Theme to consider here : Revelation is a form of spiritual light !

For with You is the fountain of life;

in Your light we see light.

Psalm 36:9

But all things being exposed by the light are

clearly revealed, for everything having

been revealed is light.

Ephesians 5:13

There’s a saying: “The prayer that won’t move your heart, is unlikely to move the heart of God either.”

The meaning behind this is to get us to be engaged in prayer and not just speak out without paying attention to what we’re actually saying. In other words: pray specifically and with fervency. Note what James 5:16 says.

“Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another,

that you may be healed. The effectual fervent

prayer of the righteous man avails much.”

The emphasis in the Greek apparently is on the word “fervent” not on “righteous”. It’s not simply our righteousness in Christ that gets our prayer heard (even though it’s vitally important of course), but our fervency in asking.

If we initiate something in the Spirit, the Father will respond. The Holy Spirit always responds to spiritual activity – as long as it’s righteous spiritual activity and not deception, pride or manipulation born from the soul of man.

Recently as I was pondering this, these questions came to mind.

• “What revelations did I have this week?
• “What have I experienced this week in the Lord?”

It was as though the Father was asking me, “Are My revelations becoming your experience?” It was quite sobering. I began to see more clearly how the Father desires to present Himself to the Body of His Son. He loves to reveal Himself.

Partly because of this I began to understand how the Father wants us to receive an increase in spiritual ability. This would require us to learn to walk and live in His Spirit. Being sensitive in the Holy Spirit allows the Father to deal with us in many ways.

For example, if we are truly open to the ways of heaven, there may well be occasions when we shouldn’t ask the Lord to stay His hand, but do with us as He chooses. That’s a very serious attitude to have. Remember what Job said: “Even though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15). Now that’s maturity in the Spirit.

Why does the Father desire us be spiritual active? Answer: So we can adjust our lives and align with His purpose. It’s got nothing to do with becoming “more spiritual” and “holy” and honoured by others. So many times people think that by being “more spiritual” they will be seen as more holy. In fact it’s the other way around. Becoming increasingly spiritual is the result of living a holy life, not vice versa.

Many of us have fallen for this trap at various times I’m sure. We think that if we can prophesy well (and hopefully accurately), heal the sick, and have insightful dreams and visions, then we’ll be looked upon as spiritually mature, close to God, anointed, etc.

But it doesn’t work that way. Miracles come out of holiness of life. You don’t become holy because you can do miracles. This is the false reasoning the Catholic church has when it wants to “make a saint”. It goes looking for “holy people” and then sees if they’ve done a miracle – and whamo, you get made a saint! Quite unbiblical.

So it is that revelation, which is a form of spiritual light, enables us to see what God sees. Look at this text about Elisha.

“And Elisha prayed and said, I beg You, O Lord, open his eyes so

that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man.

And he looked, and behold, the mountain was full of horses

and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Kings 6:17

Dreams and visions are part of this too. Likewise also prophesies.

Now most of us would thoroughly love to “see” into the heavenlies I’m sure. We would be thrilled to see into the spiritual realm and know what’s going on. But seeing what God sees isn’t a one way street. The other side of the coin is: Would you like to see how God sees you? Probably not.

This is the other side of spiritual advancement. To know God AND to be known by God.

The more spiritual you become in Christ, the more aware of sin you will become. The point is, to grow spiritually will open us up to God’s scrutiny. This is a point not usually recognised by many Christians.

The more revelations, dreams, prophesies and spiritual revelation you receive, the more you will personally come under the microscope of the Lord’s gaze. It will be unsettling to say the least.

When God’s light shines, everything is seen in its true colour.

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight,

but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes

of Him to whom we have to give an account.”

Hebrews 4:13

Spiritual advancement (or revival, if you like to call it that), whether it be individual or corporate, only seems to come when God’s light focuses upon us. Therefore we need to see (1) our own state, and (2) God’s abundant grace to meet the state we’re in.

While most of us would think it would be a good thing to “see” just where we’re at, it’s quite amazing that we also have the ability NOT to recognise the pride and self-centredness within.

They said to him, “Let us sit in your glory, one at your right and one at your left.”

But Jesus told them, “You don’t realize what you’re asking. Can you drink from

the cup that I’m going to drink from or be baptized with the baptism with

which I’m going to be baptized?” They told him, “We can.” Jesus said to

them, “You will drink from the cup that I’m going to drink and be

baptized with the baptism with which I’m going to be baptized.

Mark 10:37-39.

The most effective Christians seem to have been those who judge their own lives, not according to their own measure, but solely according to the Word.

But if we judged ourselves correctly, we would not be judged.

Now while we are being judged by the Lord, we are being

disciplined lest we be condemned along with the world.

1 Corinthians 11: 31-32

If we desire spiritual insight into God’s purpose for our lives, our churches, even our towns and cities, then first we need to let God’s light work in us personally. It is a spiritual truth that our spirit is released from bondage and darkness according to the very degree of our brokenness.

Or to put it another way; revival begins furthest from the eyes of man and closest to the eyes of God.

The effects of this are powerful, and indeed, vital. When we know our own weak spiritual state, we gradually learn to hate it. This makes us distrust our own thoughts, and seek only for God’s. As we learn this reality, we actually grow quieter in the Lord. Wisdom brings a settling of the spirit man. This can often be misunderstood by others who think “we’ve lost it” or have given up in spiritual things because we don’t argue the point anymore, or think we have to defend every doctrine that’s being debated.

Indeed the most common characteristic of a truly mature believer is their humility. They have been broken by the Lord many times, and learned to bend to His will. Spiritual insight and revelatory light is born out of the fear of the Lord.

The very shedding of the Father’s light on us is not for condemnation, but for rewarding!

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way.

Psalm 139: 23-24

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Teach me to do Thy good pleasure,

For Thou art my God –Thy Spirit is good,

Lead me into a land of uprightness.

Psalm 143:10

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My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land,

so that they may dwell with me;

he who walks in a perfect way shall serve me.

Psalm 101:6

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It is a great joy to arrive at this place spiritually. It’s an exhaustive journey because the soul will have to die many times, willing to be crucified and learn the ways of heaven. But the rewards are eternal, and bring great pleasure to our heavenly Father.

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….Peter McArthur

….www.issachar.org.au

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It was just a simple invitation to pray that led a small group of people in 1898 to meet on Saturday evenings from 9 to 10 for prayer. They met at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to cry out for an awakening. Within a short time, the group grew to 300 passionate intercessors. A few members remained to pray and intercede into the early hours one Sabbath morning. R. A. Torrey joined this small group to pray for a world – wide revival. During that intense intercession, Torrey asked God to send him around the world. Within a weeks of the close of the prayer meeting, two strangers approached Torrey and asked him to come to Melbourne, Australia to preach. These two men had left Australia months before in search of a man that they believed God would use to bring revival to their nation. Upon meeting Torrey, they felt they had found God’s man. The result of that Chicago prayer meeting was an invitation for Torrey to come to Australia.

Torrey arrived in Australia in 1902. 15,000 tried to pack themselves into a building that could only seat 8,000. 8,000 conversions took place in that one meeting. For six months, Torrey and Charles M. Alexander traveled from town to town preaching. Revival swept the nation. Torrey believed that the key to the awakening was prayer. A woman in Melbourne read his book on prayer. She was so deeply touched by his teaching on the subject, that she organized her friends into prayer circles. The groups grew to 1,700 bands meeting regularly to pray for revival. This move of God spread into Britain, Ireland and into other countries. By 1904 30,000 of God’s people were enrolled in daily prayer groups. Their prayer was “Revive thy work, Oh Lord.” These prayers resulted in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1905 in Wales, Britain, America, in India and China! Wales was rocked by a mighty awakening. London experienced a five month long revival. A mighty choir of 4,000 made Londoners wonder what music must be like in Heaven!

It is estimated that Torrey and his partner Alexander led over 100,000 souls into the Kingdom of God. All this had its beginning in Chicago with a small group of people praying, “Revive thy work, Oh Lord!”

May God raise up such prayer warriors in our day who will daily cry out, “REND THE HEAVENS AND COME DOWN. REVIVE THY WORK, OH LORD!”

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And this one:

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Wicked sailors, who were upon the top deck, heard the jubilant singing and decided to investigate.  Upon discovering that it was coming from a secret prayer meeting, the vile bunch decided to mock and jeer.  Descending the iron stairs to the place of prayer, the mob fell under the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit.  Their jeers turned to bitter tears.  Conviction overcame them and they began to cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness.  For several days, the prayer meeting continued.  Hundreds of the crew were converted.  The captain of the ship sent a message ashore requesting the help of pastors and ministers to come and pray with the sailors.

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The USS North Carolina became a bastion of revival.  Converted sailors, upon completing their training, were assigned to other ships in the fleet.  Wherever they went, revival broke out.  Revival swept the US fleet.  Prayer is a powerful force!

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May these days and His ways come again to us – quickly!

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…Peter McArthur

…www.issachar.org.au

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….Peter McArthur

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“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jhn 3:30)

All true spiritual insight is gathered up in this one little sentence.

John the Baptiser had an insight into the person of Jesus Christ – which was to fulfil the Father’s purpose.

Who must increase? Jesus. Who must decrease? Us. Simple really, but so hard to apply.

But when (and if) we apply these seven little words a wonderful transformation can happen. We begin to learn that everything (past, present, and future) can be explained by this fundamental principle.

It explains everything the Father HAS done, IS doing, and WILL do. What a breadth of thought this is!

Let’s take a closer look at John 3:30.

The word “must”. It literally means “it has to be” or “it is necessary”.

The word “increase”. It means “to enlarge and fill, to give increase.” In other words Jesus is to go on increasing. His authority and influence will spread unhindered. What a thought.

The word “but”. Here it simply means “now”. So the text would read “Jesus must increase; now I decrease”

The word “decrease”. Means “to be less in rank, to be inferior in dignity, to decrease in popularity and in authority.”

So filling all this out the text could read like this:

“It is necessary that Jesus should enlarge and go on increasing.

Now it has to be that I must be less in rank and decrease in

popularity and my own authority.”

Or at least something akin to that.

Notice that the divine (biblical) order is for Jesus to increase first, and then we decrease. The world sees it the other way round. The natural way of thinking would be to say, “As I choose to decrease then Jesus can come in and fill up the empty places and so then He can increase in me.”

That’s fleshy thinking. It is soulish, but it’s not how the Father thinks or works. The Word clearly and quite bluntly says “Jesus must increase FIRST, and then you decrease”.

It’s as though we need Christ to exceed more and more within us, so that we realise there’s no more room for “me” inside, only Him. Jesus first; then us.

This is a remarkable and wonderful truth. It doesn’t say “Jesus MIGHT increase”. It firmly says “He MUST”. It’s a certainty; He has to increase.

Truth is truth whether we know it or not, whether we believe it or not, whether we agree with it or not.

“…if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus…” (Eph. 4:21)

It’s a process that Jesus is increasing. It MUST be so, therefore it IS so!

“He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” (Eph 1:9-11)

But the issue is – we must decrease. The Father’s purpose is for Jesus to increase and for us to do the opposite. Die to self, to ambition, to our own plans even. A horrible thought for most of us. But, it’s the way forward and the way of the upward call for the prize in Christ Jesus.

“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have the pre-eminence in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.” (Col 1:17-19).

Notice that extraordinary phrase, “in ALL things that Jesus Christ might have the pre-eminence.” This is truly a monumental text. We should think soberly and deeply on its truth.

The reason there needs to be an increasing and a decreasing is so that FULLNESS can have its perfect way.

“…His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Eph. 1:23)

“He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.” (Eph. 4:10)

So there it is. Seven little but great words. Apply it and see the transformation that comes from obedience.

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…...Peter McArthur

……www.issachar.org.au

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For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Rms. 8:2)

Our Christian faith is based on a LIFE PRINCIPLE.

What I mean by that is that we do not practice a dead religion (the tomb is still empty!)

We do not join an organisation. We do not (should not!) become set in our ways.

No; we are JOINED to a Living Person.

All the covenants of God expressed this; they used blood. Why? Because there is life in the blood.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” (Jhn 6:53)

Both parties to a covenant were JOINED by blood, and in fact shared the LIFE OF ONE BLOOD. This is what made a Biblical covenant unique and holy.

So, to violate a covenant was to break the blood-bond of LIFE. It was regarded as a “death” if you did so. Hence departed Christians, even though physically dead, are regarded as “asleep”. The life of the covenant still operates even beyond death, but only to those who have been part of it during their living days.

The Book of Hebrews focuses on this very Life Principle. Nothing in the New Testament calls us to have a “set way of doing things”. True spiritual life doesn’t come just because we have a New Testament style of meeting on Sundays, or have Elders instead of a man at the top, or – anything else!

New Testament life is found in having a FIRST HAND revelation of Christ and a FIRST HAND relationship with Christ.

In fact the New Testament spends most of its time trying to show the exciting realm of living in the Spirit of Christ.

Each believer is a believer because they’ve had a FIRST HAND revelation of Christ. This knowledge of Him is their very own.

For God who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6)

“Life” is therefore a fundamental Biblical principle (Rms. 8:2)

This is a life proceeding from the life of Christ and therefore producing further life to others.

“All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (Jhn 16:15)

The same principle is reiterated in John 6:56.

“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

So many things are linked up here: the life producing principle, the disclosing and passing on to others (us), and the abiding. This is the wonder of a shared life with and in Christ Jesus!

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…..Peter McArthur

…..www.issachar.org.au

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In Exodus chapter 24 the Lord commands Moses and Aaron, with 72 others, to ascend Mount Sinai. There they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.  (Exodus 24: 10-11)

A slightly more accurate translation could read: “…as they were eating and drinking they saw God…”

But what did they eat and drink? Whatever this was they nevertheless had a table prepared for them by the Lord. They sat at His table!

Later (in Exo. Chapter 23) Moses alone went up the mountain, while Aaron was left below. We are told that Moses was delayed. While this happened the Israelites made the golden calf. It’s as if they “ate” something of their own making. They had in fact prepared their own table, their very own feast, even though they justified it as a “feast to the Lord”.

Now when Aaron saw this he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD”. So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. (Exo 32:5-6).

They didn’t want to know what the Lord had provided; they didn’t wait for Moses to come down with a word from on high. They forged ahead with their own “food”.

In these days we could say that the Lord is indeed preparing a table for us to eat at. What we choose to eat of is vital for the next season of the Lord.

Many modern prophets have been saying there is a coming and marked increase in dreams, both to the saved and unsaved. To the saved for encouragement. To the unsaved to drive them to madness! I find an echo of this in the following text.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead. (Eccles. 9:3)

When the saved dream dreams of the Lord, their hearts will be at peace. This will be due to their righteousness, even amid tribulation and persecution. But when the unsaved dream and “see” what is coming on the face of the earth, they will become restless, with great anxiety. More and more their wickedness and horror will cause them to go insane. The rejection of truth will always bring about opposition to the Lord and cause the mind to be greatly disturbed.

The question we should now ask ourselves is, “at what table do we find nourishment?”

Many ministries are moving to and from amongst the Body of Christ. Some are a blessing; some are dangerous through their pride of false revelations and soulish teachings. Spiritual food is being presented in copious amounts at present. So much teaching! So many prophecies. So many “great ones” of God presenting themselves! So much danger.

Jesus Christ truly needs to be Lord and Master over our spiritual food in these days. I heard of church in the USA that decided to fast and pray for 3 months because it had realised it was living from pre-conceived doctrines that weren’t entirely in accordance with the Word.

What a great thing for a group of believers to do. I have often wondered what would happen if congregation after congregation sat down for a couple of months and went through their bibles to see if their cherished doctrines actually measured up with the Word. If they didn’t, would they have the courage to jettison or change their teachings? What a day that would be in the Body of Christ.

How the Lord needs to be allowed to feed us from His prepared table, and not that of our own setting and fancies.

Biblically speaking a “table” means “the place of God’s covenant”.

For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. (Numbers 25:2)

When you eat at table you are identifying yourself with the god of that table. Tables represent gods. See how Moses tries to rectify this in Exodus 32:20. There he causes the Israelites to drink the powdered image of the calf mixed with water.

And note also how the disciple’s eyes were opened at Emmaus when at table they had a revelation of the stranger among them – Jesus!

Using the imagery of table manners, I sense we need to have protocol (good spiritual manners) and eat only from what the Lord sets before us. Eating what is given at each season of God.

Here is a principle to consider: When you eat what the Lord gives you, others will also want to eat from you!

It’s a sin to feed people what the Lord has NOT given you to eat first. Otherwise you will only feed them your thoughts and teachings. There is far too much second-hand teaching passed around in the Body of Christ these days. Eat for yourself, digest it well, and only then pass it onto others.

Some of this personal “eating” may take many, many months (and in some cases years) before you have digested what the Lord gave. When it has done its work in you first, then you may feed others. Not before!

Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. (Heb. 13:9-10)

When the Lord sets a table, we might not like what’s on it – but He is looking for our response. He is after those who will respond to His Spirit.

Sometimes we find many “dishes” set before us, but only ONE might be of God. It’s then we need to use our spiritual discernment. Learn to increase this.

The “vessel” or “dish” may not actually appeal to us – but it’s the FOOD that’s important.

Wisdom speaks and says, “Come, eat of my food and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake your folly and live, and proceed in the way of understanding.” (Prov. 9:5-6)

It has been said that Wisdom not only supplies the right principles of life, but also forbids the wrong principles. Choices are being laid upon our table by the Lord. Let us discern well and eat gratefully!

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.….Peter McArthur

…..The Issachar Ministry

….www.issachar.org.au

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(Philippians 1:9-11)

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

A key area of spiritual growth will be in the gift of DISCERNMENT. The word means to make a right judgement by spirit, to divide, to perceive correctly.

I believe this will be a much needed gift in order to make good, decisive and accurate choices in the days to come. Watch! Discernment will increasingly be talked about.

“Knowledge” about many spiritual issues has been rapidly increasing in the last 20 years or so (See Daniel 12:4)

The decade of the “Teachers (of the Word)” was generally seen to have been in the 1970’s. However I believe we are yet to see the coming forth of what I call “Teachers of Revelation”.

I am definitely not talking about those who have flaky off-the-wall mystical experiences, angelic visitations that are not Biblical, or visits to the Third Heaven which are so subjective it’s almost impossible to correct the protagonists.

The teachers of Revelation will be those who stick to the Word, not experiences, and who are given great insight to the meaning of what is already written in the Word.

Most believers today probably “know” much more (in terms of accumulated understanding) than Christians of 50 years ago. Yet where is the supposed accompanying wisdom and maturity?

So there are two things that arise out of this. (1) Discernment, and (2) Knowledge.

It’s been said that discernment and knowledge without love is nothing more than human suspicion. I think I agree.

That’s why Paul says “love” must abound – to hold these two things in check.

Verse 9: And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment

To put it the positive way: Love, Knowledge and Discernment are all linked.

You’ve heard people say “I just want to love God; I just need Jesus, not all this other stuff”. Well frankly, and Biblically, that isn’t solid enough.

Love grounded without knowledge and discernment actually DISAPPROVES us to God.

A strong passion for God without proper biblical knowledge and experienced discernment will only make us zealous, which is a soul thing, not a spirit thing.

The Jews of Jesus’ day certainly had zeal for God, but not according to accurate scriptural knowledge.

Paul writes: “…so that you may approve the things that are excellent…” (verse 10a)

“Approve” means to discern. That is, to know by experience the good things of God and test everything else by that standard. In other words, learn to act out of such spiritual discernment as a regular part of your daily walk in Christ.

Isaiah 11: 3 “And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear…”

This is a messianic text about how Jesus lived. It is a model for us to seek after.

When we allow two different standards to be side by side in our life, we dishonour God.

Scripture encourages us to DEVELOP our inner character with a “sincere” heart. The word “sincere” means “without hypocrisy, without fault”. It refers to how ancient potters would attempt to disguise flawed vessels by putting wax into the crack. But when the object was lifted up in the light of the day you could see the defect.

So too our inner character is to be flawless, without hypocrisy. It is to be inwardly “sincere”.

Let us therefore strive, not by the flesh or soul, but by the Holy Spirit who enables our spirit to discern well in all things.

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…..Peter McArthur

..…The Issachar Ministry

…..www.issachar.org.au

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Col. 2:18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels cheat you out of the prize by boasting about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without cause by his carnal mind.

There’s a principle here. “Don’t intrude into those things which you have not seen for yourself.”

Only when you have personally “seen” (= had revealed to you) deep truths are you free to speak about them.

This is a warning to teachers and preachers.

Prov. 5:15 Drink water from your own cistern and fresh water from your own well.

Notice this is how Jesus worked.

Jhn 8:38  I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.

Jhn 5:19-20 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.

We are entering a special time when we must PERSONALLY KNOW truths as a reality — and not by second-hand knowledge via some other source (e.g. Pastor’s teachers, books, etc). Too many believers today live off second-hand truths! Drink from your own well.

Revival will not come until we are personally preparing ourselves.

The old saying is “Revival starts closest to the heart of God and furthest from the eyes of men.”

Because many of us desire to aim for “the prize of the upward call” (Philp. 3:14) there’s a great, great danger of deception.

Not just of wrong doctrine, but also of wrong participation. We won’t participate in the higher things if our foundation is not secure.

The foundation needed to “go higher for this prize” (this is better term than “deeper”) is to know (experientially) what GRACE is!

Grace will be the springboard that will propel us into the higher things.

Note that Jesus grew into the “deep things” of the Father’s will with GRACE attending Him.

Lk 2:40 The child continued to grow and was strengthened in spirit, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

It will be our safeguard when the deep things of the Father’s will begin to be revealed. Grace!

Without this solid foundation the seeking for “the prize of the upward call” will always keep luring us on — but we’ll never touch it.

Then some believers will actually pretend to understand this realm — but when the moment arrives, their deception will be plain to all.

I’d like to relate two dreams I experienced if I may. These are certainly not to validate what I’m saying, but it did provide me with some understanding.

Both dreams were about waves.

In one dream I was standing next to a wall, not feeling any threat or danger. Suddenly I turned and saw an enormous wave of heavy water heading toward me. It was terrifying, but then instead of trying to escape I simply stood still, and faced the mammoth wave encroaching me. As I stood facing the onslaught I felt a strange calmness. There was no fear or even a hint of anxiety. I simply let the wave come to me. As it came upon me it just dissolved over me. There was no forcefulness in it, no pain, not even wetness on my clothes. The wave came forcefully, but then just dissolved as though it were a fine mist. Then it was gone.

In the second dream, I saw another wave similar to the one related above, only this time there was no wall. As the wave came toward me, racing with a thunderous noise, I found myself lifted up through it (without getting wet) and then I flew higher and over the crest of the wave. I rose higher and higher over the entire wave of water. I was safe, secure, not even wet, and had an elated feeling as I looked down and perused the awfulness of that mountainous wave beneath me. I had been delivered.

The symbolism of this is quite straight forward. The waves were encroaching troubling teachings, dangerous doctrines bent on overtaking me. As I turned and faced the danger, putting my trust in the Father, then when the potentially threatening moment arrived – it either dissolved, or I was lifted above it.

In both cases I was safe from the destructiveness of the issue. Grace had delivered me from the moment of succumbing and being overwhelmed.

Let us go back to grace and let it be ingrained deep within us. I believe it (and the accompanying wisdom) is the antidote for spiritual deception.

So let us examine ourselves.

2 Cor. 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test?

The word “examine” means “to scrutinize, to discipline.”

The word “test” means “with purpose of approving.”

Therefore we are to test ourselves with the idea of approving who and what we are, and to scrutinize our beliefs and then discipline ourselves to lean on grace and grace alone.

What a day that will be for us personally. What a day that will be when the Body corporate arrives at this mature stage.

Grace, grace.

Zech 4:7  What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” Amen to that!

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…May that wonderful grace be upon us always,

…Peter McArthur

…www.issachar.org.au

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This topic is a very disturbing one, so I encourage you to pray as you read this. It deals with sexual visitations of two demon powers that come in the night season.

Pastoral evidence shows that many women have experienced sexual attacks by the incubi demons, although it’s rarely discussed. Many ministers and pastors refute the possibility of a demon having sex with a human. However, biblically and pastorally the evidence is there.

The names “incubus” and “succubus” are familiar terms in psychiatry where dreams of being sexually harassed are identified with these. In fact this isn’t really a psychological problem, or even one to do with nightmares. The incubi and succubi are demonic forces that sexually visit their victims at night. The incubus is a “male” demon who attacks and violates woman, and the succubi is a “female” demon who seduces and attacks men. In some cases it’s be known that the male incubi demon will visit men for the purpose of sodomy. The succubi also will engage in lesbian attacks upon women.

I’m writing about this because many Christians believe that these visitations are nothing more than horrid nightmares. In some cases it seems that the nightmare (which is from the Latin meaning to “lie upon”) is just that – a bad dream. But occasionally this is nothing to do with bad dreams, but can be an actual demonic visitation. The attacks from these spirits may begin by the victim having sexually arousing dreams, but that’s only a vehicle for what comes next. I’ve written a small e-book on the subject that explains the history and methods of attack by these demons. It also gives practical advice on how to defeat these demons in the name of Jesus.

Here I want to confine the discussion to dreams, and how demons will use these.  Basically if a person has a loose mind, one that is prone to fantasize, and lacks self-discipline, they may become a target for these powers. Those who have indulged in excessive sexual activity are also likely to experience such visitations.

These by themselves are not the only factors that will draw a night demon to visit, as such issues as occult involvement and unconfessed sexual sin will also determine whether a person is a candidate. Therefore it’s important to guard your dream-life by committing your time of sleep to the Lord.

A night demon will often approach a woman on her own at night, bringing with it the ability to sexually arouse her. The attack is quite direct, but it may start with a dream of some sort that quickly turns into a nightmare. Depending on what has allowed the incubi to come, the woman may begin to feel an actual weight on the bed with her, or even upon her own body. In advanced stages the defilement by the demon is as real as a normal physical sexual encounter, although much more violent.

After some sort of sexually unpleasant experience has occurred the woman will feel great shame and much fear. Unable to confide in her husband or a friend, the problem only compounds – these demons thrive on the secrecy this kind of attack fosters. Night and sleep become times of great anxiety for the woman, and her dream-life becomes a time of nightmarish proportions.

In the case of the succubi attack upon a man, the method of attack is nearly always through the mind. The demon will implant sexually impure thoughts allowing the mind of the man to fantasize until he’s unable to resist the images that come.

When a man is under this kind of attack he’s likely to think the experience was just a dream. Some men, especially young men, think it’s just part of their manhood development. The thoughts of sexually attractive women, combined with an actual experience of sexual satisfaction, only lead the man deeper into the trap. It’s often only later that he realizes this is no longer a dream but an actual physical experience. Confusion can then grip him and he’s torn between finding the experience satisfying, and yet fearful at the same time.

It’s imperative that we understand these demons principally use dreams as a first method of attack.  So guarding our dream-life is vital.

The average born-again believer shouldn’t worry unnecessarily about these attacks as the demons can only operate if there’s a legal ground for them to do so. Living a righteous life before the Lord is the best protection.  But if there’s unconfessed sexual sin, or unsavoury sexual practices, as well as a weak mind with a lack of self-discipline, then the prospects will increase for a visitation.

Medical researchers have found what they consider as abnormal sleep patterns from people supposedly suffering from nightmares. In most cases the similarity with attacks from incubi and succubi are striking. Generally psychologists don’t believe there are any such things as evil spirits so the responses they collect from nightmare sufferers are regarded as paranoid or psychotic-like behaviour.

However for Christians who are aware of these demonic powers the responses the sufferers give are more like statements of a demonic attack!

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While this doesn’t prove that these nightmares were actual demonic attacks, the content is very similar to demon intrusion. Note some of the things seen in the nightmares, such as:

• Sensing a malevolent presence
• Seeing hybrid creatures
• Having a sense of extreme vulnerability
• The deliberate drawing of demons to a person.

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Many Christians including ministers and pastors simply don’t believe these things happen. In over 30 years in ministry I’ve counselled a number of people, usually women, who’ve experienced vivid attacks from unseen but very “real” spiritual beings who’ve sexually violated them. In many cases dreams or nightmares have been a part of the initial attack. We need to be more pastorally sensitive about this issue, and more discerning of the dream-state.

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Here I’ve listed some things to watch for in dreams that might indicate either an incubus or succubus attack.

1          Are there recurring sexual fantasies?

2          Is there sexual symbolism in the dream?

3          If  you’re a female do you feel a weight on the bed or on your body during your sleep?

4          If you’re a male have you felt the physical sensations of sex?

5          As far as you’re aware, do these begin with a dream?

6          After the dream, do you wake up feeling shame and fear?

7          Is there both a mixture of enjoyment yet uncleanliness (particularly in the case of men)?

8          Are you beginning to dread going off to sleep?

9          Have the visits begun to materialize in the room and not just appear in your dream?

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Experiencing some of these points to the strong possibility that you’re the victim of an attack from a night demon. In my e-book I explain how to deal with these intrusions. There is help in the name of the Lord Jesus but it’s also important to understand why these demons come.

I introduce this distasteful topic because it’s a subject we need to be aware of.

For the record, I’ve found that victory in the name of Jesus is assured and lasting. But many people are very reluctant to share their experiences because of shame or ridicule. Those of us who are in the pastoral ministry need to be aware of this particular problem – and how to set the victims free.

For further reading and insights you might like to purchase our e-book “Incubus and Succubus” from the on-line Bookstore.

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….Grace to you in Jesus our Deliverer,

….Peter McArthur

.…www.issachar.org.au

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I have included this timely and scholarly article in this post because it alerts us to how popular academia, and thereby the average man-in-the-street, is being fed two mammoth lies through the popular media. One is to denigrate the Lord Jesus and make Him to be less than God. The other is to hide the facts behind what Muhammad and his teachings are actually like. Such insights as these should alert us about just where things are in the popular mind-set.

Read and digest well – then pray.

Peter

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Jesus and Muhammad, Version 2.0

by Raymond Ibrahim

Few things are more demonstrative of the sad state of affairs of modern academia than the increasingly fictionalized portrayals of the founders of the two largest religions in the world: Jesus and Muhammad. Though the same dubious methods are used for both — ignore the most historically valid texts and documents, build ponderous theories atop evidence of the most tenuous kind — the goals are markedly different. In academia today, we find Jesus, far from the Son of God, portrayed at once as a wandering “magician” and a hippie-like philanderer inclined to homosexuality. Muhammad, whom the most authentic Muslim sources portray as, among other things, a warlord who had entire tribes executed and plundered, their women herded into harems, their children sold into slavery, appears as a peaceful and altruistic ruler whose governance ushered in, among other improvements, a sort of seventh-century “feminism.”

Considering that the early writers who composed the original texts and scriptures of Christianity and Islam were separated by only a few generations from the historic Jesus and Muhammad, as opposed to modern academics who are separated by 20 and 14 centuries, respectively, one would think that the former group would have been in a better position of authority to tell the narrative of Jesus and Muhammad. Yet nowhere is the arrogance of modernity better manifested than in the universities, where the straightforward words of history’s primary sources are increasingly brushed aside. The implicit understanding is that the writers of the New Testament and Islam’s vast compendium of scriptures were naïve and superstitious simpletons who — unlike their more “objective” modern day counterparts — simply could not critically engage their subjects.

Whenever the primary sources make mention of anything that might annoy or offend modern sensibilities — from Jesus’ celibacy to Muhammad’s militant jihads — “progressive” academics tend to simply dismiss it out of hand, preferring to rely on their own thoughts on the matter.

When it comes to “reconstructing” Jesus, academics invariably make two assumptions: The Gospels are not inspired, and the historical events recorded therein are also untrustworthy. In other words, not only do they reject the miraculous, they suspect the entire narrative, which has long been the primary source for understanding the nature of Jesus, even in a secular sense. Irrespective of what Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John record Jesus saying or doing; irrespective of the antiquity and authority of the Gospels, written just decades after the events they describe; irrespective of the fact that much of the historical events described in the Gospels accord with first-century Roman history; irrespective of all this, several Jesus “reconstructionalists” have decided that the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament simply will not do for historical accuracy.

Instead, they rely on two dubious authorities: any scraps of other religious writings and their own conjectures. Obscure Gnostic documents, which were refuted, discredited, and abandoned nearly 2,000 years ago, or were of such little importance that the early church was not even aware of their existence, become foundational. Through these fragmented parchments, academics can read into Jesus whatever they desire. Pope Benedict XVI alludes to this in his book Jesus of Nazareth:

At the same time, though, the reconstructions of this [modern-day] Jesus (who could only be discovered by going behind the traditions and sources used by the Evangelists) became more and more incompatible with one another: at one end of the spectrum, Jesus was the anti-Roman revolutionary working — though finally failing — to overthrow the ruling powers; at the other end, he was the meek moral teacher who approves everything and unaccountably comes to grief. If you read a number of these reconstructions one after another, you see at once that far from uncovering an icon that has become obscured over time, they are much more like photographs of their authors and the ideals they hold.

Consider for instance, the standards of the “Jesus Seminar,” a project of the Westar Institute. They have made it a first premise to grant equal or more weight to an arcane document that we know next to nothing about (the fourth-century Coptic “gospel of Thomas”) vis-à-vis the canonical Gospels. The title of the Seminar’s book, The Five Gospels, assumes that the “gospel of Thomas,” which was written nearly 300 years after the original Gospels, is enough to demonstrate the utter subjectivity of their supposedly rigorous methodology. Through a capricious “voting” system, the Jesus Seminar takes it upon itself to decide what Jesus “really” said and did. According to the seminar, Jesus apparently spoke no more than 20 percent of the statements ascribed to him, nor did he make mention of “the kingdom of heaven,” “the son of man/God,” or anything else that would have led to his execution.

Following the loose standards set by the seminar, and based on another fragmented text known as “Philip’s gospel,” dating from the third century, books and movies that try to pass themselves off as quasi-documentary (Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Da Vinci Code) try to make a case that Jesus was married with children. Then there was the late professor Morton Smith’s “find” — a parchment supposedly written by Church father Clement that purportedly contained “missing” fragments from the Gospel of Mark that portray Jesus spending the night with a “lightly-clad” youth, teaching him the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. Based on this, Smith and other “critical” scholars have either suggested or concluded that Jesus was gay. (Rather tellingly, when Smith was challenged to produce the original document, he could not oblige, and it is currently said to be “lost.”)

Even if the aforementioned texts were authentic, they still do not at all support most of the academics’ sweeping conclusions. For instance, no matter how one manipulates the fragmented text of Philip’s gospel concerning Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the best that can be pieced together is that Jesus kissed her — we don’t know where, head, cheeks, lips — and that he “loved her,” a far cry from saying that they were married and had offspring.

All this simply supports the pope’s notion that supposedly objective scholars are reading in whatever they want about Jesus. Nor do any of these academics note the fact that the Gnostic texts often directly contradict one another (unlike the Gospels, which enjoy a high degree of congruence). Where the gospel of Philip portrays Jesus as loving and kissing Mary, the gospel of Thomas has an extremely misogynistic quote to the effect that women are unworthy of heaven directed at none other than Mary herself. Is it any wonder that the early church deemed the Gnostic texts spurious and heretical?

In the end, the so-called “historical” Jesus that sticks in people’s minds based on these academic distortions is little more than a liberal-minded, sexually ambiguous wandering sage, stripped, ironically, of all historical context. But as theologian John Meier points out:

A tweedy poetaster who spent his time spinning out parables and Japanese koans…or a bland Jesus who simply told people to look at lilies in the fields—such a Jesus would threaten no one, just as the university professors who create him [the Jesus Seminar and their ilk] threaten no one.

While that is true, the pseudo-scholarship hashed out by universities’ religion departments has, in fact, permeated the non-academic world and influenced the popular imagination, where it is often taken as “fact.” One can easily dismiss as risqué fiction movies like the Da Vinci Code, or its predecessor the Last Temptation, or the distasteful and amateurish James Cameron “discovery” of the tomb of Christ. But the fact remains that these are often based on pseudo-scholarship that the unsuspecting public assumes must be plausible — for instance, the DaVinci Code quotes from Gnostic texts, including Philip’s.

An left-wing academic attempt to discredit Christian faith is not all too surprising given the personal persuasions of modern scholars. But the academic treatment of Islam’s founder, Muhammad, exposes a double standard. The same class of academics uses the same uncritical methods — but for radically different purposes: to whitewash and romanticize.

It has been remarked, and for good reason, that there is probably no one person of late antiquity who is better documented than Muhammad. Literally thousands of pages exist consisting of what Muslims believe to be verbatim statements and deeds attributed to their prophet. These are the “hadiths” that, after the Koran, are the second most important source for Islamic jurisprudence. There are also historical works such as Ibn Ishaq’s eighth-century Life of Muhammad, the earliest extensive biography of Islam’s prophet, as well as the voluminous histories of al-Tabari, al-Baladhuri, and al-Waki that recount the life and especially military exploits of Muhammad.

Indeed, there is much more “primary” source material on Muhammad than on Jesus. And this is to be expected, since the question of “what would Muhammad do?” in any given circumstance is of the utmost importance for Sunni Muslims —the word “Sunni” denotes the need to emulate Muhammad in every possible way. It comes as no surprise, then, that the portrait of Islam’s founder — his life, deeds, words, character, likes, dislikes — is very clear; only very few aspects, if any, of Muhammad’s life are open to conjecture.

Based solely on these sources, which, it bears repeating, Muslims themselves consider to be of great authority, one can spend pages enumerating less-than-impressive deeds attributed to Muhammad: aggressive and unprovoked warfare, mass executions, assassinations, lies, thefts, the enslavement of women and children, and marriage to a nine-year old. These are the sort of calumnies that, if there was just one scrap of parchment hinting that Jesus may have engaged in, the same aforementioned “Jesus scholars” would undoubtedly have a field day popularizing and emphasizing. But when it comes to writing about Muhammad, few are the scholars who will even allude to these authoritative sources; they often go to great lengths to cover them up or at least minimize their authority.

Consider, for instance, the issue of “jihad.” Islam’s earliest theologians unanimously agreed that jihad was simply offensive warfare with the express purpose of spreading Islamic rule — a path shown by Muhammad himself, and then by his companions, the “rightly-guided” caliphs, who conquered much of the Old World in the name of Islam. There is a good reason why all early works of English-language scholarship have always translated “jihad” as “holy war.”

Yet the academic dissembling is well underway. Around the same time scholars of Christianity began perverting the image of Jesus, the professors of Islam began telling us that Muhammad’s concept of “jihad” had nothing at all to do with “holy war” (which, so the line of reasoning went, is instead a Christian creation of the Crusades), but that it simply means “to strive” — as in to strive to be “a better student, a better colleague, a better business partner” per one professor, Bruce Lawrence. This widely held view is based primarily on the oft-quoted hadith where, upon returning from battle, a group of Muslim warriors went to see Muhammad, and he said to them, “You have returned from the lesser jihad [warfare to spread Islam] to the greater jihad [warfare against one's own vices].” This one hadith has all but come to define jihad for the academic community.

Placing so much emphasis on this one hadith, however, is extremely problematic. For starters, not all hadiths are equal. Though there are thousands of hadiths, there are only six canonical collections that Sunnis consider trustworthy. This hadith does not occur in any of those six. On the other hand, the most authentic of the six hadith collections, the ninth-century Sahih Bukari mentions jihad 199 times, all in the context of warfare against non-Muslims in an effort to spread Islam. Further illustrative is the fact that the individual hadiths listed under the “jihad” heading of Sahih Bukhari often do not contain the word jihad at all; the words that predominate are “fighting,” “killing,” “warring,” and, the grand end of all three, “martyrdom.” A typical Sahih Bukhari hadith regarding jihad goes something like this:

The Prophet said: “He who wages jihad in the path of Allah — and Allah knows who it is who wages jihad in his path — is as commendable as one who continuously fasts and prays. Allah guarantees if he who fights for his cause dies, he [Allah] will usher him into paradise; otherwise, he will return him to his home safely, with rewards or war booty.”

Just as academics have downplayed the authority of the New Testament and ascribed much importance to the unauthenticated and dubious Gnostic parchments in their efforts to reconstruct Jesus, so too have they downplayed the authority of Islam’s most authoritative texts in favor of aberrant and unsubstantiated hadiths when reconstructing Mohammad.

The next strategy consists of playing semantic games. Scholars of Arabic insist that the word “jihad” literally means “to struggle” and thus clearly has nothing to do with “holy war.” This line of reasoning totally ignores the historical and textual contexts in which the word jihad predominantly appears — all which revolve around “holy war” — and is nothing short of disingenuous. As Daniel Pipes put it:

It is an intellectual scandal that, since September 11, 2001, scholars at American universities have repeatedly and all but unanimously issued public statements that avoid or whitewash the primary meaning of jihad in Islamic law and Muslim history. It is quite as if historians of medieval Europe were to deny that the word “crusade” ever had martial overtones, instead pointing to such terms as “crusade on hunger” or “crusade against drugs” to demonstrate that the term signifies an effort to improve society.

Indeed, many are the words that, while denoting one thing, are only understood connotatively. Imagine going to Arabic speakers and adamantly explaining to them that the English words “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” mean nothing more than what they denote: a boy or girl who is simply a “friend.” Considering that the vast majority of English speakers understand by those two terms something quite more than a friend, would that not be a dishonest explanation to the non-English-speaking Arab? Americans who don’t speak Arabic are being duped in the same way. Just as a “boy/girl friend” is a very specific type of friend, so too is jihad a very specific type of struggle — a lasting war in order to establish Islam supreme, “until all chaos ceases and all religion belongs to Allah alone,” in the words of the Koran.

Even in encyclopedias — traditionally the most unequivocal source of scholarly information — the postmodern West’s academic disregard for objectivity can be discerned. Compiled some 80 years ago, the voluminous Encyclopedia of Islam has long been recognized as the most authoritative English-language compendium on Islam. Its entry on jihad is honest and to the point, as demonstrated by its opening sentence: “The spread of Islam by arms is a religious duty upon Muslims in general.” There is little talk of the “greater/lesser jihad” dichotomy or any other euphemisms, only facts: “[Jihad] must continue to be done until the whole world is under the rule of Islam.” Its closing sentence flatly states, “Islam must completely be made over before the doctrine of jihad [warfare to spread Islam] can be eliminated.”

Contrast this brusque, but refreshingly honest, definition with the entry for jihad found in the 1995 Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. Although eventually addressing the true aspects of jihad, the all-important opening sentences would lead the reader to think that jihad as warfare on behalf of Islam is all but nonexistent:

Carrying the basic connotation of an endeavor toward a praiseworthy aim, the word jihad bears many shades of meaning in the Islamic context. It may express a struggle against one’s evil inclinations or an exertion for the sake of Islam and the ummah, for example, trying to convert unbelievers [how, warfare?] or working for the moral betterment of Islamic society (“jihad of the tongue” and “jihad of the pen”).

At one point, jihad is even portrayed as a possible byproduct of Christianity in this same Oxford Encyclopedia entry — despite the fact that the founder of jihad, Muhammad, had absolutely no contact with Byzantium, aside from issuing an ultimatum to the Christian emperor Heraclius in 630 AD to the effect that if the latter did not embrace Islam, he would have only war (which proved only too true). Says the encyclopedia: “The doctrine of jihad may have been influenced somewhat by the culture of the Byzantine Empire, where the idea of religious war and related notions were very much alive. It is, however, very difficult to identify these sources.” If identifying these sources is “very difficult” — read: “impossible” — why make the bold assertion? Simply because the encyclopedia, being a product of an academic age that tries to lay the blame on Christianity and the Church, cannot resist the temptation of portraying even jihad, that unique hallmark of Islam. as also being something of a Christian byproduct.

One can go on and on about the aggressive white-washing campaign underway on behalf of Muhammad and certain doctrinal aspects of the faith he promulgated. Harsh measures and misogynistic statements permeate Islamic scriptures: Men may take four wives and can have sex with their female slaves captured during jihad; a woman’s witness in court is half that of a man; females inherit half of the male’s inheritance; men have “authority” over women and can beat them whenever they misbehave. All of these can be found in the Koran, which Muslims take as a doctrine of faith to be immutable and just as applicable today as in the seventh century.

But academics stress only that Muhammad liberated women, who apparently suffered even worse injustices in the pre-Islamic period. (Muhammad banned the regular pre-Islamic Arab practice of burying unwanted female babies alive). The entry on women and Islam in the Oxford Encyclopedia, characterized by a markedly feminist tone, assures us that “Although certain social and economic regulations in the scripture seemingly favor men, the conditions prevailing at the time of the revelation, which seem to justify such inequality, have lapsed.” Such an opinionated statement totally contradicts the traditional belief of Muslims that the sharia is immutable. In the same vein, Leila Ahmad, author of Women and Gender in Islam, argues that the oppressive practices inflicted upon women living in Islamic lands are due to the prevalence of “patriarchal interpretations” of Islam rather than Islam itself.

What’s most troubling about all the above is not that some writers make such dubious claims and arguments, but that supposedly authoritative and well-recognized professors – the “experts” of the field — are the ones pioneering this sort of academic chicanery. It is both alarming and revealing that the professors not only utilize unsound methodologies, but are not even consistent in doing so. By constantly trying to make Jesus appear all too human, and Muhammad (who was extremely human) appear as “a prophet for our time,” per one Karen Armstrong, secular academics will never refer to Jesus as the “Christ.” What the West used to construe as the Son of God and a moral leader is today just some liberal happy-go-lucky sage preaching love and passivity. And Muhammad has, in these circles, taken on the loving reputation of Christ. And herein lies academia’s ultimate aspiration: everything is relative, even the divine.

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Article taken from Middle East Forum

http://www.meforum.org/2555/jesus-and-mohammad

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…..Be discerning about the times we are in brethren.

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…..May these insights be a wake-up call to us in these Last Days,

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…..Peter McArthur

…..www.issachar.org.au

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There is a recurring theme in the New Testament that thrills the heart of any believer born again from above – and that is the wondrous phrase “all things”.

If anyone should ask you “What is the purpose of God; what is His grand plan?” -  then use the answer as succinctly put in Romans 11:36, which reads:

In this text is the great three-fold expression of God’s purpose. In these inspired words are the three great actions of the Father declared, namely, Creation, Redemption, and Restoration. These three cover Christ as the Source, the Agent, and the Goal itself.

Jesus Christ, pre-existent as The Word, is the Beginning, the Now, and the Prize to come. This sums up everything that is eternal, rich and true about the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s no wonder that Paul is moved (literally) to write “Amen” at the end of this awesome declaration. There would be nothing to say except “Amen” to it.

It’s as though, right in the middle of his discourse Paul interjects with an exclamation of “Yes, this is so true, and I cannot but help to agree with it!”

See the dramatic point being made? Here is a phrase so heavenly inspired, so true, so absolutely against contradiction, that Paul cannot but help to write AMEN to that.

We can almost hear him verbally shouting in his room, Amen!

This gives us a clue to the extraordinary revelation of this verse: Christ is the Source, the Maintainer, and indeed the very End of “all things”. So let’s take heart from this wondrous truth and digest its great breadth.

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We start with the FIRST revelation – “OF Him”.

This speaks to us of the pre-existent Christ (the Word) in the Past tense, particularly in relation to His part in Creation (as the Word of God). See how the following verses highlight this – and please take note of how often “all things” appears.

All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even

one thing came into being that has come into being.

Jhn 1:3

..but to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him,

and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we by Him.

1 Cor 8:6

..and to bring to light all, what is the fellowship of the mystery having been hidden

from eternity in God, the One creating all things through Jesus Christ.

Eph 3:9

For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth,

the visible and the invisible; whether thrones, or lordships, or rulers, or authorities,

all things have been created through Him and for Him.

Col 1:16

..in these last days did speak to us in a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things,

through whom also He did make the ages.

Heb 1:2

For it was fitting for Him, because of whom are all things, and through whom are all things,

having brought many sons to glory, to perfect Him as the Author of their salvation through sufferings.

Heb 2:10

Lord, You are worthy to receive the glory and the honour and the power,

because You created all things, and through Your will they exist and were created.

Rev 4:11

In the verses we see that everything flows out from Christ as Creator. Not only is He this, but also the very fountain of all true spiritual delights and favours, the source of every grace. By taking these verses to heart we see that nothing is by accident, certainly not creation. Evolution has no place here, and to believe in it, tears away the wondrous truth that “all things” were created “out of Him” to whom they owe their continued existence.

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Now to the SECOND revelation – “THROUGH Him”.

This speaks of Christ as the Preserver in the Present. See once more how the phrase “all things” occurs. It’s starting to build a pattern for us, if we have eyes to see.

All things were yielded up to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son

except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son,

and the one to whom the Son purposes to reveal Him.

Mtt 11:27

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

Jhn 3:35

Jesus knowing that the Father has given all things into His hands,

and that He came out from God, and goes away to God.

Jhn 13:3

All things which the Father has are Mine. For this reason I said that He

receives from Mine, and will announce to you.

Jhn 16:15

In the above verses we can see that the Father has delivered “all things” into the HANDS of the Son. Remember that old chorus, “He’s got the whole world in His hands”? Well, here are the texts that sum it up.

Not only do we see that “all things” progressed OUT of Him, but that those same “all things” are delivered up into His hands and are being sustained THROUGH Him. That is to say, through His ever-present power, He being the agent or maintainer who holds “all things” together.

The mystery and the wonder of even this part of the revelation is mind blowing, and should cause our thoughts to stand still in amazement. Well, it does to me!

What a comfort and hope to know that He, out from whom “all things” proceed, is also the One who holds all together in His hands.

As we continue to see how God’s purpose is unfolding “though” Christ, we note that “all things” are not only in His hands, but also placed “under His FEET. Don’t forget to look for the “all things” phrase!

For He subjected all things under His feet; but when He says that all things have been subjected,

it is plain that it excepts Him who has subjected all things to Him.

1 Cor 15:27

..and He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the assembly.

Eph 1:22

And He is the Head of the body, the assembly, who is the Beginning,

the First-born out of the dead, that He be pre-eminent in all things.

Col 1:18

You have subjected all things under his feet. For in subjecting to him all things,

He left nothing not subjected to him. But now we do not yet see all things

having been subjected to him.

Heb 2:8

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First we saw how “all things” are in Christ’s hands. Then we saw how “all things” are under His feet.

Now we come to see how “all things” are WORKING because of Him.

But we know that to the ones loving God all things are working together for good,

to those being called according to purpose.

Rms 8:28

And He is before all things, and all things have subsisted in Him.

Col 1:17

..who being the shining splendour of His glory,

and the express image of His essence, and upholding all things by the

Word of His power, having made purification of our sins through

Himself, He sat down on the right of the Majesty on high.

Heb 1:3

So we have seen three aspects of how the Father is working through the Son in this Present time. He is working here and now; note that the Greek emphasis that all things (lit.) “are working together”. In this present dispensation “all things” are in His hand, under His feet, and working together to accomplish the Father’s eternal purpose.

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Now to our THIRD revelation – “TO Him”.

Here we have a truth that speaks of Christ in the Future tense – “to” Him. The idea behind this is to declare that “all things” will definitely come to a point (determined by the Father) where these shall not simply be made subject to Christ, but to bring them within His total sphere of operation and purpose.

So it will be (in the future) that Christ will marshal “all things” and cause them to be transformed and then subjected to His authority. What a moment that will be!

But when all things are subjected to Him, then

the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One

who has subjected all things to Him, that God may

be all things in all.

1 Cor 15:28

..for an administration of the fullness of the times,

He might bring together all things in Christ,

those in heaven and those on the earth, in Him.

Eph 1:10

He that came down is the same who also went up above

all the heavens, that He might fill all things.

Eph 4:10

..who will transform our body of humiliation, for it

to be conformed to His body of glory, according

to the working of Him to be able even to subject

all things to Himself.

Philp 3:21

..and through Him making peace by the blood of

His cross, to reconcile all things to Himself;

through Him, whether the things on the earth,

or the things in the heavens.

Col 1:20

And the One sitting on the throne said, Behold! I make

all things new. And He says to me, Write, because these Words

are faithful and true.

Rev 21:5

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So to conclude: we have the three great expressions of the Father’s purpose, which are, that all things have come out of Christ, all things are continuing through Him, and all things will head unto Him.

“OF Him”                           (Past tense)

“THROUGH Him”                     (Present tense)

“UNTO Him”                            (Future tense)

What more is there to say – except a resounding “Amen” !

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.…Peter McArthur

…www.issachar.org.au

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