Spiritcode

Times of Refreshing in the Presence of The Lord

TIMES OF REFRESHING IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD 

ACTS 3:1. Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service and as they approached the Temple a man was there, who had been lame from birth, and who was carried every day to one of the temple gates called ‘the gate Beautiful’, where he would beg for money from the people who entered the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple he asked them for some money Peter and John looked intently at the man and told him to look back at them. He gave them his full attention because he thought they were about to give him some money. 

Then Peter said to him ‘Look, I don’t have any money, but there is something I do have that I am going to give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and start walking. Peter took the man by his right hand and began to lift him up, and straightaway the man’s feet and ankle bones became firm and strong. He stood up and began to walk around then he started leaping about. He entered the temple with Peter and John, still leaping about and praising God.Everybody was staring at him as he walked around praising God. They realized he was the lame beggar they had seen so often at The Beautiful Gate and they were overwhelmingly surprised! They all rushed out to Solomon’s Hall, where he was holding tightly to Peter and John! Everyone stood there awed by the wonderful thing that had happened.
When Peter saw this he addressed the crowd, saying, ‘All you Israelites, what are you staring at us like that for? As if it was something to do with our holiness or our power that caused this man to walk. The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and of our forefathers has done this to glorify his Son Jesus, whom you handed over to Pilate and rejected, even when Pilate himself was determined to set him free. You have rejected the Holy and Just One and pleaded for a murderer to be set free in his place. You have killed the Prince of Life, whom God has raised from the dead. We are witnesses to the fact that he rose from the dead and is still alive. 

It is all about him and who he is and what he does, and faith in his name has made this man, whom you all know and recognize, healed and strong. It is the faith that comes from Jesus that has given this man perfect soundness before your very eyes. But it is clear to me now that you and your spiritual leaders did all of those things in complete ignorance. However, it is also clear that God had declared to you all about Christ and his suffering through the prophets, and these prophesies have now been fulfilled. So now you need to repent by accepting a totally new mindset, and change your whole way of life, and let your sins be cancelled out. 

Then you will know times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. And God will send Jesus Christ back, as has been proclaimed. But he must stay in Heaven until in God’s time everything is restored to the fulfillment of what has been prophesied through the prophets since the beginning of time. Moses said, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people (Jesus). Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’ Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet (Jesus) will be completely cut off from God’s people. Every prophet starting with Samuel, spoke about what is happening today. You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to you people first, to bless you, in turning every one of you away from your iniquities.’
The Bible says that the old Levitical priesthood of Israel could not fulfill the completeness of what God’s will was for his people in the Earth (Hebrews 7:11). Jesus has been given a special priesthood ministry from Heaven, called the ‘Priesthood of Melchizedek’ which ushers us into his presence, drawing us into being bonded with him and God the Father through the Holy Spirit. This priesthood ministry brings about the completeness of what God’s will is for his people in the Earth. We are heading towards that time of fulfillment through Jesus, determined by God’s Word from the beginning of time, and the goal is; ‘until we all reach the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God (not just dogma/doctrine but agreement on who Jesus is), to maturity, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (Ephesians 4:13) and only God knows that measure and the number that will be gathered to him in this way, and when that will be completed, but we can live with this hope in our hearts.
Hebrews 6:19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the veil into God’s presence in the Holy Place. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. 
When our spirit is awakened to this our souls can be healed (saved) and begin to express the life of Jesus within us - not just the natural life of our own uninformed and separated human spirit. Through Jesus our human spirit is now joined as one spirit with the Spirit of The Lord (1Corinthians 6:20). 
Those verses in the beginning of Acts chapter three brought the kingdom of heaven’s activity right into the Jewish Temple – and the sign of a miracle healing through the risen Jesus took place before the eyes of all the Jewish people in the temple. Peter took this opportunity to preach to the Jews that their time of being the witness in the Earth to the presence of God was over for this age, and that a new order of the ‘Kingdom age’ had begun. This warning had the air of finality about it for Israel and would require from them a change of mind and heart in their spirits that could bring them out of ignorance and unbelief into hearing the truth about Jesus and having faith in him.

God was bringing everything from the past that had promised Jesus the Messiah into the world to now belong to the present moment – and not only that moment in time but for all time into the future, where all of our sins are cancelled out and where we can experience ‘the times of refreshing (anapsyxis – the recovery of breath -literally ‘revival’), from the presence of The Lord’. That Greek word anapsyxis is only used this one time ever in the New Testament!! - another Hebrew word for revival is used three times in the Old Testament. In its natural sense or application, it is the breathing again of the air of life for our body to live – to be revived. (Our word Asphyxiate - to have our breath choked off – is the opposite of anapsyxis and is from the same Greek word). Our natural human body breathes for us automatically, without forceful huffing and puffing. As we rest in his presence with faith that we are one with God in Spirit the Lord makes us aware of the Holy Spirit breathing God’s life within us. This refreshing of anapsyxis is the new air we breathe of God’s holy presence within us. This is our revival, at all times - the conscious awareness of being present in our hearts and minds with the life of the Holy Spirit within. Our faith becomes a conscious appreciation of every moment of our new life in Christ.

As we sit and receive these times of refreshing in his presence, we can focus our hearts and minds from a place of spiritual oneness with the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and come to know them as persons that we are part of as they are part of us, three wonderful parts in fact. They live and breathe within us, reviving us with their life. Talk to them at this time of presence and tell them how you feel. Ask each one of them to reveal their nature to you of love and compassion for the burdens you carry in your soul. Let them reassure you that they are accomplishing something for you supernaturally with those burdens that is beyond your power to achieve. Jesus said ‘come to me all you that are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you (be bonded with me) and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ (Jesus gives us grace for the burden)

 

Hearing God Speak

 HEARING GOD SPEAK 

Acts 2: 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place (One hundred and twenty in the upper room). And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3Then there appeared flickering tongues of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Crowds of people were drawn to the noise and commotion of the sound of the wind and the loud yelling of the one hundred and twenty disciples speaking with great passion the works of God in foreign languages that they had never spoken before. Jerusalem was crowded on that day with thousands of Jewish visitors from many regions and nations, as well as the local Jewish population. Those crowds were hearing this message of God in their many various languages. The Bible says There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven (vs.6) that ‘heard them speaking in their own language, proclaiming the wonderful works of God’... and it goes on to list seventeen regions and nations.

God wanted to get the attention of the whole world that day – and he sent these amazing signs. The time had arrived for God’s eternal and pre-ordained purpose for humanity to receive the Holy Spirit. The word ‘pente’ means ‘fifty’ and it was fifty days after Jesus had risen from the dead. He had stayed with them for forty days upon the earth and they had to wait another ten days. Jesus had said they had to wait to receive the ‘Promise of The Father’, which was the sending of the Holy Spirit upon mankind. 
This astounding miracle was a reversal of the rebellion of Nimrod the mighty warrior mentioned in Genesis chapter eleven. He was the king of Babylon (the first kingdom mentioned in the Bible) and was responsible for building the Tower of Babel, which was meant to reach the heavens and serve as a symbol of human unity and political power. This was the first political rejection of the one true God, and in response to this prideful act, God confused the languages of the people working on the tower, causing them to speak different languages and preventing them from understanding one another and resulting in the scattering of different nations and cultures across the earth with their own languages. 
Instead of the disunity and political conflict of different nations ruling over the world God had now made available the unity of one voice that would rule in the hearts of all who believed in God through Jesus Christ. 
This was the first time that mankind had heard the voice of The Holy Spirit other than through the Old Testament prophets or through Jesus himself. Humanity was being prepared to hear God speak. This was an astounding sign to the people gathered in Jerusalem that God was at work in their midst. Being able to now hear God speak would change their lives forever. It would change the course of humanity. 

Some people accused the disciples of being drunk but Peter assured them that this was not the case, saying ‘these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day (9am). But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel’ And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. (verse 17). It is interesting that Peter says in that verse -  ‘I will pour out OF My Spirit… The word ‘OF’ is added by Peter here as it was not in Joel’s original prophecy and I do not believe it was a mistake. The Holy Spirit was telling us that this outpouring on the day of Pentecost was only a partial fulfilment of what was yet to happen in the last days of history. In Joel’s original prophecy Joel goes on to describe the events of the end of the world, which were obviously not going to happen in those days of the book of acts and are yet to occur. ‘Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.’
Peter then tells everybody there that they too can receive this gift of the Holy Spirit if they change their hearts and minds and be baptised. and that this is for them and for their children and for all those who are afar off (in time and location - that means us!). 
So the book of Acts is still being written!

Peter warns them not to accept the distorted mindset of the current generation, and that is an appeal to us as well as to them. He exhorts them to live for God, with Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Verse 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Three thousand people accepted this truth and became the community of faith and of grace and love. This points to the end of the era of being ‘under the dominion of the Law’ and being transferred into the Kingdom of God which is ‘under the dominion of grace’ (Romans 6:14). This was the beginning of The Church.
When Moses received the Commandments from God on Mount Sinai and came down to give the Law to Israel on the tablets of stone, he saw the people of Israel worshipping the golden calf and celebrating in an orgy of idolatry. God told Moses to command the Levites to go through the camp and slay the offenders, and on that day of giving of the Law three thousand people lost their lives. On the day of Pentecost three thousand people received new life.

Pentecost was the dawning of a new era where people could expect to hear Holy Spirit speaking to them in their own language - to join their hearts and minds to his heart and mind. God is re-kindling that era in the days in which we live. Hearing God speaking to us in our own language not only means that we hear him in our spoken language. It means that we hear the personal and specific word into our hearts that reveals to us what he is doing in our individual life circumstance, in whatever issue that we are grappling with, so that we can find his wisdom and know what to do. Faith comes by hearing the word from God not from watching miracles or seeing signs or even listening. We hear God’s voice and not our own voice. Your spirit was created to hear what the Holy Spirit wants to say to you, and the Bible also reminds us that there are personal things that no other person could advise you on or teach you - only God knows you the way you do.
But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, in your hearts, so that you don’t need anyone to teach you what is right. For he teaches you all things, and he is the Truth… (1John 2:27). He waits for you to ask him, and if we really want to know the truth of what we need to hear we will trust him to give it to us and we will gratefully accept what he says – that is the key to answered prayer. 
The Bible tells us to ask for wisdom and that he will give it to you - in your own language!
James 1:5 If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him… But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you.
As we have communion this morning and wait in his presence for a time, and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you regarding any issues that you might need wisdom for. Ask and give thanks and expect to hear – and you will hear something in his time, as you continue to ask.  

There could be a part of you that says no don’t do that - it won’t happen for you. You’ve probably been hearing that part for a long time.  It’s just trying to protect you from getting disappointed. It could be telling you just to worry about the problem for a while longer and work on it yourself until some other problems come along that need more worry than that one. But don’t get mad at that part. Just ask it nicely to step aside for a moment. Tell it that God would like to get a word in.  Then welcome the Holy Spirit to speak to your spirit. That’s what your spirit was created for.   

 

 

The End of the Beginning

 

THE END OF THE BEGINNING 

The dead body of Jesus was brought back to life in resurrected form when the Spirit of Jesus re-inhabited his entombed body on the Sunday following the Passover Sabbath. Only moments after this a number of people that accompanied Jesus from Paradise on his Heavenward journey also inhabited their recently entombed bodies and made the briefest of appearances to their loved ones. (Matthew 27.52).

On the Sunday morning after the Passover Sabbath (Leviticus 23:9) there was another feast that was part of the Passover Feast being celebrated by Israel. This was the wave offering, the waving of the sheaves or bunches of wheat or barley shoots that were the firstfruits of the harvest season. This festive day of the Passover feast was prophetic of Jesus whom the Bible twice declares to be the firstfruits of the resurrection (1Corinthians 15:20,23)- Jesus is the prime sheaf of the wave offering and the other company of people who also rose and appeared to many made up the rest of the sheaf. 

Jesus then began his upward journey to the Throne in heaven to present his blood to his Father for the purification of the sins of the whole earth. He returned to the earth that same day same day in a resurrected body that could never ever die again. This resurrected body was without the constraints of a limited physical body, but it could be seen and recognized as a natural body.

Mark 16:9 After that, He appeared in another form (heteros morphe – an altered form or nature) to two of them as they walked and went into the country.

Jesus returned to earth to Jerusalem and heard that the temple priests had fabricated a story that his body had been stolen by the disciples who had overcome the temple guards and raided the tomb. He set off walking from Jerusalem in the direction of Galilee, where he had said he would meet with his disciples. He saw two men walking together in serious discussion and he greeted them and joined them as they walked, but Holy Spirit had supernaturally veiled their eyes from recognizing him (Luke 24:13). They were taken aback that this stranger seemed to know nothing of what had happened in Jerusalem over the last few days. They explained patiently to this stranger the things about Jesus, that he did miracles and that he was a great prophet and how their chief priests and rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified Him. They said they were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel, as he had said that he would rise on the third day, and besides all this, that day was the third day since these things happened. 

As they walked the 12 K journey to Emmaus Jesus quoted them passage after passage from the writings of the prophets, beginning with the book of Genesis and going right on through the Scriptures, explaining what the passages meant and what they said about himself, and  something happened in their hearts as they listened to him. They appealed to him to stay with them as they finally arrived at Emmaus, even though he had told them he was going further, so Jesus accepted their offer to at least stay and have a meal with them. During the meal Jesus took some bread, and prayed a blessing over it, and as he broke the bread their eyes were opened and immediately, they recognized who he was and at that very moment Jesus vanished from their sight. This could well be called the firstfruits communion service - a prophetic illustration of how our times of fellowship and communion in remembrance of Jesus open up to us a deeper revelation of who Jesus is as we sit in the presence of God in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

After Jesus had disappeared the two men decided to go back into Jerusalem and find the disciples who were in hiding, afraid of what was going to happen to them because of the rumors that were going about that they had stolen Jesus’ body. They found them and were whisked inside and the doors were locked behind them. They told them of their journey with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and their miraculous meal with him where he had suddenly vanished. While they were still talking Jesus appeared in their midst while the doors remained locked. The disciples panicked, and thought they were seeing a ghost, but Jesus explained to them that he was not a ghost because a ghost didn’t have bones and flesh, and he asked them to touch his hands and his feet and to see for themselves. 
 
Jesus stretched forth his hands and his peace hit their hearts. He breathed his Spirit upon them and they received the impartation of his peace. They immediately felt at one with Jesus and with each other. But this was just a mere foretaste of what was to come, as it would only be after his final ascension and being seated at the right hand of Father that Holy Spirit would be sent to dwell within them. On the day of Pentecost Holy Spirit would be sent from Father and from himself upon all humanity. 

He asked them if he could have something to eat, so James brought back some steamed fish and some honeycomb and Jesus accepted it and ate it. Jesus noticed that Thomas was not amongst them and he told them he would see them in a few days at Galilee, and he vanished once more.

The disciples all gathered at Galilee eight days later and Jesus again miraculously appeared to them. Jesus knew that Thomas had not believed that he had risen, even after the other disciples had said that they had seen him, so Jesus held out his hands towards Thomas and told him to have faith and believe and touch his hands and his side where he had been pierced. Thomas did this and said, ‘My Lord and my God’. Jesus acknowledged that in seeing and touching he now believed. He went on to tell Thomas that there would be many who will believe without even seeing him and that they would be greatly blessed for that kind of faith. 

Jesus appeared to them again one morning after seven of them had been out fishing all night and had caught nothing. He stood on the shore and watched them fishing but they didn't realize that it was him. They had taken two boats out, one larger boat, rigged for catching and one auxiliary boat, which helped with baiting and with the haul. 
Jesus shouted out to the fishermen from the shore asking them if they had yet caught anything and they said no they hadn’t. Then Jesus told them to throw out the net on the right-hand side of the boat, and they would get plenty of fish, and when they did they couldn’t draw in the net because of the weight of the fish. Then John called out to Peter that it was the Lord, and at that, Peter put on a robe and jumped into the water and swam ashore. The rest of the disciples stayed in the boat and pulled the loaded net to the beach. 
When they got to where Jesus was, they saw that a fire was kindled and fish were frying over it, and there was bread.
Jesus told them to bring some of the fish they had just caught, so Peter went out and dragged the net ashore. By his count there were 153 large fish and yet the net hadn’t torn. Jesus then invited them to come and have some breakfast and Jesus went around serving them the bread and fish. That was the third time Jesus had appeared to them since his return from the dead.

After they had all enjoyed breakfast together Jesus called Peter aside. He knew there were things that had to be said between them. Peter’s soul was in a turmoil of regrets, shame and guilt. Time and again he had asked himself why he didn’t stand up for Jesus instead of disowning him three times when he was asked if he knew him. He had remembered when the rooster crowed that Jesus had predicted that he would deny him three times. What was Jesus going to say to him now – would Jesus disown him, even rebuke him three times? But Jesus asked Peter three times, in three different ways whether or not Peter loved him, and Peter humbly gave himself up to the ownership of God’s love. As a true representation of a flawed humanity owned by God’s love, Peter was mercifully forgiven and accepted. It was also this moment that owned him, not the past, or the uncertain future. This would also continue to be his greatest gift to God, the gift of his each moment to God. Peter was then commissioned three times to feed God’s lambs and feed his sheep. As Peter would go on in life, he would have faced his many imperfections, and he may well have learned to return to that special moment on the seashore, where he could surrender to the ownership of God’s love and shed his fears, growing in faith and being transformed into God’s nature.

The bible says that Jesus met with over five hundred people over those forty days (1Corinthians 15:6). The final time that he met with his disciples they asked him if this was now the time for him to free Israel from Rome and restore his people as a mighty nation. He told them that only his Father had set these times and they were not for them to know. He also told them that they would testify about his death and resurrection with great power. He instructed them not to leave Jerusalem and that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit in just a few days – the promise of the Father. They were to wait in the same room in which he celebrated the Passover feast with them, the night he was taken captive. 

Suddenly a dazzling light shone within a billowing white cloud above them. Jesus turned to them all and raised his hands in blessing. He did not need to say goodbye. As he began to rise slowly heavenwards he was enveloped in the cloud, and as they stood together looking into the cloud that had taken him they saw the shining figures of the now familiar two angels standing to one side who told them that the same cloud that they saw taking Jesus into eternity would also bring him back one day to that same place - in total glory and triumph, and The Plan of Salvation will have been fulfilled.

And so, they waited just as he had instructed them, and after ten days the Holy Spirit fell upon them. Jesus had told them he would join their lives to his risen life and they would become one in Spirit with him. Holy Spirit would take Father’s love, and his own words, and place them in the hearts of men and women, as a deep consciousness of indwelling abiding life. 

 

 

 

The Resurrection

THE RESURRECTION 

When Jesus gave up his Spirit to his Father, before he ascended, the Bible says he first descended - in his Spirit - on a mission of great purpose. Below him was a place called Paradise, and next to Paradise was a place called Hades. Jesus had spoken about these places when he told the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar. The rich man who lived sumptuously in arrogant self-indulgence all of his life ended up in Hades and Lazarus who lived the life of a humble beggar at the gate of the rich man’s house ended up in Paradise, with Abraham. (Luke 16:19) 

Jesus had now descended to these places. Paradise was where there were millions of souls who had been waiting for him from the beginning of time. These had lived their lives on earth in hope, many of them guided by the Commandments through Moses, but many simply by a good conscience. They were locked away from eternity till Jesus would now come to get them. Jesus would also visit Hades the prison of lost hope.

The bible says that Jesus then preached to all those prisoners of time the message of the Gospel, the plan of the Father to send Jesus into the world to set people free from the captivity of sin and to bring his New Creation life to humanity. Jesus would have sat with Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, and many others in Paradise as well as his newfound friend that hung next to him on the cross and to whom he said, ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise’! He spoke to them and with them and he rested with them. He was to wait there until the end of the third day.
The Bible says that before he ascended, he led the captives free (Ephesians 4:8) from the captivity of time, as they had waited till heaven came to get them. Jesus also declared the word of his truth to those lost in Hades who had resisted God and refused to listen to him, including those who were destroyed in the flood of Noah. 
1Peter 3:18 He died once for the sins of all sinners although he himself was innocent of any sin at any time, that he might bring us safely home to God. But though his body died, his spirit lived on, and it was in the spirit that he visited the spirits in prison and preached to them-- spirits of those who, long before in the days of Noah, had refused to listen to God, though he waited patiently for them while Noah was building the ark. 

The Book of Revelation also tells us that Jesus was given the keys of ‘Hell and death’ at this time, and with the key of freedom he was able to unlock those prisoners of the past in Paradise and take them into an eternal heaven.
Revelation1:17,18 Fear not; I am the first and the last: -- I am he that lives and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death.

On the third day when Jesus turned the key of freedom in the prison gate a tremor hit the universe. Power from Father and Holy Spirit in heaven was released into and through Jesus to overcome death and the grave - and that changed the nature of every atom of matter in existence. God had joined himself to his own creation in the person of Jesus Christ and now humanity could become a ‘New Creation Being’, joined in the Spirit with Jesus (2Corinthians 5:14). 

The time had now come for them all to leave, and Jesus led them on a triumphant upward journey, to their new home, his home in Heaven. The entire company was escorted by hosts of angels as they ascended ever upwards until they first reached the earth, (Psalm 68:18, Ephesians 4:8, Psalm 24)). There they all stopped for a brief period of time, because there were things for Jesus to do there. The first thing that he had to do was to go to his tomb where his earthly body lay in its shroud. The Archangels Michael and Gabriel went ahead of Jesus to the tomb and found the guards there that the temple priests had appointed to stand watch at the tomb. As the angels alighted the ground shook and the massive stone rolled away as a huge burst of lightning hit the place sending the guards reeling headlong to the ground. They leapt up in fright and bolted. Jesus entered his tomb and united himself again to the wounded shell of his body, leaving the headpiece and shroud lying separated from one another in the tomb (John 20:7). 

Michael and Gabriel waited inside the tomb while Jesus walked bodily from that temporary resting place, out into the garden. He walked about and would have recalled vividly the events that had so recently taken place nearby, and his time of kneeling in an agony of prayer when he accepted his cup of unbearable suffering. 

At that same time some women had prepared oils and spices according to the custom, to anoint the body of Jesus. On their way to the tomb, they were discussing the problem of how to move the huge stone that covered the entrance. When they arrived, they were astonished to see that it had been moved and the guards were nowhere to be seen. They peered inside the tomb and were met by the majestic appearance of Michael and Gabriel, sitting in the place where Jesus had been laying.

‘Are you looking for Jesus?’ Gabriel said. ‘He has come back to life as he said he would. Go and tell the disciples that he will be coming to see them, and that they are to wait for him in Galilee.’

The women ran to tell the disciples but one of them dropped behind and walked slowly through the garden, still confused and weeping. She almost collided with Jesus who was also walking in the garden, and she apologized, not recognizing him, thinking he was the gardener. This was Mary Magdalene. And he called her by her name and said, ‘It’s alright Mary, it is me.’

She ran towards him, but he held up his hand and said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord,’ and she shared the things that he had said to her.’ (John 20.17)

And now Jesus had to fulfill the offering of his blood to his Father in Heaven. The blood of animal sacrifice had been offered for the sins of the people by the High priest of Israel in the holy place of the temple for the last fifteen hundred years for the nation of Israel (Leviticus 16, Hebrews 9) but Jesus had just marked the end of blood sacrifice for sin for all time by sprinkling his innocent blood on the ground at Golgotha for the forgiveness of the sins of the whole earth.
Hebrews 9:11 But Jesus came as High Priest of this better system that we now have. He went into that greater, perfect tabernacle in heaven, not made by men nor part of this world, and once for all took blood into that inner room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat; but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, he took his own blood, and with it he, by himself, made sure of our eternal salvation. 

A very strange thing was also happening in other parts of Jerusalem. Hundreds of souls who had just accompanied Jesus from below and who had recently died were making the briefest of appearances to their loved ones. 
Matthew 27:52 And when the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. Many bodies of the saints who had died were raised up and came out of the tombs after his resurrection, and they went into the holy city and appeared to many.  

After the very brief visit to their astounded friends and relatives on earth in their new recognizable forms, they then had to regroup with Jesus and resume their journey to Heaven (Imagine the strange reality of this spiritual world). The magnificent procession began to ascend from their graves to the sky in glorious splendour with its escort of glorious angels. As their ascension took them closer and closer to the throne room a mighty voice could be heard proclaiming his majestic entrance.
Psalm 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!

At this command the heavenly music began. The sounds of pipes and trumpets, the voices of hundreds of harmonies, and a beautiful range of stringed instruments created a majestic symphony. Jesus had come home, and the Bible trumpets his victorious homecoming. 
Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he sustains everything in the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 
This was the moment - purification for the sin of all mankind had been made and now everything in the Universe was integrated into his Being of power.

Ephesians 1:19-21. how powerful is that divine energy that comes from God to us when we simply believe that he is the creator and generator of this supernatural power which exploded into reality when he raised Jesus from the dead and took him into heaven to sit next to him at his right hand. 21. This heavenly place and position took Jesus as God and man above any other force or realm of authority that can be named, whether on earth or in the heavens…and he has become the centre of all consequence and meaning in the universe.

All the angels and all those who had come with Jesus on the upward journey beheld their king in his place of honour and joined in the magnificent celebration. His time in heaven for these celebrations was momentary, as he had left the tomb just before dawn and had to return to earth that same day, still bearing the marks of the cruel wreath of thorns from his flogging, and the wounds to his hands and feet and side from the cross. He would now spend forty days on earth as a witness to his resurrection, to seal The Plan of his Father and see it implemented for the rest of time. At the end of those forty days he would return to Heaven, from where he would begin his new mission upon the earth through the Holy Spirit. 

Holy Spirit had accompanied Jesus every moment of his life on earth. He had joined himself to the human spirit of Jesus and had felt every feeling that Jesus had felt. He had known every one of his thoughts, and he had communicated every thought from Father God to him. Those thoughts became words in the mouth of Jesus, and Spirit caused those words to have life and power to all who heard Jesus speak. In this way Holy Spirit had also experienced life within humanity on the earth. After those forty days on the earth Jesus returned to Heaven and ten days after that, Jesus and Father sent Holy Spirit to the earth on the day of Pentecost and ushered in the New Creation being of God with us. 
Holy Spirit would become the bond between Heaven and earth for all time. He would fall like rain from Heaven upon the souls of mankind, seeking to awaken the spirit of humanity to the cosmic truth of what Jesus had done in joining mankind to God. 
Humanity could now live in the new law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and win its struggle against the mindset of lostness and separation called the law of sin and death. 
Within the human pain of this struggle against lostness and separation would be found the cry of Holy Spirit wrestling to join the minds and hearts of people to God. It is the Spiritual energy of God’s love that would never cease its activity in the human heart, subduing human nature, that it might resonate with the nature of God. Whenever this truth is embraced by a human heart, that heart will at last find itself at home, around the Family table, where it was destined eternally to be. 

 

 

 

GOLGOTHA

GOLGOTHA Jesus had been sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate and then tortured and flogged by the cruel guards of King Herod, and finally commanded by Pilate to carry his cross to Calvary, or Golgotha, which means ‘the place of the Skull’. Pilate told a Centurion to arrange for an escort of guards around Jesus to escort him to the windswept hill. The heavy beam of the cross was placed on Jesus' bleeding shoulder as they left the yard and went into the crowded street. The already large crowd continued to grow, some of them followers and friends, others bitter enemies, and yet others who were just confused and angry. Jesus staggered and buckled under the weight of the beam, but he continued to drag it behind him.  It was the custom to write a description of the crime committed on a clay plate and fix it to the top of the cross.

Pontius Pilate had ordered that an inscription be written that read, “The King of the Jews”. Golgotha was near the busy city of Jerusalem and the signboard was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it. An angry voice called out above the crowd “Who wrote that inscription? – it’s wrong”, and one of the temple priests protested that it should have said that ‘He said he was king of the Jews’. However, Pilate had made it very clear to everyone that he had written that inscription and it would stay as it was. A few paces further on Jesus staggered again but this time fell headlong to the ground. The Centurion could see blood flowing freely from Jesus now and he knew that he had to keep him on his feet. A burly lumbering man who by the look of his clothing was visiting from some other region, was close by Jesus as he stumbled forward. The Centurion called out to the man and told him to help Jesus carry the cross. The man from Cyrene did what he was told and took the beam and strode on into a journey that was to be immortalized in endless time. When the trek to Calvary was completed, it would take six full hours on Calvary for Jesus to die.

Mary the mother of Jesus stood on the flat terrain at the top of Golgotha along with her sister, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene, and they were joined there by the disciple John, the other disciples having preferred to hang back from the crowd. Two criminals were already hanging on crosses either side of the hole where Jesus’ pole was to be fixed, but these two men were tied to their crosses, not nailed. Jesus was finally hoisted up and then the pole was crudely dumped into the hole prepared for it. 

When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside John, his close friend, he said to her, ‘Mother behold your son.’ And to John he said, ‘Son behold your mother’ And from that time on John took her into his home. Present amongst the growing crowd were some temple priests and other leaders of the Jews who jeered. “You were pretty good at saving others, but you can’t even save yourself.  If you are the Promised One, our Messiah, then come on down from that cross and prove it to us. Weren’t you going to pull down our temple and rebuild it again in three days? Well, why not get yourself down from that cross?”

It was the custom for a soldier to push a sponge of sour wine and myrrh into the mouths of those being crucified, but when the soldier did that Jesus turned his face aside and refused the swab, and the man joined the other soldiers who were throwing dice to see who was going to keep Jesus’ robe. This fulfilled the Scripture that says, ‘They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my robe.’(Psalm 22:18) Dust was spitting itself into peoples' faces on this strangest of days and gusts of wind blew as storm clouds raced faster than usual across the sky, causing a flickering of sunshine and deep shadow. 

As Jesus hung there the criminals beside him were weakening, groaning in their pain, when one of them turned to Jesus. He had earlier on joined the choir of obscenity, picking up the ugly chant with gusto. He now wanted to have his last few words of bravado heard in this dark prison of life and death he had made for himself, and he shouted out.  ‘So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!’ But the man on the other side shouted at him angrily. “Don’t you even fear God when you are dying? We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man hasn’t done one wrong thing.” He then turned to Jesus and said. ‘Lord, will you remember me when you are in your mighty kingdom?’ Jesus turned his head and looked at him with love, saying “Today you are coming home with me to Paradise.” 

High noon surrendered to a deep darkness which remained for three full hours. Darkness took over that day, and in those last hours it put a stop to many things. Shouts of bravado that just moments ago would have roused bold echoes now hung hollow in the still air, and those mockers that had stood close to the action at the foot of the cross now slid back into the crowd. There were Angels suspended within this pall of sadness that shrouded the desolation below and Heaven waited in eternity as three hours of darkness passed on earth.

Then Satan shot himself like a dart into the one that hung between two criminals on a lonely plateau of the place of the Skull. The gigantic spirit of Jesus absorbed the full impact of Satan as all hell's hateful fury hit him, and as every vile thing ever done by countless millions of crippled hearts down through the ages and for the ages to come assailed his being. Thunder cracked and the earth began to shake. The magnitude of this kind of collision, the sum of all sin hitting the sum of all innocence, would shake all created things.  A swirling sea of fear sought to pull Jesus under, but he hoisted his faith above the fear with absolute trust in his Father's love, as he took every vile accusation that Satan hurled at him and locked them safely within that vault of perfect love. He owned it all, yet he was completely innocent of any wrong deed.

Another missile from Satan hit him. It was black and fathomless, nothingness. It was like annihilation. He was living out yet another prophetic fulfilment of Psalm 22 spoken by David over five hundred years before.  ‘My God My God why have you forsaken me?’(Psalm 22:1) The source of this horrific thought was not Father God. Darkness had assailed the human heart of Jesus, the Son of Man, of the lineage of David, and in an instant, Jesus knew the answer to his own question. He had not been forsaken by his Father, but in his humanity, he had experienced forsakenness for a moment, so that no living soul from this time on would ever have to feel forsaken by God again because of their human weakness.  As he hung there, he embraced the tragic weakness of humanity and touched the feelings of forsakenness for every human soul throughout all ages.

The vast bank of love and compassion that filled heaven filled his heart and went out to a beloved humanity. He looked at the mocking faces out there in the crowd and he loved them. He sent his voice into a waiting heaven and cried out. ‘Father, forgive them – they don’t know what they are doing.’ He had done it. It was finished.

The Plan of Salvation could now be put into effect. Jesus had something more to say but his throat felt parched, and he wanted to speak with strength. ‘I'm thirsty,’ he gasped, fulfilling yet another Scripture (Psalm 69:21). ‘and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.’ The Centurion ordered a soldier to give Jesus the vinegar/wine sponge, and then Jesus spoke out in a loud voice ‘Father into your hands I now offer my Spirit.’ Then in one last gasp he said for all to hear. ‘It is finished!’ Then he died. And he and we were placed securely in The Father's loving hands.

The Jewish leaders didn’t want the victims hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath at that, for it was the Passover) - so the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus to quicken their deaths in order to take their bodies down. But when they came to Jesus they didn’t break his legs because they saw that he was dead already.  However, to make sure that he was truly dead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. The soldiers did this in fulfillment of yet two more of the prophetic Scriptures from Psalm 22 that say, “Not one of his bones shall be broken,” and, “They shall look on him whom they pierced.”

Who brought about the death of Jesus? Was it His Father, The Jews, The Romans, our sin? All of these played very significant parts, and there are Scriptures for each of their roles. But it was finally Jesus who said these words.  John 10:17…I lay down my life for my sheep - I lay down My life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This command I have received from My Father.” At the moment of his death the cosmos convulsed.

An earthquake tore a searing gash into the mountainside and people were toppled off their feet. Rocks split apart and the graves and tombs on a nearby hill cracked open. People ran in fear from the place, but they did not know where to go.  At that moment there were priests in the temple about to sacrifice the Passover lamb, and when their knife pierced that sacrificial animal the true Lamb of God offered himself on Calvary as the final sacrifice for all sin. The priests were thrown off their feet by the earthquake and the temple shook as huge stones fell from the parapets. The great veil in the temple proper, which separated the place of God’s presence in the holy place from the rest of the temple was lightning torn from top to bottom. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’

When that veil was torn it signified that Christ as both man and God had done away with the separation of mankind from God symbolised by the veil in the temple worship, but this opening of the veil had also done away with the separation of mankind from God in all the earth. He had gone ahead for all of us to so that we could live in his abiding presence. We can now have faith to come confidently into this holy place in our own hearts because of his mercy upon our imperfect humanity and we can receive the power of his life within us to do what is right and pleasing to God.  The veil that was torn when Jesus died on the cross was the awesome declaration of the certain hope that we can live in his presence at all times, behind that veil of separation.

Jesus was without sin because he trusted his Father with all his heart to fulfill his own heart’s desires. His human desires which are common to us all were subdued by his higher heartfelt Godly desire and so they did not conceive and give birth to sin, and therefore did not bring forth death (James 1:15). The moment Jesus died the law of sin and death was being overturned to make way for a new spiritual law to come into effect - the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and that spiritual law did not exist in the Garden of Eden. It would occur only after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the sending of the Holy Spirit to give us the risen life of Jesus within, and to give us a new heart of compassion like his own. Our hearts can now be fulfilled with a new desire that freely chooses to fulfill the desires of God’s heart.

Passover Feast

PASSOVER FEAST 
Ever since Jesus had become the main attraction at the feast of tabernacles and proclaimed himself as the fountain of living water many of the Jews believed that he was the One - the Christ - the Rock from which flowed the water of life for Israel. From that time on and right up to the feast of Passover the healings and miracles and wisdom words of Jesus became more and more awe-inspiring - and just weeks before Passover Jesus worked the miracle of miracles - raising a man called Lazarus from the dead. So, the chief rulers of the Jews had a problem on their hands - what were they going to do with Jesus? they thought he might even decide to rule over Jerusalem and keep on bringing the Scriptures to life, working miracles like feeding hungry multitudes and raising people from the dead. They knew the people wanted this and these rulers were getting desperate. 
John 11:47 The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Nation of Israel including all that had been dispersed abroad.

Some days before Passover began Jesus came down from the mount of olives with his disciples to Bethany to attend a banquet to celebrate that miracle resurrection of Lazarus - and Jerusalem was a hive of activity. We read now from John 12:1 

John 12:1 Six days before the Passover ceremonies began, Jesus arrived in Bethany where Lazarus was—the man he had brought back to life, and a banquet was prepared to honour Jesus. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a jar of costly perfume made from spikenard, and anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped them with her hair… 9. Many of the Jews heard that Jesus was in Bethany (a half hour walk from Jerusalem) and they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus—the man who had come back to life again. Then the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus too, for it was because of him that many of the Jewish leaders had deserted and believed in Jesus as their Messiah.

After that banquet Jesus arranged for his disciples to have a donkey ready for him to ride into Jerusalem on the day that we call Palm Sunday, the beginning of Passover week, and crowds of Jews from all over the empire we're gathering for the feast. They stood on the roadside in their thousands as he rode into Jerusalem, and they welcomed him as their prophet, the miracle worker, and they proclaimed him as the king of the Jews shouting ‘hosanna’ and casting palm leaves on the ground before him. 

Later that day Jesus went to the temple and into the court of the gentiles, a large outer area where there were tables set up for the money changers to sell birds and and animals for the people to offer sacrifices on the altar. These money changers were charging extortionate prices for their sacrificial birds and animals especially to those who were coming from other areas of the Middle East and Asia, and Jesus became indignant at this. He threw over the tables of the money changers and rebuked them for turning his Father's house - The House of prayer - into a den of thieves.
At this show of power many in the crowd that stood about watching and listening to him expected a further show of power from Jesus - surely this was the time for him to start his Kingdom. But they would be disappointed, because Jesus was not going to start an earthly Kingdom - Jesus was on a path to the establishing of his heavenly Kingdom with a far greater demonstration of such great power that the whole cosmos would be shaken by it. 
After that encounter Jesus took the twelve aside, and he said he wanted to share the Passover meal with them that evening - that was the Thursday of Passover week. he told two of them to make preparations in an upper room for the event and for the others to go off and spend some time in prayer while he would go off and pray by himself. He arranged for them to meet him back here at the fountain in the square.

The Passover meal was not just a meal but a series of meals interspersed with pauses for reflection and readings from the scriptures in remembrance of the event of Moses bringing the nation of Israel out of their slavery from Egypt after one of the meals where they ate roasted lamb and bitter herbs Jesus stood up and went over to one of the huge bathing bowls and he took off his outer robe and wrapped a large towel around himself and he called the disciples to come over to him. He told them he wanted to wash their feet and so they walked hesitatingly towards him. He began to wash their feet and when he came to Peter to wash his feet Peter protested and said ‘no master you will not wash my feet’ but Jesus reproved Peter. 
Jesus had just told them that those that would have authority in his Kingdom would have to become servants not lord their authority over people like the Gentiles did, and now he was saying to Peter ‘if you think I have authority with you then you let me be your servant and you will let me serve you by washing your feet, otherwise you're saying you don't recognise my authority and you don't want to be part of what I'm doing.’ 
Peter stood humbly in front of Jesus and said ‘please Lord wash my feet but not just my feet but my hands in my head as well’ Jesus had to explain to Peter that it was just his feet in the bowl and nothing else. He told Peter that he was clean inside and out except for his feet just as were all the others except for one of them. He the sat them down and asked for the bread and wine to be served, and he said, ‘One of you will betray me’.

They were all overwhelmed and distressed by what he said so they began to ask him one by one ‘is it me master?’ But John knew the depth of love that he himself had for Jesus and he didn't even question his own heart, so he simply asked Jesus ‘who is it Lord?’ and Jesus said ‘the one who dips his bread with me into the soup’ and at that very moment Judas had his bread in the soup along with the bread in the hand of Jesus. 
Jesus let the moment of emotion and confusion pass and then Judas, feeling safe, said ‘Is it me Lord?’ Jesus replied to Judas ‘you said it’ and then he handed his bread to Judas and said to him ‘go and do what you have to do.’ Judas got up and grabbed the money bag and strode out and the other disciples supposed that he had received instructions from the master concerning feeding the poor.

Jesus turned to the other disciples and took a large piece of bread from the bowl and they watched him as he broken it into twelve pieces, keeping one in piece his hand and handing the rest around to the remaining eleven.  ‘This is my body’ he said over the bread that he had in his hand. ‘This has been broken into pieces but when we eat it it becomes one piece again because we are one, and whenever you and those who come after you do this in the times to come you will join yourselves to one another and to me and I will be there with you. You will know my presence among you because unless you know you have my life in you, you will not know what life really is.’ 
He took a cup of the ceremonial wine and drank from it - he then passed it around for them all to drink and after they had finished it he said to them ‘This is my blood-  just as my body will be torn to pieces for you so too will my blood be spilled for you - this is a sign of my life and of the new promise from God to give you and all of humanity - our life to share, not just a life of rules and regulations but our very divine life, and whenever people do this in the future I want them to remember that I died for them and that I will come back again at the end of time for them in the full power and glory of my Kingdom’.

The feast had come to an end, and he stood and then they all stood and moved close together, drinking in the beauty and wonder the moment that they had shared with him and knowing that they would be coming together to share this moment together without him and yet with him time and time again. He asked them to come with him to a garden near the olive Grove, where he said he wanted them to pray with him and he spoke to them again. 
“In a few hours the temple leaders will arrest me, and I will be put on trial. After my arrest you will all become terrified and desert me, but it will fulfill the Scripture which says that when the shepherd is struck the sheep will run in all directions.” 
Peter protested, “Even if everyone else deserts you I will never run”. (Matthew 26:34)
Those empty words of Peter’s resulted in his denying the Lord three times. James and the others joined in with their empty protests and indeed they ran in all directions. 
Jesus then spoke his words of total and loving commitment to them and to all of us. 
John 13:34 ‘I am giving a new commandment to you now—love each other just as much as I love you. Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
When we can believe in the totally committed love of Jesus for us and we can accept our imperfect selves as being loved with so much compassion, we can then allow that love and compassion to flow out from us into the imperfect lives of the people in our personal world.

 

Rock of Ages

ROCK OF AGES

There were three main ceremonial feast days that Israel celebrated every year. The first was the feast of Passover, commemorating Israel’s miraculous escape from Egypt. Each family had to sacrifice a firstborn lamb of their flocks and sprinkle the blood of the Lamb on the door posts of their houses, and the angel of death passed over the houses of the Israelites, while the firstborn of the males of the families of the Egyptians was slain. The second feast was that of Pentecost, fifty days after Passover, and this Feast celebrated the barley harvest.
The feast of Tabernacles was the third and final feast of the year, and it was the feast that celebrated the presence of God with his people, and it took the form of a festival of joy and unity and thanksgiving. There was a closing ceremony on the seventh day of the feast and the main feature was when the priest invited people to draw of the water from a golden bowl. 
That ceremony commemorated the miracle of the living water that God provided for them when Moses struck the Rock at Mount Horeb in the wilderness.

Exodus 17:1… There was no water for the people to drink... and they complained against Moses. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river. I will stand before you there on the rock between you and Mount Sinai; and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may have water.” So he called the name of the place Massah (testing) and Meribah (discontent), because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord’s presence among us or not?”  

That was the real test and the real complaint! They had thought that the presence of God was not amongst them because they were without water. Our human heart is tempted to believe that suffering loss or being deprived means that God has abandoned us. God was teaching Israel to learn to trust that his presence was always with them, so he provided for them by miraculously providing water from the rock. Paul writes about this in Corinthians.
1Corinthians 10:3 They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 
11. all these things happened to them as examples for us, written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 
‘That Rock was Christ’. (The Rock of Ages - then and now and the ages to come)

God gave them supernatural living water from the rock for their physical thirst. 
Jesus as our rock gives us the living water of his presence for our spiritual thirst. 

Jesus made a spectacular appearance at the Feast of Tabernacles in that final year of his ministry. The Feast of Passover was the next feast after Tabernacles, about four months away, and his ministry had recently been more out in the open and the opposition and antagonism towards him was growing.
Jesus was staying in Galilee with his family at the time when they were all preparing to go to the feast of Tabernacles. His brothers were becoming confused and impatient with him because of his apparent lack of initiative in ramping up on miracles and healings in the surrounding area. They goaded him by demanding that he do something spectacular at the feast, telling him that it would be his chance to show the people who he really was, but Jesus told his brothers to go on ahead without him seeming to imply that he wasn’t  even going to the feast. However, Jesus had planned to go to the feast for a very special reason, but he wanted to go there in secret and to avoid the crowds till he was ready, so he took the back roads to the temple at Jerusalem.  

On his way to the temple, he would have passed many hundreds of tents camped upon the hillsides because thousands of people gathered on these hills for the week of the feast. He arrived in Jerusalem on the fourth day of the feast and went to the temple and began teaching and discussing Scripture and answering questions from the people, who were amazed and astonished at his teaching. Whenever Jesus stood to speak the crowds would gather to listen. They asked one another how he could have unfolded the Scriptures to them the way he did when he had not been formally taught.

At this Festival People danced and sang as the water drawing ceremonies and rituals were acted out each morning. Women would get water from the surrounding springs and wells in their pitchers and take them up to the temple singing with the men and the children from Isaiah 12:13 ‘Therefore with joy you shall draw water out of the well of salvation’.

On the seventh day of the feast, the Great Day of the feast, as the huge golden water bowl was carried by the people up the temple steps, the enormous crowd stood around watching and cheering, amidst the trumpet blasts sounding out. This was the consecration ceremony of the sacred water, the high point of the feast.

At the top of the temple steps was a special altar with a priest selected by the Sadducees, waiting for the big moment to arrive. When the bowl was presented to him he would raise his hand to indicate that the call was about to be made for people to ‘Come, drink of the water’. 

This would have been the moment, when the priest raised his hand, that Jesus would have stood at the temple steps in front of the crowd, who had eager ears for what he would say. 
John 7:37 On that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink, he who believes in Me. As the Scripture has said, Out of His heart will flow rivers of living water. He was speaking of the Holy Spirit’ Jesus saying this at that particular time in front of all the Jewish pilgrims from all over the Middle East and Asia Minor and Greece would have hit their ears like a thunderclap. 

Division and argument broke out amongst the crowd. Many in the crowd said, ‘This is The Prophet’ while others said, ‘This is The Christ’, while others said ‘Would The Christ ever come out of Galilee?’ 
The Pharisees and Sadducees were furious – calling on the temple police to stop him and arrest him but they couldn’t take hold of him. The officers came back and said ‘we couldn’t arrest him and besides, no man has ever spoken like this before.’
Nicodemus, who had earlier on in Jesus’ ministry come to him in secret to question him about the Kingdom of God, now publicly defended Jesus saying that the Law couldn’t judge unless people have heard what the man has to say. Jesus alone knew that it was planned for him by the Father to proclaim himself as the Rock that gave forth the living water of his presence at this feast. 
Jesus had turned their historic feast into a proclamation of their (and our) salvation, our present faith, and our future hope, an astounding fulfillment of prophecy. Here is Jesus at the end of his ministry saying he was the source of that Living Water, just as he was the bread, the true manna from Heaven that fed them in the wilderness, just as he was The Rock from where the water flowed. Jesus alone knew also that the time was almost upon him to become the sacrificial Lamb of God for humanity at the approaching feast of Passover. And he was the presence that was always with them.

The problem for Israel in the wilderness was the constant complaint of ‘Is the Lord’s presence among us or not?’ 
but God kept showing up for them time after time. It can be the same with us. That is why Jesus was so emphatic that he is always with us, like the Rock that was always with them, following them in the wilderness.
Our soul can feel dried up at times when we sense a lack of motivation or even meaning in the things that happen to us. It is at these times that we set aside time in his presence, keeping our mind upon drawing the energy and inspiration from him as our strength, our rock of Ages to give meaning to everything that we do.
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. 
(olam sûr – which means ‘The Rock of Ages’). 

 

The Walls of Jericho

THE WALLS OF JERICHO 
Today we are looking at the story of Joshua leading Israel in the defeat of the city of Jericho, where the walls of the city fell down as the priests and soldiers marched around the city for seven days with the priests carrying the ark of the presence of God. 
From the moment that God commissioned Moses to take Israel out of their captivity to Pharaoh in Egypt and to lead them though the wilderness and into the Promised Land, it was the power of the presence of God with them that prevailed for them.
When God first told Moses to do this work, he said to Moses "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Then Moses said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? (Exodus 33:14).

God’s presence was with Israel in every situation of their forty-year wilderness journey in an outward demonstration of God’s supernatural power. God’s presence was seen in the cloud that followed them during the day, and the pillar of fire over them at night. There was the manna that fell from heaven to feed them. The presence of God resided in the ark of the covenant that was carried by the priests though the wilderness and placed in the tabernacle every time they set up camp (forty two times). There was the tent of meeting that Moses erected for himself - to go outside from the camp and meet with God in his presence where God would speak with him. 
Moses died at the end of that forty years journey and Joshua had to lead Israel into the Promised Land across the flooded river Jordan. God miraculously held back the waters of the river Jordan when the priests stepped into the flooded river bearing the ark of God’s presence just before arriving at Jericho. The people of Jericho would have been terrified by the sight of over two million Israelites with thousands of head of cattle creating an enormous cloud of dust that would have been visible from afar as they slowly advanced. The Bible tells us that all these instances of the outward power of God’s presence on that wilderness journey in those days were examples for us to learn from for living in his presence today.
1Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were lessons for us, written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the age has come.
Jericho was the first obstacle in their way to going in and fully possessing the Land and it had to be conquered. They were told that Jericho had to be devoted to God as holy ground, and the Lord spoke to Joshua about this outside the city walls.
Joshua 5:13 Then Joshua fell with his face to the ground and worshipped. Then he said, ‘What does my Lord wish to say to His servant?’ The LORD said to Joshua, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ 

Then God gave Joshua his marching orders for Jericho.
Joshua 6:2 the Lord said to Joshua, "Jericho and its king and all its mighty warriors are already defeated, for I have given them to you! Your entire army is to walk around the city once a day for six days, followed by seven priests walking ahead of the Ark, each carrying a trumpet made from a ram's horn. On the seventh day you are to walk around the city seven times, with the priests blowing their trumpets. Then, when they give one long, loud blast, all the people are to give a mighty shout, and the walls of the city will fall down; then move in upon the city from every direction."
Jericho was the fertile oasis of all oases and had outer walls 2 metres thick and 5 metres high plus one tower, and inside the outer walls were higher fortification walls that surrounded the busy city.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
Those walls have spiritual meaning for us today. They represent the walls of self-protection that we spend years building around our hearts by either not realizing the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts or by resisting his work in our hearts. His work never ceases to create in us a new heart that knows the love of God, a heart that believes in the work of Jesus, and a heart that chooses to do the will of the Father.
Just as Jericho behind those walls had to become holy ground so also do our hearts. God also made a decree that the walls of Jericho were never to be rebuilt – and they never were! (Joshua 6:26). This work of God in re-grounding our hearts is a day after day process of keeping our hearts centred in the presence of God, just as the battle of Jericho was a day after day strategic discipline of carrying the power of the presence of God around the walls of the city. Day after day nothing appeared to happen until on that seventh day when God was ready to go into action and miraculously collapse the walls.
His work is to collapse the walls – our work is to be present to his presence – result is an ever-expanding growth in faith. Presence awareness is NOT an idle stillness.

The number seven features significantly in this story and is symbolic of the completion and fulness of God’s purposes in the earth, and that includes God’s desire to do a complete work of healing and transformation in our hearts. Our strategic discipline is also about practising the presence of God without trying to make God do anything, but by having faith and patience for a complete work of God in bringing down the walls of self-protection around our hearts that we have built over the years. We have added more and more bricks to our Jericho wall of self-protection each time our heart has suffered rejection or been misunderstood or felt mistreated in any way. We also put up a wall when we allow negative imaginations to inflame our defence mechanisms, and the Bible tells us to ‘cast down imaginations and every barrier (hypsoma – wall) that exalts itself against the knowledge of God’ (2Corinthians 10:5). 
Our heart is God’s holy ground because he created our heart to be protected and fulfilled by his love. It is the fertile oasis of all spiritual oases; it is his dwelling place.

As we set aside time to let his presence surround and penetrate our hearts, we create space for him to occupy that holy ground of our hearts and for its brokenness to be healed. It may seem like nothing is happening during those times of being present, but his Spirit occupies more territory each passing moment. And when we invite the feelings of hurt and brokenness into that place that he now shares with us, that becomes the brick-by-brick removal of our Jericho wall of self-defence. A new wall gets built around our hearts – the wall of faith and hope in his healing love. 

When we consider the outcome for Israel in their conquest of Jericho, we see that this was the first major obstacle to be overcome for them to go in and finally possess their inheritance, the Promised Land. But that was not the final obstacle of Israel’s taking of the Promised Land. In fact, it was just the beginning. There were seven major tribal nations to do battle with before they could establish Jerusalem, speaking of the fullness of darkness and corruption and sin and idolatry that was out there trying to overcome them, and in many ways it did. But to those who remained faithful, the conquest of Jericho had grounded them in confidence that the word of God and his presence was always with them to guard their hearts and bring them back into his will. 

The same applies to us today, because our inheritance, which is the fulness of the life of Christ within us will continue to present its challenges as we commit to live in light and truth. That pursuit brings us into a contending with the powers of darkness, or contention with people who do not welcome the light or who could wish us harm. But with a conquered ‘walls of Jericho’ experience we can have faith to find grace and live out from a ‘holy grounding’ of God’s work within us and through us and around us.

 

God’s Intercession

GODS INTERCESSION 
The three persons of the Trinity have always been totally fulfilled in love and purpose as the Three in One God, and through Jesus we have been invited into this loving communion of agreement and purpose.
1John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. (KJV)
Their love for one another as the three persons of the Trinity was a mutual giving and serving and sharing with one another throughout eternity. We can now become part of that mutual giving and serving and sharing in our here and now life on earth.
There is a word that is used in the Bible that means being in personal conference where things are agreed upon and acted upon. That word is intercession (entygchan??).
We see that word highlighted in the Scriptures concerning our prayer in finding God’s will in our lives through the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Romans 8:25 The Spirit helps in our weakness for we do not know what we should pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession (hyperentygchano) for us with groanings without words. Now He who searches the hearts (Jesus) knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He (Jesus) makes intercession (entygchano) for the saints (us) according to the will of God (The Father). (Note the different Greek words for intercession)

The reason we do not know what to pray for as we should is that we do not know the full intention that God has for us in our circumstances, and his intention is always the best intention, whether our prayer is for our own need or for someone else. We will have our intention, but we will always feel inadequate about how to achieve it - and that is why we come to God in prayer in the first place, otherwise we would sort everything out for ourselves. 
We accept that God knows best, and we respect the fact that only he can answer our prayer perfectly, so how do we articulate it perfectly? 
Well, what if there was one person of the Trinity that had a way to take that burden of uncertainty and helplessness? That is the work of the Holy Spirit interceding for us,
longing to take on that emotional distress and the groaning of our soul and articulate it in the Spirit to another Person of the Godhead – Jesus. 
‘The Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings without words.’
When the Holy Spirit shares with Jesus the burden that he has for us, Jesus becomes creatively involved in our prayer.
The Bible says that Jesus, who searches the hearts of humanity and who knows what the mind of the Spirit is, carries that prayer to the Father for his will to be done for his children.  
So here we see that Jesus knows the heart of humanity and the heart of the Father and the mind of the Spirit – so he stands in the middle. The Bible says that He (Jesus) makes intercession for the saints (us) according to the will of God (The Father).
This is what I call ‘Presence Prayer’ – us together in a ‘prayer huddle’ with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

We now see that there are two intercessors in this prayer. The Holy Spirit is the first one who intervenes and initiates the intercession for us in our emotional neediness, doing the emotional heavy lifting for us. 
And then there is Jesus who stands in the middle and takes the Holy Spirit’s prayer and mediates for us, his brothers and sisters, the Father’s sons and daughters. He carries the prayer for the lowly heart of humanity to the loving heart of the Father. As we have already seen, the word for the intercession of Jesus is slightly different to the word for the interceding of the Holy Spirit. The interceding of Jesus is the word entygchano, which means carrying the prayer and mediating with the Father on our behalf.
The interceding of the Holy Spirit is the word hyperentygchano. where there is an added emphasis in the word ‘hyper’ indicating that Holy Spirit intervenes with a fervour in carrying the burden of our emotional distress - and articulating that to Jesus on our behalf. 
The Holy Spirit does one thing and Jesus does another thing. 
The Father then does his loving goodwill for his child and reorders our circumstances.
We see that in the next verse that says ‘and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are invited to be partakers of his purposes. (Romans 8:28)’

As we see just a few verses down, the Bible makes further mention of the intercessory mediating ministry of Jesus.
‘Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is indeed interceding for us at the right hand of God’ vs.34.
The mediation mentioned there is outside of specific focussed prayer. It happens in our daily walk of life with Jesus. It is for any time that we can become conscious of his healing care for our souls. That is also presence prayer but in another context. It is what Jesus meant when he said, ‘you should always pray and not lose heart’ (Luke 18:1, Jude – praying always in the spirit)

We are always connected to the flowing together with the Father and Jesus and Holy Spirit. We are always the fourth one being personally included in their communion of Kingdom purposes in the earth for us. They want us to know what to do and how to do it.
Holy Spirit is always the comforter and the one who fills our hearts with the love of the Father and of Jesus. He has always been the love shedder and the love spreader. He leads us into the truth about Jesus and he teaches us from that truth.
Jesus is always the healer and saviour and mediator. He conquers the enemy for us and shares his place with the Father with us.
Father is always the one who so loved the world that he sent his only Son - and The Father plans your life ahead for you. Remember, Father’s love for you is as great as it is for Jesus (John 17). See yourself as part of their communion of love. You are not an outsider; you are an insider. We begin to live like we are there for God and God is there for us. 
It is good to sit and be still – Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46)
In that place of presence, you can be conscious of Holy Spirit bringing the love of the Father and of Jesus to you, and simply receive that and be rested and given peace.
You can be conscious of receiving Father’s provision for your material needs just as he clothes the lilies of the field. 
You can receive the wisdom of the mind of Christ and receive creative faith through a living word from him. Every moment in his presence is as powerful as the moment that he spoke creation into being. This is the way to be in a place of readiness in the spirit and to respond to the many things that are coming upon us so rapidly in these days, and this is the best way I know how for us to remain centred in the will of God.

The King David Legacy

THE KING DAVID LEGACY 

King David was the Old Testament person that could most be compared with Jesus in his heart attitude towards God and in his awareness of his own soul. The Bible says he had a heart after God’s own heart (1Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). Jesus was called in the Bible ‘The son of David’ (Matthew 12, Matthew 15, Matthew 21, and many other times).

Of all the people in the Old Testament David had about the deepest understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit. It was almost as if he was having a peek into the new Covenant experience of being joined to the Lord in his Spirit. He said things like ‘create in me a clean heart O’ God and renew a right spirit within me’. He did indeed have more Holy Spirit anointings than anyone else, the anointing of a king and the anointing of a prophet. David also did something quite outside tradition when it comes to the Holy Spirit priestly anointing. Only the high priest could wear the priestly garment called the ephod which priests wore when praying to God on behalf of all of Israel, but David once requested the ephod from the priest Abiathar, and he wore the ephod to enquire of the Lord at a critical time when Saul was waging war against him. God heard David’s priestly prayer and Saul was defeated (1Samuel 23). Jesus was the only other King, Priest and Prophet (and this is also our legacy).

David understood that a true fear of God was not the thought of God watching us in a threatening way that made us want to hide and feel nothing but guilt for our sinfulness. In fact, he knew that the true fear of God was a fear of being separated from him. He trusted in the loving forgiveness and mercy of God and he knew that the only place of safety and freedom for his soul was being in God’s presence, as close to him as he could possibly be.
Psalm 51.11 cast me not away from your presence O Lord and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.
He had the true picture of God in his sights and he declared that to God in such a graphic manner. He said to God ‘ You know when I sit or stand. you know my every thought. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say before I even say it. I can never be lost to your Spirit! I can never get away from you my God! If I ride the morning winds to the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, your strength will support me. If I try to hide in the darkness, the night becomes light around me. For even darkness cannot hide from you. (Psalm 139.1-10) 

While David is the person that the Old and the New Testament Scriptures most likened to Jesus in mind and heart, we could also see that he is the one that we in our humanity can most relate to in the workings of our own minds and hearts. 
We could even put ourselves in the picture with David in Psalm thirty-two, as in a very humble and honest way he lets us in on his personal struggles and the stresses he had experienced in his soul and even in his body - and how wonderfully God comforted and strengthened him with love and forgiveness. David shares with us in that Psalm about his soul, how he felt like he had let God down and let himself down. He also shares the experience of God’s deep healing of his soul when he comes into the place of prayer in the refuge of God’s presence. 

1 Count yourself blessed about how happy you must be when you get a fresh start, your slate's wiped clean.
2 Count yourself blessed about how GOD holds nothing against you and you're holding nothing back from him.
3 When I kept it all inside, my bones dried out like powder and my words became groaning all day long. 
4 The pressure never let up; draining the sap of life out of me.
5 Then I let it all out to God; I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to GOD."  Suddenly the pressure was gone - my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared. 
6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray; when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts we'll be on high ground, untouched.
7 GOD is my island refuge, keeping danger far from the shore, throwing garlands of hosannas around my neck.
8 He gave me some good advice saying; I'm looking you in the eye and giving it to you straight:
9 Don't be resistant like a horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to stay on track."
10 God-defiers are always in trouble; GOD-affirmers find themselves loved every time they turn around. 
11 Sing together, everyone! All you faithful and open-hearted people and be joyful.

He discloses to us in this Psalm that he had been brooding about himself instead of getting his eyes upon the Lord, but he recalls the truth of what he knows he believes in and decides to hold nothing back from God and he immediately realises that God would hold nothing back from him. 
Psalm 46:6 Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
He admits that his wrong thinking had tortured his poor soul, but now his right thinking about God’s love and forgiveness allows change. God looks right into his eyes and into his heart and offers forgiveness and mercy and tells him to draw close and to stay close, while David’s guilt and sin disappears. David tells us quietly and firmly to stay close to God and not to be resistant to the powerful presence of God. 
God has been with us throughout every moment of our lives, wherever we went and whatever we did, just as David discovered. And Holy Spirit is here with us now - having felt every personal hurt and pain that we have felt – He has felt that with us as he did with Jesus. 
And Holy Spirit take us from those past moments into the present moment of faith and brings God’s love and healing to that pain and brokenness. 
Holy Spirit overrides time and if we learn to be still and know his nearness like David did we discover that the present moment is the most powerful moment in our lives. That is when and where God acts upon our soul; instead of the past circumstances acting upon it. Every moment is a present supernatural transforming moment of God’s new hope for us, it’s always a new beginning. God is present, his power and love are present, but we must be present to that reality. That is why we practice presence, because that is where and when God is present.
When King David gave his heart and mind to God this way he was able to do the things God wanted him to do, and when we give ourselves to God this way, we find grace to do the things that God wants us to do.