INDEX TO VOLUME 2(2)
16. The Right Hand of God.
17. Believe in the Name of His Son.
18. The Seal of God.
19.The People(Nation) who are the Property of God.
20. A Generation (Family)of God.
21. What God seeks -True Worshipers.
22. Man and woman He created them.
23. The Garden of Yahweh’s Delight.
16. The Right Hand of God
Recently, I repeatedly opened the Bible randomly and each time read something about the “right hand of God”. Years ago, I met a Christian-Jew in Israel who told me about a book he read about “The Right Hand and the Left Hand of God.” I never read the book because I knew that the Holy Spirit would be faithful to reveal it to me at the right time. Specifically what it would mean to me in my life. Now I can share with you what the Holy Spirit revealed to me. Let us first read Exodus 15 (Victory of the Israelites)
“Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying:
“I will sing to the Lord,
For He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!
The Lord is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;
He is my God, and I will praise Him;
My Father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
The Lord is a man of war;
The Lord is His Name.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;
His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.
The depths have covered them;
They sank to the bottom like a stone.
“Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power;
Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces.
And in the greatness of Your excellence
You have overthrown those who rose against You;
You sent forth Your wrath;
It consumed them like stubble.
And with the blast of Your nostrils
The waters were gathered together;
The floods stood upright like a heap;
The depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, ‘I will pursue,
I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil;
My desire shall be satisfied on them.
I will draw my sword,
My hand shall destroy them.’
You blew with Your wind,
The sea covered them;
They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
“Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
You stretched out Your right hand;
The earth swallowed them.
(Exodus 15: 1-12)
Notice the great role that the right hand of God and His Name, El Shadai in this case, meaning God Almighty (Exodus 6:3-7), played in this revelation of Him when He led the Israelites through the Red Sea and out from the slavery of Egypt.
In various other places in the Bible we also read about the right hand of God. We also read about our right hand. Let us read now Psalm 16: 8-11:”I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”.
One thing that came to my mind in recent days, was where the Scripture says we should hide at His right hand. Psalm 17: 7-8 “Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You from those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings”. Please also read Psalm 18: 53 ”You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, your gentleness has made me great.”. Also Psalm 20: 6 “Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.”.
Psalm 63: 7-8 “7Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.”.
The right hand of God shares in His anger with His enemies. Psalm 21: 8 “Your right hand will find your enemies.” Psalm 44: 3 “For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them.” Ps 45: 4 “And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.” Psalm 48: 10“According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.” Psalm 74: 11″Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.”
For David it was a great concern that the right hand of the Almighty would change because he already saw what the role of God’s right hand was in his own life as well as in the history of Israel. Read Psalm 77: 10-11 as well as Psalm 78: 54. His right hand is called His holy arm in Psalm 98: 1. It is the arm through which He does His wonders and reveals His salvation. It is with that arm that He holds us (Psalm 139: 10), saves us (Psalm 138: 7), and performs powerful deeds (Psalm 118: 15, 16). Now you should please read Psalm 80 and then pray that the Father opens it to you in your mind and in your heart.
But what is the difference between the right hand of God and His left? Is there a difference between the right hand and the left with humans? One thing I know is that when I confirm a marriage, I have to make sure that the groom and the bride give each other their right hands. Even when a contract is concluded, the parties give each other their right hands to shake in confirmation of the agreement. The apostle Paul waited on Jahweh for 3 years in the Arab desert to confirm to him that the Word that he then proclaimed after his repentance, truly corresponded to the teachings that the other apostles had already received from Jashuah. Read Galatians 2: 9 and note how they gave each other the right hand of fellowship. It was not just a hand, it was the right hand. If a marriage officer married a couple and they gave each other the left hand, anyone in that audience could declare that marriage unlawful. And if one party does not have a right hand? Then an exception would be made and it would be recorded in the register. I do not know if it’s still the practice today?
“Right” and “Left” are defined extensively in the dictionary. I was amazed to see how much space was given in the English Dictionary to it. In the political world, it is often reported that a government or political party starts to turn to the right or to the left. The left is a move away from the traditional and conservative, while the right tends more towards the traditional roads. Left tends more to the liberal and a breakaway of what has been acceptable for years to a new and sometimes more popular view. Solomon says that the wise’s heart is to the right while the fool’s heart is to the left (Eccl. 10: 2). In the world in which we live today, where so many people claim their rights, we are no longer surprised at the news that great protests are being organized in order to obtain some rights for minority groups or groups who feel they are being treated unfairly. Right is the opposite of wrong. It is also the opposite of injustice. Therefore, if you cannot get your rights then you feel aggrieved and wronged. But what would the word “right” mean to God? This second volume is devoted to the “rights of God”. The question is thus: what are God’s rights? Is it His right to be feared, honoured and obeyed by His creatures? Yes, that’s definitely His right. And if man does not give it to Him?
Although we read in Scripture that God uses His right hand and His left hand in His actions with man, it is strongly emphasized that His right hand is His hand from which everything that is right to man, flows. For example, in Matthew 25: 33-41, we see that at the Final Judgment He sets the sheep on His right hand and the goats on his left side. The sheep on His right hand are seen as the righteous, while the goats on His left are seen as the wicked.
Now I come back to Psalm 80 in which He refers to His Son as the Man of His right hand: “Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself..”(Psalm 80: 17). If we now believe that we are fellow heirs with Christ, as we read in Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” If we believe that we have the fullness in Him who is the Head of all authority and power (Col. 2: 9-10) and that we are fellow members of His body (1 Cor 12: 12-27), then we must also believe that we are part of Jashuah Messiah, part of His flesh and His bones (Eph 5: 30): “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.” We are thus part of “the man of His right hand” and “the Son of man whom He raised for Himself” (Ps 80).
It is not only God’s right that you and I should believe this great truth and also believe that in Christ we are part of the Son of His right hand, but it is also our privilege in Christ to believe it. If you now read Psalm 80 about the vine of Jahweh, and you see the state in which this vine is currently, in this country and also over the world, and if you realize that you are a part of this vine (John 15: 1- 5), one of the shoots, it must do something in your mind and in your heart! Do you experience this in your heart when you realize that you are a part of the “Son of man whom God raised for Himself” on this earth, and that you are a part of the Son of His right hand that is in such a dilapidated state all over the world? Do you experience this in your heart? Does it not urge you to fall on your knees and call on your heavenly Father that He will do something from heaven for this ruined and neglected vine that He has brought from Egypt where it was in slavery, and planted it for Himself in this world — this world which actually is in the power of Satan? Also in South Africa? Every day we deal with people who will eventually gather at God’s left hand on that day of judgment. I’m sure that you certainly do not want to be a part of them? I believe that you would like to be on His right hand to stand and hear the words out of His mouth (Matt 25: 33-34): when He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
If you now read in Ephesians 2 that we were crucified with Christ, were buried with Him and raised with Him, and sat down with Him in heaven — in Christ (Verse 6) — would it have a different meaning to you than before? Will it inspire you to pray and say to the Father that you now occupy your place in Christ on His right hand where you wait with Him for your enemies, who are His enemies also, to be made a footstool of your feet (Acts 2: 34-35)? If you do, you will never regret it. I’m just reading in my Bible this morning the words in Isaiah 62 verse 8-9: “The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength:
“Surely I will no longer give your grain as food for your enemies; And the sons of the foreigner shall not drink your new wine, for which you have labored. But those who have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; Those who have brought it together shall drink it in My holy courts.”
Pray now that you will start believing in your heart that you are a part of the Son of His right hand. Sit in Christ at His right hand (Ephesians 2: 6; Heb 12: 22-25) and experience the fellowship with your Father and His Son (1 John 1: 3). Take note, however, that you do not sit there in yourself but in Christ: “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5: 19-20).
IMPORTANT TRUTH: To be able to have His right hand exposed in your life you need to seek His face first and His right hand will then work for you (Isaiah 64: 4) as a result of seeking His face. It will come automatically. But it is also true: If you seek His right hand you will not have it, neither will you have His face shining over you. And also you will not have the blessings as a result of His face shining over you (Ps 80:3, 7, 19). The average man wants to have things his way and because he cannot change his fate he needs the only One who can do miracles, who can change things in his favour. He thus needs the right hand of God. But alas, as I said above, you need to seek God’s face with the right motive and that is: because you love Him and desire to know Him better. And the better you know Him, the more your desires are changed into His desires for you.
17. Believe in the Name of His Son
At this moment, in South Africa, as well as in many other parts of the world, protection of our loved-ones, our possessions and then also provision in our daily needs, is a matter that catches the attention of almost every person. Unemployment has skyrocketed and even if a father or mother of children are hardworking, there is no longer any work for a large percentage of people on this earth. If you are armed with the best security measures, there are very few people who can escape the clever ideas and actions of criminals, terrorists, thieves, murderers and rapists. Psalm 91 has the most beautiful promises for our protection and provision. However, it is linked to one condition namely: to love God and to know His Name (verse 14). 1 John 3: 22-24 has in principle the same conditions: 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment..
In both of these Scriptures, knowing the name of Yahweh is a very important condition.
Jesus said in John 17: 6: “I have manifested thy Name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They are Yours, and You have given them to Me, and they have kept Your Word ”. If you believe that you are one of the people God has taken from this world and given you to His Son because you belong to Him, then the word I mentioned above, will also apply to you, namely that Jesus revealed His Name to you. You must believe it because His mouth has spoken it and He cannot lie. He has revealed His Name to you, even if you do not understand it with your mind yet, and even if it is not clear to you how His Name works, you must believe that He has revealed His Name to you. And this revelation of His Name will mean much more to you in the time that comes than you can ever imagine. In the book of Joel chapter 2 there is a prophecy with regard to the time in which we now live, where the locust sent by God, yes this is His army (verse 11), who will destroy everything. He says in verse three that nothing will escape it. Nothing means nothing. No country in the world, yes the furthest islands, will escape it. No money or power or security measures will protect you from it. Yes, nothing will escape it. but if you love your heavenly Father and know His Name, He will protect you, even if a thousand fall at your side, and 10000 at your righthand, only to you it will not come. Ps 91: 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at your right hand. 8Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and the reward of the wicked see”. And in Joel 2 is once again the promise: “and everyone who call on the Name of the Lord, will be saved, because on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be escape as the Lord has said, and among those who are escaped those who call on the Lord”. He even says that the Name of the Lord is a shelter for us and I believe that the people who are going to seek refuge in His Name, a small and a miserable people (Zeph 3: 12-13) surely also refer to us here in South Africa. But what would it mean to hide in His Name?
I’ve found an old tool here that belonged to the South African Railways years ago. I’m sure they were the owners because their brand-name SAR /SAS was engraved on it. Someone who had that tool in his possession in those years would have been in trouble if they found it in his possession because it was the property of the Railways, Their name is written on it and that is the proof. The Name of Jesus is written on us and that is the sign of His ownership on us. First, He called you by your name. Isaiah 43: 1 But now, thus says the Lord your Creator, O Jacob, and your maker, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I called you by your name; you are mine! But then you gave a new name that He wrote on your forehead. Rev 22: 4 “And they shall see His face, and His Name will be on their foreheads. “Revelation 14: 1 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb stood on mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand with His Name, and the Name of His Father upon their foreheads. We do not know if the seal on the foreheads of people is His Name, but it definitely means or signifies that, or rather that He Has the end ownership over us if we have the Name on our foreheads– that is His seal.
But it certainly means that the saints cannot be harmed if they have that seal on their foreheads. Read Revelation 7 verse 3 and 9 verse 4. Those who do not share with this world in their iniquity and sinfulness, but who rather denounce it, also receive, according to Ezekiel 9 verse 4, the mark on their foreheads, which protects them from the judgments of God coming over the world. Here where we work with different people on a daily basis, each has its own tools. And we mark the tools. If anyone sees my mark on a tool, he knows that he must keep his hands off it, and so I do with their’s. The mark is a sign of ownership. And this is what God says in Isaiah 43: You are mine! In John 17: 6-9 Jashuah tells His Father that these people who the Father gave Him out of the world, belonged to the Father and He gave them to Him, to Jashua (or Jesus).
Just as the people of Israel were the property of God in the Old Testament, the believer in the New Testament is the property of God. He engraved us in His palms (Isa 49: 16). We are the apple of His eye (Zech. 2: 8; Deut 32:10). We belong to Him (Mark 9:41; Acts 27:23; Rom 7: 3; Rom 8: 9; Rom. 14: 9). God knows His Name or mark that is written on us. Satan and all his evil powers also know that Name and mark, and to them it means that God tells them to keep their hands off this man or woman because “they are Mine”. There is a piece of history in Acts 19 verse 13-17 which makes it clear that the evil spirits knew Jesus as well as Paul but not the wicked. Read it yourself prayerfully and it will mean a lot to you. Satan and the evil spirits know Jesus and those who belong to Him, but not the wicked because they are not a threat to them. However, they fear you and also every sincere believer because His Name is written on them.
Years ago I also participated in debates on the baptism of believers. Today I realize that my attention was distracted by these “important truths about baptism” while I was less focused on the deeper meaning of the Word. One great truth is that we are baptized into the Name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38), just as we are baptized into His death (Rom 6: 1-11). I don’t want to ask you with what baptism you were baptized, but what I do ask you is if you were baptized into His Name? This is not a baptism with or in physical water, but a baptism where you lose your name in order to receive His Name on your forehead. Here it is important to lose your own name. And, if you sincerely walk with God, you will soon lose your name (Luke 6:22). And, if it is important to you to know the Name of the Lord, protecting your own name– which has been so very important to you thus far, will soon lose its value. What was profitable for you will now be counted loss, and things you considered gain you will now consider as mere rubbish. All this in order to know Christ in the power of His resurrection. That means to have His Name written or engraved upon your forehead. (Phil 3: 7-14).
Jeremiah brought his plea to God in prayer, saying: “When Your words were found I ate them, and Your Word was joy to my heart; for Your name is called upon me, O Lord, the God of hosts ”(Jer. 15:16).
God made Himself a great and glorious Name through all the ages: Neh 9:10 “You have done signs and wonders to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all the people of his land; because you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and you have created a Name for yourself as it is today” Psalm 8: 2: “O Lord,our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth! You who laid Your majesty on the heavens ”. Also read Exodus 9:16; Ps 9-11: “Those who know Your Name will trust in You, for you do not leave that seek thee, O Lord! There is a spontaneous action by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of those who know the Name of the Lord: they trust Him. So you will find that if you get to know the Name of the Lord, there will be a spontaneous confidence that works in you by the Holy Spirit.
The Name of Jashuah also has healing power. For this you first have to read Acts 3 verse 16 and also Acts 4: 7 to 12. It says that the Name of Jashuah is what made healed that sick man. And again it says that the faith which came through Him gave that lame man perfect health. Again, we are dealing with a spontaneous act of faith that comes from Jashuah as soon as the Name of Jashuah is called upon. So you can’t call on the Name of Jashuah out of yourself. It is the Holy Spirit that calls upon Him. Therefore John 14 verse 26 refers to the Holy Spirit “which the Father will send in My Name”. If you are going to use the name out of yourself, thus out of your flesh, it will happen with you that happened to those seven sons of Scheva in actions 19. You read it, didn’t you? Jashuah said that many will come in His Name (Matt 7: 22). “ In that day they will say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name and cast out demons in Your Name and in Your Name many miracles were done?” Mark 13: 6:”For many shall come in My Name, saying, I am! And they will mislead many people”.
There was a reason why the chief priests had forbidden the disciples of Jesus to speak further in His Name because there was power in that Name. There was also authority in that name, the authority of Jashuah. They ask the disciples: “By what power (authority) and by what name have you done it” (Acts 4: 7)? They said: “Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him this man healthy standing in front of you.
11This is the stone which is of you, the builders rejected, which has become a cornerstone.
12And salvation is in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved “(Verse10-12)
We need from time to time, if we go away for weeks or months, to transfer authority to our people who stay behind, so they can sign documents and act on our behalf. That transfer of authority calls the law a “power of attorney” or “proxy”. It is the same power of attorney given to a country’s ambassador when they send him to another country to act there on behalf of his country. Sometimes he does not have authority and sometimes he does. In this case, reference is made to a “proxy ambassador”. Jashua said that we receive authority from Him to go and ask in His Name of the Father. It is as if He Himself is asking for something from the Father because we come in His Name. Read John 14:13; John 16: 23-26. Do you understand that? If you go to the Father in Yashua’s Name and you ask Him something, it’s just as well He (Yashuah) asks it. If you go to the sick in the Name of Yashua and you command them to be healed, it is the same as Jashua Himself commands it because you have commanded it in His Name—in His authority. The centurion in Matthew 8: 5-10 had an example of authority in his work as an officer in the army: “Now when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came a centurion to him, beseeching Him 6and saying, Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed and grievously tormented.
7And Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him. 8The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but speak only a word, and my servant shall be healed. 9For I am a man under authority, and I have soldiers under me. And for this one I say, Go! and he goes; and for another, Come! and he comes; and for my servant: Do this! and he does it. 10When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to His followers: Verily I say unto you, even in Israel have I so great a faith not found “. Do you marvel too?
Is there any opportunity for you to exercise authority in your daily li8fe? I will not be surprised if you tell me “I have no place where I can act with authority”. Perhaps you no longer have authority over your children or daily work. But think for a moment that if you were under the authority of a higher officer in the army and you would have authority as an officer over soldiers under you, whom you could command and and they listened to you. It would be the same as the chief experienced. That experience made him understand the principle of authority. This, in turn, made him understand Jashuah’s authority. He understood that if Jashuah really is under the authority of His Father, He also has authority over the evil forces and the demons, and that He can only say to the disease, “go out!” Or “get well!”
18. The Seal of God
In the Book of Revelation (Rev 7: 3) we read a most important word: “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” Also read Revelation 9: 4. There are also other New Testament Scriptures that say that certain people are sealed by God. Read in 2 Cor 1: 22; Eph 1: 13; Eph 4: 30. Even in the Old Testament we see how marks were placed on the foreheads of those who have sighed and cried about the state of wickedness and abominations that were done in Jerusalem and Israel (Ezek 9: 4). The purpose of this mark was that the judgments of God, which would come upon all the wicked, would not come upon them. The same as what happened when the death angel, at the time of the exodus of the people of God from Egypt, went through the land and killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians. Read more about this in Exod 11: 1-10. The angel skipped the houses of the Israelites where the blood of the sacrificial lamb was painted on the doorposts of their houses. A lot can be said here about markings that God puts on His elect in order to preserve them at the time when His wrath will come over this earth. But what is important in this chapter is that you will know that there is a mark being put on you by the Holy Spirit (Eph 4: 30) as God’s proof or sign that you belong to Him, that you are His property, and that the enemy must keep his hands away from you. This mark is the Name of His Son. First go now and read Rev 22: 4.
My dad always marked his spanners with a specific mark that let everyone know that it belongs to him. My mother also marked our children’s clothes with different colours so it couldn’t get mixed up. Today, here on Oosterheuwel, and the surrounding areas where we work with lots of tools, each workshop’s tools are marked and each one’s personal tools as well. There are a people on this earth who are called the “property of God” (Deut 7: 6), but about that I will write in the next chapter. I just want to mention at this point that these are the people who are called by the Name Yahweh of hosts, the Name of Yashuah Messiah. It is the people whom Yashuah bought with His blood on the cross of Calvary when he took all their sins upon Him. It is the people on behalf of whom the Son of God, after He was punished in hell for our sins, defeated Satan and his hordes, and then was raised by God from death to life. Read Colossians 2: 13-15 and Isaiah 53: 4-5 and let the Holy Spirit reveal to you what happened to Christ when He was sent to hell and bore your and my sin-punishment. Let the Holy Spirit also reveal to you what happened after God the Father was satisfied and pleased that His claims of righteousness were fulfilled. His righteous claim was always that no sin goes unpunished (Exod 34: 6-7). God was then satisfied that Christ bore the full punishment of all people’s sins. Yes this also includes the punishment we would have received if we were to go to hell for our sins.
What exactly happened when Christ went down to hell? First, on the cross He became sin (2 Cor 5: 21). He became you and I: sinners! Although He never knew sin. And that is why the Father also turned His face away from Him, because as a holy God He could not behold sin, and when His Son became sin, He had to leave the presence of God. It was then that He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matt 27: 46; Ps 22: 1). As a sinner, Yashuah then went to hell — but not with His own sin, but with yours and mine. Yes, as you and I, He went to hell — sinners, wholehearted sinners! When God, as the Righteous Judge, was satisfied that He was punished enough for our sins, He resurrected Him from His state of death, eternal death – banned from the presence of God, by making Him alive again. This He did through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life. By pouring out His Holy Spirit into Christ, He poured His life into Christ’s Spirit which was dead because of our sin. The Holy Spirit, therefore, caused the light of God, or rather God as the light, to flow into the darkness and made Christ the first to experience rebirth. Life from death. Like the grain of wheat that must fall into the ground and die in order to live (John 12: 24).
When the life of God was poured into Christ through the Holy Spirit, He met Satan in an open duel — Satan along with all his evil powers — and then He, as the Son of God and the resurrected Saviour, defeated the powers of darkness in a crushing victory. He triumphed over them publicly (Col 2: 14-15) and dressed them up and exhibited them before all the evil forces as well as before the heavenly armies of God. Also before the fallen spirits and angels, who displeased God and now had to bite into the dust before the Son of God, the Son of His love.
Because Christ was willing to humble Himself to death, yes the death of the cross, God gave Him a Name above all names. Philip 2: 8-11 “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9: Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
This Name is Yashuah Messiah. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which one can be saved (Acts 4: 12). And if we are willing to fully do the will of God and not seek our own will at all, if we deny ourselves and take up our cross every day and follow Him (Luke 9: 23), then we will also have this Name being written upon us (Rev 7: 3; Rev 9: 4). He will write His Name on us, yes, on our foreheads He will write it. The Name above all names. This Name will warn Satan: this man/women belongs to Me, so I wrote My Name on his/her forehead. He / she is My property and therefore belongs to Me for I bought them with My blood (1 Pet 1: 18-19) and therefore I command you to keep your hands off of them. They have been sealed by Me. That means My seal is upon them.
As a document is sealed and the seal is then an absolute proof of authenticity and originality, this seal is also proof that you and I truly belong to Christ. The Holy Spirit testifies to the authenticity of this seal (Rom 8: 16; 1 John 3: 24). Satan knows it because he knows the Name of the One who conquered him and he shakes in fear for that One. So also do his evil forces know who Yashuah is (Acts 19: 13-17), and they also know those who belong to Him because His Name is written on them.
As with any contract or agreement, there are conditions: a university will not seal your diploma or degree until you have met the conditions and passed the necessary examinations. The conditions of God for having the seal of His Son upon you are namely to obey Him even to death, even the death of the cross (Philip 2: 8-11). That means that you must truly accept the crucifixion of yourself with Yashuah in your life, so that then you can experience His resurrection life with Him and through you. Also the mark, the seal of Yashuah’s victory over death, sin and Satan, will be placed upon your forehead. That entails victory also over Satan’s evil powers. Do not rest until you are sure you have received this seal of God on your forehead.
19. The People (Nation) who are the Property of God
In Exodus 19: 5-6 God told Moses to go and tell the people what a special people they shall be when they listen to His voice. You will remember that in previous passages I referred several times to the fact that all the promises of God have conditions. “T’s and c’s apply,” the advertisements usually say. Amos 3: 3 says, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” Here, God is again making a great promise to the people: “if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” Also in Ps 135: 4: “For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure.” And how happy is the nation that He has chosen as His own. Psalm 144: 15: “Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!”. Ps 33: 12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord , the people He has chosen for His own inheritance”. What a blessed and happy people, the people who are chosen by the Almighty God as His people.
Of course, to be part of this happy people, God again has His conditions. In the Old Testament they had to keep His law and obey Him in all respects, love Him and listen to His voice. But this people is not just an Old Testament people. In Acts 15: 14 we read: ” Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.” God does not want to have just a people descended from the Jews as His people, He was looking forward to accepting a people from the Gentiles — that is, from the non-Jews — for His Name. This means that it is a people on whom the Almighty is willing to stamp His stamp, His seal. He is willing to mark the people on their foreheads with a mark that shows them as His property. As you will recall this says to Satan and his evil forces, ‘you do not touch these people’. Many Christians become excited when they come to Israel and especially to Jerusalem and begin to think that they are the people whom He has chosen for Him. Yes, so it was in the past but now in the time in which we are living, there is something bigger about which we need to get excited about. Namely, the people whose birth takes place from above. In fact, this is what the word rebirth means: it means “born from above”, or born of God: more than the children of Jacob, they are the children of God. Our citizenship is from heaven (Phil 3: 20). We are citizens of heaven. Read 1 Cor 15: 45–50. Does it speak to your spirit?
Because these people whom God took from the heathen for His Name is so important to Him, He made a covenant with these people. In the Old Testament period He made many covenants with various people such as Adam, Abraham, Noah, Jacob, Isaac, David and so many more. In Jeremiah 31: 31, God refers to a New Covenant that He will make with the house of Israel and the house of Judah in the future. Hebrews 8: 6, 12-13 again refers to this New Covenant. In the New Testament, God made this covenant with His people through the blood of His Son. The last night before Christ was crucified, He took the cup with the wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood …” (1 Cor 11:25-26). There are Bible teachers who teach that this New Covenant is rarely mentioned in the New Testament, except in Hebrews 8. This is exactly where they miss the point. This New Covenant is located in the blood of Jesus Christ. According to Leviticus, life is in the blood (Lev 17: 14). The new covenant is therefore in the blood of Jashuah, therefore in His life. Already in Isaiah 42 verses 1 to 7, the prophet foretold that God would give Christ as a covenant for the people. Christ is thus the fulfilment of this covenant and all covenants are embodied in Him. The Word of God concerning the covenant has now become flesh in Christ (John 1: 14). So it came into being in Him.
Therefore we become children of God, regardless of the denomination or church we belong to, we belong to one great family of God, to which the Old Testament saints also belonged (Romans 9: 4). God adopted us as His children (Romans 8: 14 to 17). We are changed daily from glory to glory by the Spirit, because we fulfil the law through the Spirit (Romans 8: 3 to 4). We are the true circumcision and also those who worship God in Spirit and in truth (Phillip 3: 3; John 4: 23-24). We trust in the One in whom all the promises and covenants of God are established — Him in whom they are “yes and amen” (2 Corinthians 1: 20). We are among different peoples but we are one great family, like Moses in Hebrews 11 preferred to be treated badly with the people of God rather than to enjoy the wealth of an earthly people for a time (Hebrews 11: 24 to 27). Through the ages, in which this covenant with God’s people were immovable, we are all one faith, one Christ, one people, “The quiet in the land” (Ps 35: 20). I can still say much about this but at this point we must look at the God who made a covenant with us, rather than looking at us as the people with whom He made the covenant. But that we will do later if God allows.
God (Elohim) is the God who continually thinks of His covenant with His people (Ps 105: 8-11). He never forgets it (Ezek 16: 60-62) and is now powerfully going to reveal, in our time and in our midst, “the New Covenant”. He will fulfil all the promises He made to us so that we will truly be “a People for His Name”. A nation of His amongst the billions of people on this planet earth. These billions on earth are divided into hundreds of different nations. The Scripture speaks of “nations over which My Name is called” (Acts 15) and “nations over whom His Name is not called” . You have to pray for this yourself because I’m not going to speak about this now. The important truth that our Father in heaven wants you and I to understand is that He is now revealing His Son to the people who are called by His Name.
This revelation is the revelation of His Son and the Body of His Son. If you read 1 Corinthians 12: 12 to 27, you will see that the congregation or Church should also be the body of Christ. Every believer who is truly born again by the Spirit of Christ, and through His blood, is a part of His body (1 Cor 10: 16-17). Ephesians 5:30 says that we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. Much has been argued and reasoned on this subject and some believe that we are truly part of the body of Christ. Then others again believe that it is only a metaphor, that the congregation is compared to the body of Christ. However, don’t let that worry you. I have learned in the past that while some scholars are arguing Biblical truths, God reveals to the simple, those who are like little children, the deep hidden things: “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight” (Luke 10:21). If you read 1 Cor 1: 17-31, you will soon find out that there is a wisdom of God embodied in Christ, and that there is a wisdom of this world that we should rather avoid.
If you now have a chance to sit and talk to the Father, and the Spirit leads you to ask Him if what I am going to say is true, you will come to a very great revelation in your spiritual life. It will also make you realize that we are living in the most wonderful time ever. Yes, in the midst of all the things happening in our country and around the world, we are living in the time of which many Old Testament prophets and saints have spoken, as He also tells us in 1 Peter 1: 10-12. You will ask, “What is the special event of this time in which we are now living?” There are many things that make this a special time, but one great outstanding event is the appearance of Jashuah through His Body. If you now think that Christ is going to appear through that denomination or church where you go to worship every Sunday, please go to His Word, and then think about what I am saying: “Yes through that same church, but not just only through that church of yours, but also by many others”. You know, we have developed such an idea over the years that the place where you and I worship is the only place where Jashuah Messiah is present. If you also reason like that then I’d like to say to you as Paul said to the Corinthians: (2 Cor 6: 12-13), “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open”. If you only have room in your heart for your church, then the opening of your heart is too narrow. Almost all Christian churches have the same creed, some call it the Apostolic Creed and others call it the “Twelve articles” or confession of their faith. Either way, there is one article that is confessed by all these Christian churches, namely: “I believe in a holy general Christian church, the community of saints”. What do we say when we confess this? We say that we believe that there are no borders and walls in the church, but a sacred general Christian church that stands above the camps and divisions of Christian denominations. As a valley full of different things has camps for horses and donkeys, poultry, maize and wheat, so the church also has camps, each with its different teachings. However, when the water of the Spirit, the “latter rains” (Joel 2: 23) comes down, and the waters begin to rise until it rises above the enclosure fences, we will see nothing more of the fence but only one great sea of water. This is the day I have been waiting for for many years and for which I have experienced a lot of reproach and persecution. Many ministers did not like this view that I have because they were afraid they would lose their sheep. Yet I have never been guilty of stealing sheep amongst the churches, because I believe that someone who has met Jashuah can serve Him in any church and anywhere, even if he is the only one there who is a child of God. However, I do believe that the Holy Spirit will unite us into a real unity when the fiery persecution, of which 1 Pet 4 writes, merges us into one. Jashuah prayed for it in John 17 and His prayer will be answered in that we are going to be one just as He and the Father are one (John 17: 21-26). For this He died and poured out His blood on the cross (John 11: 51-52).
This is a wonderful time in which all the children of God will be joined together into a godly unity in Jashuah and He will appear in His glory through His body, in which He lives in and through each of them, because the same Spirit by which His Father raised Him from the dead, is also now poured out into each of these believers. The same Spirit? Yes, the very same Spirit. Have you ever pondered on it and asked the Father to reveal it to you in your spirit, what it means that you have also received the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead? If you do, you will come to a glorious insight that will encourage you to pray for this revelation of Jashuah through His body, at this time in which we now live. And that is why we should look at the New Covenant, the covenant He promised us in Jeremiah 31: 31 and then made with us by the blood of Jashuah (Matt 26: 28).
What does the new covenant entail? Anyone who worships in a Christian church where communion is held on a regular basis should know what the bread and the wine speak of, but I will repeat it to you, just in case you may have forgotten or may not know. 1 Cor 10: 14-22:
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
I want to ask you to please also read 1 Corinthians 11: 17-34. I realise that this is a lot of reading, but it is so important or else you will likely miss the point. Anyway, these chapters are no longer linked to dates such as in the “Daily Devotions”, so you can spend a long time on one chapter — even weeks — until it finally becomes alive in your mind and heart. Now 1 Cor 11: 17-34: “Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep (died). For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come..”
Have you noticed that it is very important that before you sit at the Lord’s Supper table and eat the bread and drink the wine, that you try yourself and then eat some of the bread and drink the wine. What does it mean to try yourself? This means that you must look at what the communion really means and what you symbolize by eating the bread and drinking the wine, and also declaring to God and to His Son, Jesus Christ, and also to your fellow believers who came, sitting with you at the table, and also to all the Christians who belong to other churches and also to the powers of darkness, that you associate yourself with the truths of what is symbolised. Yes, they all make a statement. And if we realize that there is a New Covenant in that cup, not in the physical cup, but in the blood of Jashuah symbolized by the wine in the cup, then you are making a much larger statement when you participate in the communion than what you can think. And I might add here that it is a much larger statement than most Christians realize today. If you read in the passage that we have quoted above, that in the wrong use of this the result is sickness and even death, then it is not strange to us that humanity is so sick today!
We must now look further at what this New Covenant means. Elohim, our Father would like to join us as His children and His people in a covenant that is arranged and assured in everything like 2 Sam 23: 5 says. This Scripture also says clearly that God desires to increase our salvation. In Jeremiah 32: 40-42 God also says that according to this covenant He will not turn away from doing good to us. Also He will give His fear into our hearts so that we will not depart from Him. He will rejoice in doing good to us and He will plant us in this land with all His heart and all His soul. As He has previously brought upon us calamity, so now He will also bring unto us all the good of which He speaks. We find another wonderful part of the covenant in Hebrews 8:12, where He says that under the New Covenant He will have mercy on our iniquities and never remember our sins and transgressions anymore.
This New Covenant is a better covenant than the covenants of the Old Testament and it is based on better promises lawfully (Heb 8: 6). In any case, the old covenant is an outdated covenant, made old by God and is close to disappearance (Heb 8: 13). The promises in this covenant are numerous, but they are in Jashuah alone (2 Cor 1:20). Yes, all the promises in the Scripture are embodied in Christ and in His blood. Therefore all the promises are part of God’s covenant with us– the covenant He sealed with the blood of His Son.
So if you now meet the conditions of the covenant, then you have the right to expect Him to fulfil His promises to you. You already know at this time what He expects of you according to the covenant. He expects you to accept with your whole heart that you are dead, crucified with Christ. i.e. dead to everything that does not come from Christ. This includes the flesh or “self ” (the carnal man), sin, the world, and also all laws that do not come by the law of the Spirit (Rom 8: 1-2). In the New Testament we see how the flesh is put against the spirit. e.g. what the flesh contemplates versus that contemplated by the Spirit (Rom 8: 5-11). So He also contrasts the world with Christ (Gal 6: 12-15; 1 John 2: 15-17), as well as the law of Moses against the law of Christ (Mal. 4: 4; 1 Corinthians 9:21). If you believe with your whole heart that you are dead to sin (Rom 6: 1-13); also dead to the law and any efforts from yourself to do good (Rom 7: 4; Ephesians 2: 14-16); if you believe it and accept it with your whole heart, deny yourself and take up your cross every day and follow Jashuah, then you will be His disciple and experience the flow of blessings from Him through you to other people. All this because He made a covenant with you through the blood of His Son. And He constantly thinks of this covenant. Yes, He made this covenant with an oath to thereby even more powerfully confirm to you, as the heir of all these promises, the immutability of His counsel. (Hebrews 6: 17-20 “… that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.) “
The truths in the Scripture concerning this people of God that He had been looking forward to receive from the Gentiles for Him as a people being His property, is a glorious revelation. You should definitely make it a matter of prayer so that the Father can personally reveal these things to you. All the goodness and glory of God is dedicated to this nation of saints. Besides the fact that the rule over all the peoples was given to them (Dan 7: 9-28), there are many other glorious things that have been promised to them. If I have to describe them all here, this chapter will never end. But in His due time all things will be shared in the writings to follow. That said, you should already pray that He will reveal it all to you.
20. A Generation (Family) of God.
If we have read the previous chapter prayerfully, and with an open mind before God, and have kept it in our hearts, we will find that the Holy Spirit will now also make this word, that adds to the previous chapter, alive in our spirit. In the previous chapter the emphasis was on the “the people of God”, the people who are the property of Elohim, His possession over whom He has sole ownership. In this chapter we see God’s desire to adopt not only a people for His name from the Gentiles, but individuals who are His family, His children, His offspring. Acts 17: 26-29: “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.” In Mal 2:15: we read: “But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.” God sought an offspring for Him. Therefore, He did not want the physical people of Israel to mix with the Gentiles and their idolatry. In Ezra 9: 1-3, Ezra was very upset because the holy offspring intermingled with the peoples of the land. And some Bible teachers today emphasize the physical intermingling, but they forget that a spiritual intermingling of light and darkness is unbefitting the holy generation, the generation of God.
The word offspring in Acts 17 is also further described in English as “a race, family, generation”. This means that this holy generation has the genes of God in them. They were born of Him (John 1:13; 1 John 3: 9), and are therefore genetically the family of Yahweh. Because science cannot explain it, scholars and theologians may reject it. Although I do not think everyone will reject it because there are also true, sincere children of God among these theologians, men who have the Spirit of God and who know the truth.
Scripture repeatedly refers to this particular generation in the New Testament. For example 1 Pet 2: 9-10: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” Rev 22:16: “I, Yashuah, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” Also read 2 Tim 2: 8. David was therefore part of this family of God, he was genetically part of this family. He was therefore the offspring of God and of His Son Yashuah Messiah. One cannot, with the best scientific technology and microscopic instruments, analyse a natural person’s blood and his genes, and then spot the genes of Christ. There are deeper things in the composition of man’s mind, body and soul than scientists can dissect. As you read in Leviticus: “for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.”(Lev 7:27; Lev 17:14). Well, we can argue a lot about this, but again it is the privilege of those who have become like little children to obtain the deep mysteries of God (Luke 10: 21-24; Ps 25:14; Prov 3:32).
If you believe the Word of Yahweh like a child, without much arguing about it, you will find that this faith in His Word starts a powerful working inside of you. Did He not promise that He would complete every work of faith with power? (2 Thess. 1: 11-12). But if you are counted among the disputers of this age, to which 1 Cor 1: 20 refers, your wisdom will also be made foolish. If you have now read this passage in Scripture from verse 17 to verse 31 and also chapter 2: 1 to verse 16, you will have the opportunity to make a choice between the wisdom of God and human wisdom. I do not want to write these scriptures here because they take up too much space and you certainly have a Bible.
In Phil 2: 14-16, the Scripture refers to the inhabitants of the world as a “crooked and perverse generation”: “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.” Proverbs 30: 11-14 refers to a generation that we encounter everywhere on this earth today. This is a generation that curses their father and mother and does not respect any authority, a generation where the parents must obey the children and try to please them all day and let them have their way, a generation against which there is no form of defense. Even if you have the strongest army on your side, you always lose the battle. They are a generation that throws tantrums when they do not get their way, and turns the whole course of life upside down while parents have to stand and watch powerless and ask: “Lord, where did I go wrong with my education?”. The enemies of righteousness have this generation on their side and they break down government systems, set big cities on fire and destroy everything. I can go on to describe this generation but you might be able to do it better than me. I want to ask one question and that is: if you were to analyze the blood of this evil generation under a microscope and compare their DNA with the DNA of the generation of God, would it not look the same? Yes, for sure! But why this argument about it now? Wherein lies the difference? It lies deeper than the visible blood, genes and DNA. It lies in the soul and in the spirit. Do not try to think about this scientifically, but believe God like a child when He tells you that there is a difference between the generation of God and this evil generation (Jer 8: 3).
If you believe in what Scripture says, that you are a relative of God, He is your Father and you are His son or daughter (2 Cor 6:18), if you believe this you will experience the Holy Spirit testifying with your spirit, that you are a child of God. Rom 8: 14-17 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” If you now first want to feel that you are a child of God, or first want tangible signs, you will realize that you will not receive them. Thomas was the one who first wanted to see and feel before he could believe. But Christ says that we must first believe before we see or feel. (John 20: 24-31). You probably already know by now that faith works through love (Gal. 5: 6)? So, if you realize that you do not have the faith to believe these things I mentioned above, your first solution is to start paying attention to your love relationship with the Father and with His Son. Take some time to fellowship in Their presence every day, thanking and praising your Father and dedicating your life to Him. Also to your Savior, Yashuah Messiah, first bring unto Him praise and thanksgiving for the great sacrifice He made to get you saved. A great godly man said: “To be much for God you must be much with God”. Once again, it just means that the more time you spend with your Father and with His Son in communion, the more you acquire Their qualities and characteristics. This includes Their faith and love and righteousness. And how else can you, if you’re family of God, but want to spend lots of time with your family? There is something wrong with a child who does not want to go home and visit his family. Yes there is truly something wrong! Or he does not have the courage, because of wrong things in his life that he knows his family does not agree with. Or he doubts that they love him because he does not believe them when his Father tells him that he loves him. Or it may be because he doubts whether he is related to them. You need to take up this matter with your Father yourself, but that there is definitely something wrong with your relationship with your family if you do not have the desire to visit your family home and be with them, is for sure.
It is true that throughout history there have been attempts by hostile people to exterminate certain families altogether. The history books are full of such stories and even the Bible story where Athaliah, the daughter of Ahaziah, exterminated the whole generation of the house of Judah, except for one son that they managed to hide. (2 Chron. 22: 10-12). If the devil finds out that you are family of God, the offspring of God, he will definitely try to exterminate you along with all who are also part of God’s generation. Yes, he will even use prominent Christians for this, Christians who are not part of the family of God. It is they to whom Scripture refers that they honour God with their lips but keep their hearts far from Him (Matt. 15: 8). But we have the promise that the holy seed will be the stump that’s left after the tree has been cut down (Isa. 6:13).
Sit down tomorrow morning for a while before your Father. Do not start reading the Bible right away, but rather contemplate this family of yours, this divine family, and the fact that you have the genes of God in you. Ask your Father that through His Holy Spirit he will pour out the faith in your heart to believe it. Do not try to activate it by suggesting it to yourself over and over again. This is what the English call: “Mind over matter”. No, it comes through the working of the Holy Spirit and not through self-suggestion. Rebirth does not take place through tangible things. 1 Pet 1: 23 -25: “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.” John 1: 11-13: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Now here we are dealing with something that is above, yes far above the technology and science of this world. This birth is from God and it comes from above. It is inexplicable to human wisdom. It is something the human eye has never seen or its ear never heard of, it is something God has prepared for those He knows will love Him (1 Cor 2: 8-9). He knew everything in advance, therefore He says, “I know those who are Mine” (John 10:14; 2 Tim 2:19). To those who are His – those who His Father gave to Him (John 17: 6) – He gives this birth from Above. He makes them family of Him, divine blood family, His genes!
21. What God Seeks – True Worshipers.
In Isaiah 24 verse16 there is a Word that stirs one’s heart when you read it: “From the ends of the earth we have heard songs: ‘Glory to the righteous!’ Would it not be wonderful when that day come when hymns of praise would ascend from the ends of the earth from many nations and peoples and tongues, all praising the Creator of the firmament and bringing praise and glory to Him for His wonderful handiwork, His indescribable wisdom and understanding, His infinite love, faithfulness and grace which He revealed to mankind through His Son Yashuah? But it has to start somewhere. Just as the kingdom of God begins from a small seed like a mustard seed, so songs of praise will begin that will be contagious and spread like wildfire over the earth!
There are many slogans or clichés in the churches these days that have become so cheap that the sincere do not even look at them anymore. And yet there are many who continue day after day to sing hymns just for the “enjoyment of singing”. The English call it a “sing-song”. But these are not the hymns to which the Word of God refers. This is definitely not a “Sing-song”! Just as the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14), the songs of praise to God will also fill the whole earth. But I say it again: it will have to start somewhere. In Isaiah 44: 6 Yahweh says: “I am the first, and I am the last”. In Revelation 1: 8 He says: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end… Yes, He is the beginning of all things, all things originated and came into being with Him and through Him (John 1: 1-4; Col 1: 15-20). So also the songs of praise and hymns of praise will arise from Him. You ask if God is the One who creates the songs of praise and inspires to praise and glorify Himself? Yes, now read Romans 11:35 and 36: “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” The songs of praise are also from Him, through Him and to Him.
Man cannot praise God because He is exalted above the praise of men (Neh 9: 5). In the same way, man cannot worship God out of himself. He must be in the Spirit to worship God. Yes, there are many who worship Him in the flesh but those are not the people that God is looking for. He is looking for people who worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4: 20-26). Such people listen to the command of God in Psalm 81: 10: “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it”. Lately we have had a great desire to worship God, to praise and glorify Him. Is He not the God who is enthroned in the praises of His people? (Ps 22: 3) But one soon realizes that there are those who worship and praise God in the Spirit and those who do it in the flesh. The world can sing very nicely and delight themselves in it. Just turn on your TV or radio to see the huge role music and song play in today’s world. Yes, young and old like to have their radio on and then listen to music. Music was actually originally created by God to praise and glorify Him. Just read through the Psalms and see how hymns, psalms and spiritual songs were sung to the glory of God. Not to mention all the places in the Old Testament where the people gathered and praised and glorified God. And then in the New Testament Paul encourages the people, yes, he admonishes them to encourage one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5: 19-20; Col 3: 16-17). Yet Satan has succeeded in hijacking music in order to glorify the flesh of man and consequently himself.
It is sad to see how many Christians listen to mere worldly music, which is empty and meaningless, in order to entertain themselves and even glorify their flesh through it. Is not the Scripture fulfilled which says that in the last days people will be more lovers of pleasure than lovers of God? (2 Tim 3: 4-5) When Paul says that we should not make provision for the flesh to satisfy its lusts, there is a very clear reason for this: you cannot glorify God in the Spirit while entertaining yourself and your friends in the flesh. There is no gray area here. You cannot be in the flesh and in the Spirit at the same time. You cannot praise God and the world and its people at the same time. And isn’t that why so many Christians have an unsuccessful prayer life? If you live in the flesh, you can not please God (Rom 8: 4-13). The big question is whether you still want to live in the flesh or not. If you want to be redeemed from the flesh, desperately longing for salvation, but are still caught up in and being dominated by sin and the flesh, then the word applies in Romans 7 which says that, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (Rom 7:17). Years ago I saw a young man who worked with me steal tools from our employer. (I also told about this incident in another chapter). When I seriously admonished him not to steal because it was clearly theft and a sin against God, he replied: “it is not I who steal it but the sin that dwells in me”. This, of course, follows Romans 7. What a wonderful excuse to sin and walk in the flesh? No, you clearly cannot walk in the flesh and in sin at the same time and then use the excuse that “it is not I who do this but the sin that dwells in me”! The question is: “Do you still want to live in the flesh”? Is it enjoyable for you and therefore you do not want to stop sinning? Then, says Hebrews, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” There is a typical characteristic of someone who has repented: he does works befitting repentance (Acts 26:20). He does not manage to sin, and if he does sin it isn’t intentionally, he does it in weakness and then there is clearly, after he has sinned, remorse for it. He feels bad about sin or about his carnal attitude and actions, and he confesses and does restitution wherever Father requires it of him. Now read 1 John 3: 9 “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” This means that he does not manage to act in the flesh or to sin, and then just carry on living normally, because the Holy Spirit convicts him of that sin and carnal actions. If the Holy Spirit does not convict him, it is doubtful whether he has truly repented and is in the process of being born again. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, according to John 16: 7-15. The Holy Spirit can / will surely not fail to do the work that Yashuah clearly promised us He would do!
If the cross does not do a work within you so that you are dead to the world and its desires, if the death on the cross of Yahshua is not working in you to the extent that you have no desire to please the world, and no desire to provide for the lusts of the flesh, you can forget about being one of the true worshipers who worship God in spirit and in truth. You cannot love the world and love God as well. You will either love one and hate the other, says Scripture (Matt. 6:24). But if you fear persecution by the people and the world, the surest way to avoid being persecuted and hated by the people, and even harmed by them in your work and in your daily walk, is to enjoy their music. You also have to party with them, dance and do everything they do. Yashuah says: the world cannot hate you if you are part of it. But if you are part of Him, He says, “The world cannot love you, because it does not love Me” (John 15:19). To be a true worshiper, you must at some point in your life choose between the love of the world and the love of God, popularity with the world and popularity with God (1 John 2: 15-17). It’s hard but it’s true. If you have a great desire to become a “true worshiper” who worships God in Spirit and in truth, you will now have to make your choice. The Son of God made His choice and therefore He could say that “the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30). Once you have made that choice, you can begin to allow the Spirit of God to begin to fill you to become a true worshiper of the Father. If you have not yet made the choice, forget about being one of those who seek the Father to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
Can you imagine for a moment how wonderful it will be when you bid farewell to the world and all its pleasures, and your decision is final, so once and for all you have made your decision, then to sit down in the morning before your Father and worship Him in spirit and in truth. In such quiet times before His face, where His Son sits at His right hand, and you calm down before Him, for a moment hand over the program of the day into His hands, even moving your Bible a little aside, and also not being ready to raise before Him all your requests and complaints and troubles, can you for a moment imagine the great glory, peace and rest that will fill your whole being?
I have already said it a lot but still not nearly enough. If we truly seek God with an open mind, and with all our will, not to receive anything from Him, but that He will enable us through His Spirit to give something to Him, namely praise and worship through which we are worshiping Him in spirit and in truth, we will also experience His faithfulness when suddenly from heaven, out of His good hand and love, a stream of praise and worship flows through our whole mind to Him. At first it may be small streams but it will very soon be a stream that drags your whole being to worship Him. Yes, and also to worship His Son. When John saw the Son of God on the island of Patmos, he fell at His feet like a dead man (Rev. 1:17). There was a holy fear and trembling present in John, and surely also the great love he had for Yashuah when He was still on earth. The Father still wants to pour out this same love and fear for Him and His Son day after day in your and my heart. And it is in this love and holy fear that His Spirit will fill us with praise and worship for Him. Begin now to pray earnestly to your Father that all things in your life, yes, all sin and flesh that will prevent you from becoming a true worshiper, yes, surely also the love of the world and the things that are in the world (1 John 2: 15-17), will be removed by the blood of His cross, and that He will also fill your mouth and your heart with true worship for Him.
It will be worthwhile to sit down before your Father and ask Him to reveal to you all the things that are obstacles in the way of the Spirit so that He – the Holy Spirit – can fulfill you so that you can be a true worshiper. In the next chapter, which is a very important chapter, I will share with you what it means to say, as David says in Psalm 23, “my cup overflows”. In short, it means that the Holy Spirit fills your cup with the Spirit of Christ. For this it is necessary to first remove all filth, sin and the flesh from your cup so that He, that is the Holy Spirit, can pour out the Spirit of Christ in you. God does not allow His Spirit to be poured out in a dirty cup. Therefore, cleansing by the blood of Yashua is a prerequisite for being filled with the Spirit of God. And it is through this Spirit that you are enabled to worship God in Spirit and in truth. To thus be one of the people God is looking for on this earth, people who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Read the following chapter (Chapter 21 in Part 3: “The strongholds of the Enemy”) in great humility and brokenness before your Father with the expectation that He will reveal to you what you need in order to be a true worshipper.
To worship the Father in spirit and in truth, it is important to emphasize two words, namely “Spirit” and “truth”. Scripture points to the walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16) as well as to the “walk in the truth” (2 John 1: 4). You cannot walk in the flesh and think that you are going to be a channel through which the Holy Spirit will allow worship and praise to flow to God. Likewise, you cannot walk in lies and think that you can worship in Spirit and in truth. Pilate asks the question to Yashuah: “What is truth?” (John 18:38). If you walk in the Spirit, He will also guide you into all truth (John 16:13), for He is the Spirit of truth (John 15:26). The word that Yahweh speaks and the Spirit is one (John 6:63). So if you walk in the word, you also walk in the Spirit of truth (1 John 5: 6-7).
When you walk in the flesh, you do not walk in the truth, for the word of truth says that you were crucified with Christ and that you died with Him and that you died for the flesh. So therefore, if you prefer to have your own way in any matter and desire for your desires be fulfilled, you are not walking in the truth! And so I can name many things you died with regards to when you were crucified with Christ, for example, death for the world and its desires (Gal. 6:14; 1 John 2: 15-17). And if you do not want to be dead with regard to these things but give in to them, you will not be able to worship God in spirit and in truth. If one then reads in 2 Chronicles 16 verse 9 that the eyes of the Lord run through the whole earth to powerfully support those whose hearts are undividedly directed towards Him, then one realizes that the people whose hearts are undividedly directed towards God is scarce on this earth. As well as people who worship Him in spirit and in truth because Scripture says that He seeks such people. He is now looking for people whose hearts are undividedly directed towards Him and so He is also looking for people who worship Him in spirit and in truth. These people are not plentiful. How wonderful it is to know that if you concede and make yourself available to God to be one of the people He seeks, it will make Him so happy, because you are a rare item, you are precious in His eyes. Yes, He says who touches you touches His eyeball! All of these things you will have to go and pray about and sit before your Father so that He can, through His Spirit, examine the deepest chambers of your heart and see what is there that makes His Spirit unable to worship Him, your Father, through you. In the meantime, I pray for you that you will finally be able to say: “my cup is overflowing and therefore I am a true worshiper”.
22. Man and woman He created them.
This weekend that follows, I have another marriage to confirm. So many questions go through one’s mind when one realizes that “marriage is not for the faint-hearted”, as the old saying goes. Marriage is not a trivial matter. After all, after creating the endless firmament, the great Creator created the earth with its plants and animal kingdom in such great variety that it can hardly be recorded. And at the end of it all, He created man. It was Adam and he was alone. Then God saw that it was not good for man to be alone (Gen 2:18) and He said that He would make him a help fit for him (Verse 18). Note, He did not create Adam to help a woman he was fit for. From Adam’s rib he formed the woman. Then Adam said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Verses 21-25). Oops, I’ve already gone into a subject for which I desperately need the grace of the Father in order to complete this chapter.
It is now the month of March and it is International Women’s Month. Last week there was an advertisement on TV that read: “Let every woman in the world now be empowered”. I have traveled the world quite a bit and noticed in different countries how women are treated. And it is certainly true that they are not treated everywhere as the Creator of woman determined it. But if I now look at how, not only women but also men, as well as children, all over the world are treated by authorities, by religious groups and in the business world, then I see that injustice is being done to men as well as women among different races and ethnic groups. Then I see a kind of revenge that is there in the spirit of the previously oppressed races, regarding the races that oppressed them. I also see the same spirit of revenge in the attitudes of women who, in their opinion, had not been treated on an equal footing with men in the past. There are also laws now that protect children’s rights and it will certainly not be impossible that the children will soon stand up in large numbers and claim their rights – rights that they feel they did not have before. And, alas, if the masses of children of this world, with the same attitude of revenge on their parents, break loose, this world will become an unbearable place even more than ever before. The Prophet Isaiah already said something in this regard in Isaiah 3:12. Please read it yourself.
I want to say again that I know and realize that many men as well as women and children, as well as different races, may not have had the rights in the past which they now are fighting for. I personally can testify that on numerous occasions in the past I have been treated unfairly by fellow citizens of the country South Africa – in which I was born – my country! If I now have to start protesting and rebelling because I have been wronged through my 76 years, my actions will not be in line with those of a child of God. What I have just said will soon make you realize that I am referring to people who call themselves “believers in Christ,” that is, children of God. They are people who are supposed to believe that all things work together for their good because they love God and because they are called to His purpose. Read Romans 8:28 again if you have forgotten it. Please read now Acts 6: 8-15 and 7: 54-60 and ask yourself the question whether Stephen, who in this passage was stoned to death because of his faith in Christ, could consider this as an injustice committed against him? Was it not his human right to have freedom of religion and to serve God in the way he chose? Was he not deprived of his human rights? He believed however, that everything worked out for his good. If we see how, while the stones rained on him, he saw the heavens opened with Christ standing at the right hand of God, and his face shone like that of an angel, he surely would, if you as human rights fighter would have encouraged him to fight for his rights then, called you a fool. Could the acquisition of his human rights in any way outweigh the glory he received when he died? And the glory after that?
We must not forget that the man and woman created by God were already placed in a relationship of authority between man and woman at Creation (Gen 3:16). And the relationship of authority also existed in the time of the “first church” – the time of the Apostles. Please read 1 Cor 11: 1-12. In this modern age in which we are now going through a special period of the emancipation of women, or the “liberation of women”, you will now have to bow low before your Father with a heart that is very willing to do His will. As a woman, you may now immediately see red lights flickering and the feeling may arise in your heart to not read the rest of this chapter. Still I want to plead with you to continue reading, because herein lies for you a glorious revelation of a mystery that has not been revealed to mankind for centuries. Regarding marriage, the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 5: 22-33 where he talks about marriage: “This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Verse 32). Please read this first!
What was God’s initial purpose with the creation of man and woman? Was it that they had to have children and multiply and fill the earth? Yes, definitely. But was this His main purpose? If you read Malachi 2: 13 to 16, you will notice the following words in verse 15: “But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring.” Maybe you are divorced and you immediately ask the question: Who is the wife of my youth? Let us first tend to the important matter and leave the questions that arise in your heart in the hands of the Lord to answer you at the right time. The important thing is that God has sought and still seeks a generation of God on this earth. If you now read in Acts 17: 27-29, you read these words: “… for we are also His offspring. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God…” I have written about this generation of God in a previous chapter. The generation that God desires on this earth will comprise men and women who are not only one flesh but also one of spirit and soul. He says in Malachi 2 that there was enough spirit to create two people, but he created one. Eve was formed from the rib bone of Adam. And then Adam said (in Genesis 2: 20-25): “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman because she was taken out of Man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh”. Later, the apostle Paul uses the fact that the woman was taken out of the man and originated from the man, to explain the relationship of authority between the man and the woman. Where God said to the woman in Genesis, “Your husband will rule over you,” it was because she was the first to fall before Satan’s temptation. She and Adam were meant to be one in spirit. Many believers believe that they (Adam and Eve) were one spirit before the fall, but when Eve listened to Satan and thereby disobeyed God, by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Note: it can also be known as the “tree of acceptable and unacceptable”), God, although He certainly forgave her, placed an impediment on her. Note: Not a curse, but an impediment. The apostle Paul refers to this impediment in 1 Tim 2: 9-15: “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.”
This impediment works for good to both man and woman, just as all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose. (Rom 8:28). Now many will ask, “What then is the good in this?” In Ephesians 5, the author compares the relationship between man and woman to the relationship between Christ and the church. And he declares that just as the church is subject to Christ in all things, so the woman must be subject to the man. The relationship between the man and the woman is therefore an image or type of the relationship between Christ and the congregation, and because it is inconceivable that the congregation may be placed on an equal footing with Christ, it is just as inconceivable for the woman to be placed on an equal footing with the man. Although there is no difference between man and woman in salvation, because both have the right to full salvation in Christ – equal opportunity to be filled with His Spirit and to taste rebirth (Gal 3:28). Yet He is the Head of the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22), and we are the members (1 Cor. 12: 12-27). If the relationship between the man and the woman is then a type of the relationship between Christ and the congregation, I must clearly emphasize that God was very particular about His types that He used throughout the Word. Why do you think God could not forgive Moses for hitting the rock a second time instead of talking to the rock? (Exod 17: 1-7; Num 20: 1-13). The answer is simple: because it would depict a wrong type. When Moses first struck the rock, so that water flowed out to quench the thirst of the people, it was a type of the body of Christ that had to be struck (crucified) so that the water of life would flow from Him as the Rock (1Cor 10: 4). But because Christ may not be crucified again, we can now receive the water of life by only praying for it (John 7: 37-39). The “talk to the rock” is a type of this. Moses erroneously stated a type in which Christ would be crucified for the second time (Heb. 6: 6). This was a great wrong in the eyes of God. Therefore, God had to refuse Moses access to the Promised Land, even though He forgave Him. If God were so set on this right type then, would He not also be set on it now that the relationship between man and woman typifies a church that is not on an equal footing with Christ? Christ is the Head (Ephesians 1:22; Col. 2: 18-19) – we are not the Head but the members (1 Cor. 12: 12-27).
If the church prescribes to Christ and constantly questions Him about the way He works with her, considers Him unjust if He does not want to fulfill her desires and give her way — all things that come from eating the tree of knowledge (Gen 3: 6)—then would not it present a false image of Yashuah’s lack of authority as Bridegroom? And speaking of authority, if there is a relationship of authority in any institution, not everyone is equal. There is always one who exercises authority over the others, and always one who submits to the authority placed over them. Would it be in order with you if God the Father did not have authority over His Son? Read 1 Cor 15: 27-28. Would it be right to you if Christ as the Bridegroom did not have authority over His bride coming from the children of men? When He speaks to us about the authority between Christ and the church, He uses an example of this relationship of authority when He says in Ephesians 5 verses 22-24: “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is himself its Savior.” The word “as” means = (equals). Can you imagine a church on earth that does not submit to Christ? Can you imagine for a moment what it will be like in a church where the members are not submissive to Christ? There are already elements of such a lack of submission in the church today because the people see God as someone who should only give to them and not as a holy God to whom they should give. God is the benefactor who must provide for all our desires, therefore their prayers are also full of asking Him: “give us this and give us that”. We are “Gimme’s”. The name originated from people who just want to be benefited constantly, people who just want to receive, because they are convinced they are entitled to it. “Give me, give me”. And then we can already see how few Christians there are who really submit to the authority of Yashuah. They do not believe when He tells them that they have been crucified with Him and that they no longer live and therefore have no right to have their own desires satisfied. They do not believe that they should say like Yashuah, “nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).
There is a middle wall of separation between man and woman as there is a wall of separation between all people. Every human being lives for himself and what he considers is right in his own eyes. The differences of opinion between a man and a woman will never end as long as “the own self” of both is still alive. They will never see eye to eye. A so-called happy marriage is only determined by the extent to which one of the two concedes in order to maintain peace. However, there is only one big and important thing that needs to happen and that is the middle wall of separation, of which Ephesians 2: 14-16 speaks, will have to be removed. And this happens only through the blood of the Cross of Christ. Then, and then alone, he can create the two into one new man (Ephesians 2: 14-16). Here it is important that you read Ephesians 2, because this is the only way in which man and woman will not only be one flesh, as all men and women are, but also one spirit. And this means that one Spirit, namely the Holy Spirit, must fulfill both. From this man and woman who are one Spirit and also one soul, the seed of God will appear on this earth. This is what God was looking forward to. This generation will shine like lights in the world, among a crooked and perverted generation, an evil generation, a generation of Satan. (Philippians 2: 12-16).
23. The Garden of Yahweh’s Delight.
As I begin to walk more and more in the Spirit, an ever-increasing desire begins to arise in me to worship my Heavenly Father, as well as His Son, my Savior. I do not want to do this to receive even more from Him, but with the desire that He will also receive from me. He has already given me everything in Christ and I must only take possession of it with great gratitude. In Psalm 29, the Scripture says, “Give unto the Lord glory and strength” (Psalm 29: 1-2). For much of Christianity, God is there to answer our prayers and to give to us: He must give us protection, He must give in order to provide for our needs, and more than our needs, our desires too. He must give us healing, He must also give health to our children, and also give that they will perform well at school and be prestigious, outstanding in academia as well as on the sports field. We desire that He will give us enough money that we can buy everything for our children and ourselves, yes, even early in their lives buy a beautiful vehicle that isn’t inferior to their peers’. No wonder the Spirit of God led me in a previous chapter to say that we are nothing but “Gimme’s”. “Give me, give me” is all that the great God must constantly hear from us where He sits in His great “welfare office”.
A few years ago the Father gave me this Scripture one morning in Song of Solomon 2 verse 14 where He says: “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” And that morning the Spirit of Christ suddenly made me understand and realize how much my Father and also my Savior would like to hear my voice where I pray alone in the gorges. I suddenly realized how precious I am to Him and how sweet the praises and words of worship that come out of my mouth are to Him. No wonder He walked in the evening breeze in the Garden of Eden to have fellowship with this new creature and His wife (Gen 3: 8-9). That intimate fellowship with them was something precious to Him. After all, that was why He made the earth with the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom, with the mountains and rivers, with the beautiful sunrise and the countless stars at night. I do not believe that He made it so that there should be people on other planets too. He made the earth specifically and exclusively for man (Isa. 45:12, 18) so that man could enjoy it and that He could have man on this earth as the garden of His delight (Isa. 5: 7), so that He could delight in this garden day and night. Even after Eve and Adam fell into sin, He still looked forward to a garden, no longer a garden in which He could walk freely, but a garden that was closed for a specific time. He says in Song of Solomon 4 verse 12: “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.” Why did God close this garden? The big question is whether it will remain closed to Him? No one can close anything for Him, because He is God and where He wants to open He opens! Yes, He already did the great unlocking work when He sent His Son to restore all that went wrong at the fall of Adam in the “times of restoration of all things” to which He refers in Acts 3 : 21.
He is busy working this word in Acts daily in the hearts and lives of those who believe in Him (1Thess 2:13). Many mornings I sit before the Father and when I ask Him: “Father, what do You want to say to me this morning?” then he says to me “Let Me hear your voice”. Then I know that He wants me to tell Him how much I love Him, that I love Him with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind and all my strength (Matt 22: 37-40). You will say to me: “but you are audacious in declaring that you love Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength”. Then I answer you: if I say this because I believe Him that He has already poured out His love into my heart through the Holy Spirit who dwells in me, according to Romans 5: 5, do you condemn me for it, because I believe? Don’t you believe it too? Or maybe it’s time for you to start believing it now? If God has said that He has poured out His love into our hearts – PLEASE NOTE past time! then I certainly cannot lie. In a previous chapter I wrote that God also seeks —such people who worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4: 23-25). In the same way, He’s looking for people who do not use the voice He has given them to condemn other people and to speak words of bitterness, know-it-all, complaining, unbelief and lovelessness, but to glorify Him. It is for exactly the reason that I mentioned in the previous sentence, that the Holy Spirit cannot lead you to use your voice to bring a declaration of love to God and also to your Savior, and at the same time to worship the idols of this world. That would be to honor the creature above the Creator who is blessed forever (Rom 1: 21-31). Scripture clearly states that bitter and sweet water cannot flow from one fountain (James 3: 10-12). Can a mouth that has just condemned his brother or fellow man now be used again to praise and worship God with it?
However, there is a difference between condemnation and judgment. There is a judgment that God commands us to do within the church. For this it is important that you read what is written in 1 Corinthians 5: 6 – 13. Here the apostle Paul is very clearly admonishing the predecessors of the church to apply certain judgment within the church. This does not mean that they condemn those who transgress to eternal damnation, but it does mean that they weigh themselves with the Word to put them to the test whether they are truly in the faith. Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” And it is precisely this sound inward judgment that makes the outward image of Christ so beautiful. Does he not say in 1 Corinthians 11 verses 31-32: “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.” Here you can see very clearly that there is a difference between judgment and condemnation. The apostle Paul says to Timothy: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” (2 Tim 4: 1-5).
We must realize that faith is not the portion of all, and for this reason Paul exhorts the predecessors in the church of Rome to contend with him in prayers to God so that he may be delivered from the disobedient people in Judea (Rom 15: 30-31). He also writes the same words: “and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.” (2 Thess. 3: 2). The question then is whether certain people are destined not to have faith? The answer is “yes” and “no”. God wants all people to come to faith in the truth, but not all people want to. He knew, knew in advance, who would want to believe Him and who would want to love and obey Him. To those who are willing, He has promised that through His grace He will pour out faith in their hearts. He also destined them to be part of the people whom He had adopted for His Name from the Gentiles, to love Him and to be the “garden of His delight.” If you are now already there that you have surrendered your whole life to Him, denied yourself and taken up your cross daily and followed Him, you will also consequently have the promise of life (2 Tim 1: 1). You will feel daily how His life – His resurrection life – flows through you and how there is a spontaneous flow of His Spirit through you that brings forth from your lips songs of praise, thanksgiving, words of admiration for the great Creator, who is also your own Father. Just imagine how He delights Himself in it when His son and His daughter whom He bought with the blood of Yashuah, love Him and sing love songs to Him. You will say: “but I can not sing well”. I have good news for you: “singing beautifully” works at places like “America’s got talent” or “South Africa’s got talent”. You do not want to make records for the world, but you want to sing for the God who created you, and He listens to the song of your spirit, even if it does not sound nice in your own ears and even if you sing pitchy, to Him your voice is lovely, and your countenance is beautiful, even though you are old, full of wrinkles, and ugly. You do not need to make yourself beautiful for Him because He looks at your heart and not at your make-up (1 Pet 3: 3-5). AMEN!