jesus shows to sinners.

In the story of the twins Jacob and Esau, the older twin Esau was entitled to the spiritual inheritance from their father Isaac, but Jacob deeply desired it for himself. And one day after Esau had been out hunting and was hungry he impetuously traded the valuable older son inheritance for a tempting bowl of Jacob’s lentil soup, and later on, Jacob deceived the blind Isaac into blessing him with the sought after inheritance instead of Esau by disguising himself as Esau. And although Jacob initially acted out of self-will, he later repented, and years later, on the eve of his meeting with Esau to make reconciliation, he had an encounter with God and wrestled with God and with his own inner conflicts, and after this encounter God granted Jacob the full blessing of the heavenly inheritance he sought.

The Two Sons parable is also a replay of the Cain and Abel story where Cain is also resentful of the approval that God gives to Abel, who offers a heartfelt sacrificial offering of the best of his flock to God, whereas Cain gives only what he is obliged to give - just like the empty hearted Pharisees. God accepts the offering of Abel but not that of the envious Cain, who murders his brother and is sentenced into exile, to wander as a lonely man with an inner emptiness and bitterness. Cain’s crime of killing Abel is also replayed in the killing of Jesus by the Jewish leaders and the shouts of ‘crucify him’ in front of Pontius Pilate. Cain’s fate of being exiled to wander the earth (Genesis 4:4) is the same as the self-righteous Pharisees who exiled themselves from a merciful and forgiving God. The Bible says that through his sacrificial offering Abel still speaks even though he died (Hebrews 11:4) and how much more through the sacrificial offering of his own life does Jesus still speak even now to all the world. 

The story of Jesus is the unique story of the Son who delighted to honour the will of his Father, and who never wavered or had to repent or regret any wrong attitudes, and Jesus stands in the midst of all of these Two Sons stories. Jesus becomes the answer of forgiveness and mercy and hope to us as a wayward humanity represented by the tax collectors and the prostitutes and the prodigal son and the unruly and deceitful Jacob. And if we go astray like lost sheep, he comes to find us.

Jesus through his patience and longsuffering also becomes the remedy to those like the self-righteous Jewish leaders or the entitled older brother of the prodigal son or the disinterested Esau, or the hapless Cain who all remained in their shadow of darkness. 
Jesus waits and peers towards the horizon to see their hearts humbled and softened and become willing to return. For a brief moment I let you go your own way, but with great compassion I will gather you… (Isaiah 54:7) 
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Jesus has embraced humanity within the length and depth and height of his love. We are the brothers and sisters of Jesus, the sons and daughters of the Father, and heirs together with him of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus fulfilled every requirement of the Commandments because of his love for his Father and he lives within our hearts as the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus with a desire to do the Father’s will.  That means that we too can now fulfill his Commandments because they are now written on our new hearts of faith and love through the Holy Spirit that he has given to us. This redeeming love and mercy and forgiveness of God can be a great encouragement to us when we might have felt we have let God down, but then turn to him, safe within his love. This is also how we can encourage others who may have felt they have wandered too far away from God and feel there is no way back, for he has said. For a brief moment I let you go your own way, but with great compassion I will gather you.

Paul O’Sullivan – spiritcode.podbean.com  (pauloss@icloud.com)