|
Num 14:23-24
Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto
their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But
my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath
followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went;
and his seed shall possess it.
Twelve spies went into the land which God had
promised, you know the story, ten had evil reports and two had good
reports. Joshua and Caleb had the good report; however, notice Joshua is
not included in this promise even though he was also one
with a good report. Each spy was a ruler; each man represented one of the
tribes of Israel. Caleb represented the tribe of Judah and yet the
scriptures teach that Caleb was not 100% Judah lineage, he was also a
Kennizzite which was a descendant of Esau. The “SEED” that shall
possess the land has nothing to do with natural heritage; it refers to
ONLY Christ Jesus. It is totally EXCLUSIVE to one seed and yet it is
totally INCLUSIVE to all mankind. Paul saw this truth and therefore gave
us our present day terminology – “IN CHRIST”. Caleb did inherit the
physical land that was promised but God was also speaking of a future land
to be inherited by those who are in Christ. Just as sure, just as a
reality it was when Caleb settled in that land that was promised, you can
be as sure that it pointed to the land that we shall settle in as well –
eternal life.
Now in continuing we must teach a truth to
dispel a lie that has circulated throughout the church concerning
“natural Israel”. Please read the entire chapter so that we have the
opportunity to qualify all of our statements. Paul was quite plain in his
speaking concerning natural Israel and therefore it would seem there could
not be any controversy concerning natural Israel’s role in the church
and in the last generation; but there is great controversy. As we have
said before, a controversy exist because of our failure to diligently seek
Jesus as our only truth and life, and therefore we have believed the words
of men who do know understand God’s plans and purposes.
Placement
Theology
Throughout the church there are those who are
not of the “mature faith”, they are immature in the ways of Christ
concerning His ultimate plan of reconciliation for the last generation;
the proof of this is the fact that they label others as “REPLACEMENT
THEOLOGY”. Similar to the heresy hunters we talked about in an earlier
chapter we can see a people in the body of Christ being deceived by these
teachers. These teachers target and label anyone that uses the terminology
“spiritual Israel”.
We are called of God to clarify some simple
truth so that you may never be subverted by their ignorance in unbelief.
Some in the body of Christ say that natural Israel is the SEED and that
natural Israel is the object of all Old Testament scripture, though many
have different degrees to which that apply this doctrine. Some of them
pick and choose by some complicated method that scripture pertains to
natural Israel EXCLUSIVELY and another scripture will pertain to the
church. They are quite confused, these same Christians existed in Paul’s
day, and therefore he strongly admonished them.
Paul made it quite simple, Israel is Jew AND
Greek, together comprising God’s great plan. Paul calls both Jew and
Greek – branches! One is a natural branch and the other is a wild olive
branch. Paul clearly taught in Romans that the natural branch was cast
off. What does Paul mean by that? Though Jesus was a Jew, to abide in
Jesus, as a natural Jew you cannot “naturally” attach. It is through
faith not by natural birthright, not by Cain or Esau. Therefore by
faith the Jew first, at the day of Pentecost, attached
by faith to Jesus and three thousand were saved – grafted.
Afterwards the gospel was preached to the gentile and they likewise were
grafted by faith. So what we have now is natural Israel branches
grafted alongside wild olive branches that were grafted. One has NO
INHERITANCE over the other because ALL are fellow heirs with Christ.
Christ is SPIRITUAL ISRAEL; He is the ONLY heir
according to promise! This new doctrine, this new covenant is called
the new wine. The old wineskin is equal to the non-grafted natural
branches; they represent the natural Old Testament order, which are
fulfilled, and cast away. As a natural Jew you must receive and hold this
new wine in a new wineskin. The new wineskin is God’s new way of doing
things – to abide in Jesus and get grafted, get new. When the old
wineskin became discarded it was because Jesus fulfilled all that it
represented. Jesus was the promise, He was the Promised Land, He was the
final and ultimate sacrifice, He was the Temple, and He was Israel.
How could anyone deny that Jesus Christ is
Spiritual Israel when Paul describes how the promise was not to seeds as
many but to Seed as One. Therefore when you are in Christ you are IN
SPIRITUAL ISRAEL. This is not hard. To deny this is to deny Jesus’
birthright to the promise. God did not plan for a dual plan or dual
promise; it is totally exclusive to Jesus. Therefore when the Bible talks
about Israel or about the Jew in relationship to promise, it is written to
ONE PERSON – Jesus. It prophesies to One Person – Jesus! When the
first animal was slain to cover Adam and Eve it prophesied of Jesus. Every
animal sacrificed afterwards pointed over and over and over again to Jesus
the sacrifice. Likewise, each natural Jew that was born pointed over and
over and over again to Jesus – the Heir of the promise. Those IN JESUS
are co-heirs because of grafting not because of the law or natural birth.
Where does natural Israel fit in today? God
has still cast them off; they will never grow out of the vine again,
period, ever, UNLESS the Jew will place faith in Jesus
Christ. If the Jew places faith in Jesus then he becomes one who is in
Spiritual Israel and therefore shares in the inheritance of the
Son, as all do. If he rejects Jesus, if He will not abide in Jesus, he is
then “in spiritual gentile” and not “in
Spiritual Israel”. Is the Spiritual Israel the REAL ISRAEL? Is
the spiritual gentile the REAL GENTILE? God looks to the spirit of a man
and not to the body of the man that shall perish, and which can never
“enter in”. Even in the Old Testament God revealed this truth.
In saying all this, do we conclude that the
Jews have no significance in the church? Paul balanced the gentile thought
on that matter as well. What God intends is this, the last days Church is
a two-winged church, Jew and Greek, yet ONE in the Spirit. The church is
not a “Jewish church” which thinks it is more special than the
“gentile church” and the church is not a gentile church which thinks
it is more special than the Jewish church. The Christian Jews will SERVE
both gentile and Jew in the same manner and the Christian gentiles will
SERVE both Jew and gentile in the same manner. This is the way of Christ.
The veil, the partition wall that separates
the Messianic Christian Jews from the Christian gentiles will be abolished
in reality. What we will see is a mature Jewish church intermingled in
love with a mature gentile church. What separates the two churches today
is “ignorance in unbelief” - both sides are guilty. In a Messianic
conference that I attended there was one Messianic Christian Jewish leader
that strongly admonished his fellow Jews for elevating themselves ABOVE
the gentile branches. As a Jew he further told them that he considered his
Jewish heritage as rubbish (just like Paul did in Philippians) compared to
knowing Jesus. As a citizen of Israel he proclaimed that his natural
citizenship meant nothing and his spiritual citizenship meant everything,
his home is not the natural Promised Land. This teaching is not
“replacement theology” it is “PLACEMENT THEOLOGY”!! We are all
placed into Him Who is Spiritual Israel and there is no other Israel that
provides life, there is no other Israel that God blesses. You are blessed
from heaven only because of the Son. Those who curse Israel are cursed;
those who bless Israel are blessed. If you are DOING the sayings of
Jesus then you are blessing Israel, if you are not doing the sayings of
Jesus then you are cursing Israel. We can conclude that to teach
against Spiritual Israel is to unknowingly teach against Jesus – it is
an anti-Christ doctrine. Paul spoke at length to the Roman Church and the
Galatian Church about this topic so that neither side would be caught
“scattering” instead of “gathering”. The promise to the Jew is the
promise to Jesus. We share in the promise as Jew and Gentile ONLY BECAUSE
HE GIVES IT AS BOTH OF OUR INHERITANCE. Most end time prophecy as taught
concerning natural Israel is an anti-Christ doctrine. They teach that in
the last days the plan of God belongs to natural Israel because they fail
to understand the book of Romans and other scriptures. The promises and
the plan of God belong to the body of “Jesus the Seed”. This plan
INCLUDES the Jew and Greek in the last day. There has always been a
remnant Jewish believer but in the last day we shall see a greater
grafting of natural branches by faith. Let us continue this part of the
plan…
We are the descendants of Caleb because of
Jesus. Let us establish, we are the holy nation and royal priesthood that
Peter, being a Jew, spoke of – because we are in Christ. Jesus fulfilled
being the promise land and Jesus is the promise. We are the children of
promise even as the scripture declares. Gal 4:28 - Now
we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Eph 2:11-14
Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in
the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called
"Circumcision," {which is} performed in the flesh by human hands
- {remember} that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of
promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ
Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both {groups into} one,
and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, (NAS)
There was a barrier, a dividing wall
separating us from Christ, but in addition there was a dividing wall, even
a PREJUDICE separating us from the Jews. This scripture pertains to the
wall that divided Jews fro
m Greek. Jesus was made our peace for the
purpose of making both groups into ONE. The wall was destroyed! Certain
Christian doctrines have erected the wall again. This is division in the
body and shortly we will see God’s mature ones casting down this
doctrine. Concerning last day's doctrine; scripture pertains to Christ and
His body and God does not exclude Jew or Greek from the end time church.
Christ does not have TWO BODIES. The end time church will be a Glorified
Jew & Greek Church in ONE BODY, they will be as two olive trees
bearing witness to the world. I firmly see that the two witnesses of
Revelation are Jew and Greek. Maybe just one physical Jew and just one
physical Greek in Christ, but nonetheless Jew & Greek. Perhaps the two
witnesses are a body of mature believers of Jews and a mature body of
Greek. And maybe just two individuals fulfill the scripture, each
representing a group. In this same way Joshua and Caleb represented the
tribes of Ephraim and Judah. And the Judah that Caleb represented was a
mixture of Esau (gentile) and Judah – or those born physically as
gentile and receive Jesus – of the tribe of Judah in their heart to be
transformed into a man that represents the Caleb of today.
Zech 4:12-14
And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two
olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil
out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what
these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These are the two
anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.
Rev 11:3-4
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks
standing before the God of the earth.
Rom 11:14-17
in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to
envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation
of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole
batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the
branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have
been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from
the olive root, (NIV)
In end time prophecy God will hide truth to
those He has cast deep sleep upon and at the same time reveals all His
secrets for those that truly hunger and thirst for Jesus. To those that
take a scripture and speculate, they are given knowledge that is vain. To
those that humble themselves to learn of Jesus and will seek Him in
scripture, they shall see. We must interpret scripture with scripture.
Again, Romans gives us clear understanding that there are two different
kinds of branches, natural and wild olive. There is only one olive root
– Jesus. Both branches that are grafted in will share in the
nourishing sap. In Zechariah there are also two branches, they are called
“two anointed ones”, and it is clear that they are the two witnesses
of Revelation. Revelation describes the two witnesses as two olive trees
as well. I see two branches coming together that have the root in common
– these are the two branches of Romans, Zechariah, and Revelation. The
two shall become one and they will be a catalyst that shall bring “life
from the dead”. If we see only the Jews as the fulfillment of end time
prophecy then we are not even close to the glorified church that we are so
longing for. End time prophecy must not EXCLUDE the gentile, and yet
end time prophecy must INCLUDE the Jew.
The natural man will say “lets help the
unsaved Jew by eliminating their enemies” by fighting anti-Semitism.
This is not the answer, mature Christians have always been and will always
be the most hated race of people on the planet by the world system, but
the difference is that we rejoice in it, the difference is we laid down
our lives for the One Who gave His all for us. Being a friend to the Jew
is not helping to stop anti-Semitism… that will just promote
“self-preservation”. We must reach out to get them “grafted” by
faith in Jesus and then to show them the plan of maturity that is set
before them, then lay down our lives for them, showing them the
resurrection life of Jesus, as we preach in power, doing the works of
Jesus.
“Are you saying that there is little
prophetic significance to Natural Jew and Natural Jerusalem?” Not at
all, but this is where things are not as simple. As we have taught
earlier, immaturity likes to categorically accept or categorically reject.
We want to make everything "spiritual Israel" or we try to make
everything "natural Israel". But it is the mature man that
learns to discern what pertains to the natural Jew and what pertains to
the Spiritual Jew. God wants balance before His throne. The book of Romans
is clearly teaching about "natural Jews" because he contrasts
them with the natural Gentile. Paul starts this theme early in the book as
follows:
Rom 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power
of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek.
Rom 2:9-11
{There will be} tribulation and distress for every soul
of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek,
but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. For
there is no partiality with God. (NAS)
Paul puts Jew and Greek together for the first
time. Whether they do evil, they receive from God the SAME, and if they do
good they receive from God the SAME. God is not like man - there is no
partiality. This Jew & Greek issue continued throughout the book of
Romans. This is where the same issue I am dealing with is dealt with in
scripture along with most of Galatians.
Rom 10:11-12
For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in Him
will not be disappointed. "For there is no distinction between
Jew and Greek; for the same {Lord} is Lord of all, abounding
in riches for all who call upon Him; (NAS)
Paul states that there is NO DIFFERENCE
between Jew and Greek - in relationship to the spiritual. Is there a
difference between the physical Jew and the physical Greek or are we
simply prejudice? So Paul asks this question later on.
Fullness
of the Gentiles
Rom 11:28-29
From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for
your sake, but from the standpoint of {God's} choice they are beloved for
the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are
irrevocable. (NAS)
Paul declares that the gifts and calling
remain and they have not been "cast off", though as we have said
earlier the WAY in which they approached God has been "cast
off". Does this make them special, nope - it makes them fortunate.
God will provide them with every opportunity to accept the truth of His
Salvation - Yeshua. God has never rejected the Jew, as the scripture
declares - THERE IS ALWAYS A REMNANT, referring to Jews who bow down not
to Baal but to Christ only! However God will in the "fullness of the
Gentiles" cause all Israel to be saved.
Rom 11:25-27
25 For
I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be
wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to
Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all
Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will
come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." "And
this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins." (NAS)
What is the fullness of the Gentiles? The
fruit of sacrificial Love that comes from abiding in the Vine, the Olive
Tree - Jesus Christ. This is what will make them jealous for what we have.
Why? They know not Love! The Jesus-Love is foreign to them. They will
not accept our Jesus in great number until they see you lay down (even
your physical life) for them. And we will do it without bitterness and
self-preservations but we will count it as honor in regards to the eternal
reward. Their brethren had their lives TAKEN, they are bitter; they want
to preserve their future from this happening again. They will see a marked
difference in a people that "love not their lives unto death".
This is the very thing that will cause them to accept Yeshua, not
"man's Christian methods". Notice it never gives the definition
of "fullness" as the number of the LAST Gentile believer to be
saved. This is a definition that man's wisdom gave to this scripture. God
says that Fullness means a BRANCH THAT IS FULL OF FRUIT. That also fits
with the context, and also the context of the branches of John 15.
How many will become saved? The scripture says
all. Does all mean all? The
scripture says "all of Israel". All I can tell you
is that it is a number of the elect that comprises Jew and Greek, God's
right hand and God's left hand. God excludes nobody in the final election
of those who shall be saved. Included are ALL that come to
Yeshua and FOLLOW HIM. Some say this particular scripture is talking about
physical Israel, some say spiritual Israel and why is there a controversy?
Because of Self-preservation, even about God's spiritual plan. All of
Physical Israel cannot be ALL as far as categorical (everyone in
the entire nation). Man's will is involved and the principle remains
"many are called but few are chosen". So when does all not
mean all in the Bible?
Acts 10:38
"{You know of} Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed
Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and {how} He went about doing
good, and healing ALL who were oppressed by the devil; for God was
with Him. (NAS)
Not ALL were healed. Many remained oppressed
by the devil, especially in His hometown. All means in this
scripture "all who CAME to Jesus in faith". "ALL" in
Romans is the same meaning. ALL natural Israel shall be saved - who come
to Him in faith, and many shall come. Not all will come, but many will.
The plan concerning the physical Jew in the last days is to reveal to them
the Son of God Who shall be revealed through a Gentile Church who will lay
down their lives for their brethren with same attitude that Paul had when
he said "I would burn in hell that my kinsman would be in eternity
with Jesus". As a natural Greek I must declare that all men are my
kinsman whether Jew or Greek, but for demonstration of Love I make effort
to reach the physical Jew with the heart that Paul displayed. It is this
heart of sacrificing yourself that shall win the Jew to Jesus. Once they
are grafted they simply become fellow heirs in the kingdom of our Lord. As
Paul said; “there is NO DISTINCTION”.
The Jew is no more special; they are fortunate
as we all are who are grafted in the vine. I have a heart for the Jew, but
I will show them Who Christ is through Love instead of through pity or
self-preservation. It will be through truth instead of trying to show them
that they are exalted branches, it is by esteeming them as more important
than myself and showing them, and then teaching them to esteem the
Gentile as more important than themselves and showing them. After
years of being persecuted for being a Jew how can they ever receive this
Gospel? With God all things are possible, God will remove the veil, and
God will have a people that demonstrate His nature. The physical Israel
that is saved will never have their lives taken from them again, like so
many times in the past. Why? Because they will lay it down. This is the
end time Jew and this is the end time Gentile that shall be “life from
the dead”. The Wailing Wall is the only remains of the original temple
site. It is symbolic of a people that pray to the "natural", to
the "old order", but God will is to take those same people and
in the last day reveal to them God's real Temple - Jesus Christ and His
body. This is a body that they are "included in", of Jew and
Greek - yet a veil of blindness prevents them from worshipping in the true
Temple. This veil will be removed, not through "political
correctness" or "pity" but through a people that will lay
their life down to demonstrate Jesus' Love for them
Present
Truth
Heb 3:19;4:1,2,8
So we see that they were not able to enter, because of
their unbelief. Therefore,
since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful
that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had
the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard
was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it
with faith. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have
spoken later about another day. (NIV)
Twelve spies went out and only two came back
with the Word of God. If the nation of Israel had “combined their
message with faith” – they would have entered in…into the “rest”
of God. Instead they wanted to stone the messengers. From the lips of
these two messengers comes PRESENT TRUTH. So what is different about this
present truth compared to truth? Present truth is for NOW and must be
received and acted upon NOW. Real prophets are forerunners, therefore the
words spoken are a revelation of scripture, and yet at the same time our
response is “I have never heard one that has spoken these things”. It
is truth for where you are today; it is truth for where the church is
today.
Matt 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God.
When tempted by the “lust of the flesh”
the response of Jesus was to reveal His food source. What sustained Jesus
is what sustains us today. Notice that the “word” in this scripture
did not “previously proceed” as in past tense. It is present tense and
it is a verb. Hebrews says the Word of God is “full of life”, “full
of power”, and IS ACTIVE. Of course we are not saying that the truth of
the cross is a past tense word and is inactive. The truth pertaining to
the cross is eternally proceeding out of God’s mouth at the speed of
light and will never reach the end of eternity. But we shall now observe a
truth of God that became PAST TENSE.
Num 14:29-30
29 Your
carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of
you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward,
which have murmured against me,
30 Doubtless
ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you
dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
God gave a present truth and He did it through
two of His servants, they were in the minority. God has a Caleb and
Joshua reserved for the last days – both Jew and Greek, of the tribe of
Judah and the tribe of Ephraim. They shall rent their garments because of
the false report and shall respond by giving God’s present truth. The
words of Joshua and Caleb must be mixed with faith and must be acted upon.
We can observe that the people of flesh, a people who murmur, a people of
unbelief – Always REJECT PRESENT TRUTH.
Now let us observe how God’s present truth
has now CHANGED. Before present truth was “You shall enter in”, now
present truth is “your bodies shall die in the wilderness”. In other
words God sent 12 spies, 12 witnesses and He already gave them the word of
promise, the word of prophecy that “they could enter in”. Two of those
witnesses AGREED WITH GOD – “we can possess the land”. They were
mixing faith with what God hath said – present truth. Because of the
unbelief of others that present truth from God’s two servants remained
the same – it did not change, it was simply delayed; it can no longer be
acted upon at the present moment for the true witnesses or any of God’s
children. As Joshua and Caleb, we also must be ministers that speak forth
God’s truth and at the same time renting our garments towards the evil
reports – we must not water it down, we must speak it with the same
intensity that God is giving it to us. Even if everyone were
to reject the present truth of God we still have a promise that we
shall enter in.
Num 14:37-38
37 Even
those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the
plague before the LORD.
38 But
Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the
men that went to search the land, lived still.
The messengers that bring that which is not
present truth shall perish. As Proverbs declares “God shall overthrow
the words of the transgressor”. It is great transgression with God to be
His messenger and to deliver anything other than His present truth
message. But God preserves His faithful servants that declare present
truth. We must become a people that will go to our closets of prayer and
be attentive to hear what God is saying today for others around us. When
was the last time you got alone with God to listen for the word that will
be present truth for someone else? We must feed off what Jesus is saying
to us today – that is our manna, and then we must take that same manna
and share it with others.
Num 14:40-42
40 And
they rose up early in the morning, and got them up into the top of the
mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which
the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.
41 And
Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the
LORD? but it shall not prosper.
42 Go
not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before
your enemies.
The people repented! This is where it gets
scary concerning how our ways are not His ways and most of the time our
thinking is not like His thinking. They repented saying “we have
sinned”. God’s present truth had already changed and it was too
late – for they can no longer enter into the land. I wish to
re-iterate this point concerning God’s present truth - it was too late.
Now what we see are a people that are about to act on “PREVIOUS
TRUTH”. Moses declares that the “new present truth” is the
commandment of the Lord. If you act on the previous truth you will be
smitten; God is not with you. God is only with
His present truth. Now, let us not let the accuser of the brethren read
into this. For example, if God has called you to a ministry and then you
stop serving God, Satan will use what we have just said against your
restoration. I can tell you from experience that God’s restorative
ability is beyond anything you can imagine and His time element is not on
man’s normal rehabilitative schedule. He can mature you quickly once you
have totally abandoned your self-efforts to obtain only His labors. Now,
does that mean you can habitually reject the dealings of God and expect to
“finish your course”? Today is the day of salvation; do not harden
your heart as they did in the wilderness.
Num 14:43-45
43 For
the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall
by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD
will not be with you.
44 But
they presumed to go up unto the hilltop: nevertheless the ark
of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
45 Then
the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and
smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.
The people repented, confessed their sins and
then rejected present truth again and acted on previous truth. God said
the land was theirs, but that was previous truth. The "land is not
yours right now", that is present truth, that is the Word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God and is life to those that adhere to it
and death to those that act on another word. They fell by the sword.
We cannot speak “peace, peace” when God says there shall be no peace.
We cannot speak “war, war” when God says rest. It is not up to us to
decide what present truth is today. We know what He shows us for today and
we live by that, and when we speak to others - they will live by that. All
ministers everywhere must pay the price to HEAR God’s present truth for
their sheep. Ignoring present truth will smite you just as fast. Only what
He shows me can I write to you… this must be the way of every true
minister. Jeremiah chapter 23 brings out God’s attitude towards those
that do not teach present truth.
Jer 23:16-18
16 This
is what the LORD Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets
are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak
visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
17 They
keep saying to those who despise me, 'The LORD says: You will have peace.'
And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, 'No harm
will come to you.'
18 But
which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear
his word? Who has listened and heard his word? (NIV)
There are many visions circulating in this
present day but they are not present truth because they are not from His
mouth. You will know many of them because of their audience – they
despise the Lord. Maybe not openly, maybe not consciously, but they do not
walk in God’s sayings, in His ways, in His nature. They are not
disciples that have forsaken all to follow Jesus. Verse 18 separates
God’s “Joshua and Calebs” from the ten producing evil reports. Those
that teach present truth are the same ones that stand in the council of
the Lord to see and hear His words. If you prepare a message of any kind,
you must fear God and stay in His council or risk being one who prophesies
out of his own heart instead of out of God’s heart. Throughout the
scriptures you will observe truth in Christ that is constant and at other
times there is truth that was for the moment. Jesus said Peter could walk
on the water once, which was present truth that defied nature. Peter could
not do that again as he chose. There are things the Lord will speak to you
today, mix it with faith and you will walk on water. Wait and you will
miss that opportunity to defy the forces of nature. Concerning who you
are in Christ, it is constant, it is always present truth, because His
character never changes and you have His nature on the inside of you.
Mark 16:15
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature.
Acts 16:6
Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region
of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in
Asia,
A good example in the ministry of present
truth is found in Acts. Jesus told the disciples to preach the Gospel to
everyone and go everywhere to do it. Many Christians read Mark
16:15 and believe they have complete license to preach to anyone, anywhere
and stand on this scripture to do it. They believe they can never be wrong
because this scripture is written. That is simply put – immaturity and
this type of immaturity exist in much of the church world because they
have no revelation of present truth. Paul was forbidden to do something
that Mark 16:15 said He could do – he was forbidden by the Holy Spirit
to preach is Asia. The church has learned scripture and instead of working
with the Holy Spirit to do as He wills, they choose for themselves.
Zealous evangelists without knowledge will use Mark 16:15 to circumvent
God’s will. If God speaks Acts 16:6, their response is Mark 16:15. In
reality whenever we do such things we are using God’s Own word against
Him.
Living according to scripture is not cut and
dry, that would be law. Living according to scripture is through
relationship that is so intimate that we move with the heartbeat of God.
We preach AT the place on His heart, we are preaching TO
the people on His heart and we are preaching WHAT He is
saying NOW. And I can testify He says it different almost every time, from
a different view, a different method at His choosing. Never say, “what
shall I preach”. Say to the Lord, “what are you saying” and then
preach the answer. This present truth is not just a particular
“revealed truth” hidden in scripture; this present truth is
ministering a custom message to each gathering based on what the Holy
spirit is speaking at that moment. As a present truth minister we may have
received a present truth message and then on our own we plan on spreading
that message without regard to the people. The higher calling of ministry
is to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying for each meeting which many
times will include different present truth revelations. I can stand before
a people and teach this chapter verbatim and it may bless them and
minister to them. The more excellent way is to speak a message that God
knows they need TODAY. The Holy Spirit is the SELECTOR OF CONTENT not the
minister. Every gathering has a God ordained present truth message that
God wants to speak but most ministers have not learned to hear and
therefore they speak the vision from their own heart. God values the
minister that neither speaks nor acts on previous truth but instead he has
exchanged it with a present truth contained in a fresh new wineskin.
Finally, this present truth type of minister
must minister heart to heart. Every gathering is an opportunity to speak
the heart of God to the people intermingled with every thought and every
emotion that is present. Instead of allowing pulpits to
separate us from the people, we must draw close to them to reveal God’s
heart. There is no impressing with knowledge, wisdom, and revelations –
we impress upon them God in TRUE FORM! We must intermingle this truth that
we carry with the compassion that gives answer to their every affliction.
We give revelations that reveal the true nature of God that dispels every
false knowledge. We impart the “higher wisdom” so that God’s people
will become the habitation of the Lord. We must learn to preach to people
with real needs, real problems, and real pain instead of an attitude that
we are teaching mere walls of people. We must yearn to reach them from our
teaching and preaching, and we must learn to not utter one word of
condensation to the flock of God. We must urge, exhort, and encourage them
to accept the present truth of what God is saying NOW – so that they
will be both rescued and also become the rescuers.
We must refrain from telling them how bad things are, how corrupt the
world is, and giving them newspaper preachings – in favor of preaching
the good news that sets them free from the bad news. The evil report will
focus on how big the giants are but the focus of the good news of the
gospel is this – EVERY GIANT HAS ALREADY BEEN DEFEATED ON
THE CROSS. This is a previous truth that is always a present truth and we
must all abide in this present truth – daily.
|
