Sunday 25 July 2021

The Power of His Resurrection

 Scripture: Phillipians 3 v 8 - 10: "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;"

If Paul, who became the foremost Apostle of Jesus, who suffered many trials, still did not know the full power of the resurrection of Jesus, then how can we begin to know it?

Paul wrote that everything he ever knew or owned became worthless in the light of the knowledge of Jesus.  He realised that being in the presence of God, experiencing the anointing of His nearness, was worth more than anything on this Earth, or in the world.  Even that made him hungry to know the deeper resurrection power.

David wrote, As the deer pants for the water so my heart longs after You, You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship You.  Those who have tasted the wonderful presence of Jesus, want nothing more because He utterly satisfies those who come bringing offerings of praise, worship and love.  

Ten days after Jesus ascended into Heaven the day of Pentecost dawned, a feast of the Jews happening 50 days after Passover.  Significantly, it was first celebrated fifty days after the first Passover which began the exodus from Egypt.  It now would become the birth of the Church of Jesus Christ because it was on Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and even Mary, the mother of Jesus, who were in an Upper Room.  

They heard a sound like a strong wind and upon their heads appeared tongues of fire, power came upon them and they started to pray, speak and worship in other tongues.  Languages they had never learned poured forth from their mouths.  The people in the street below were from many countries and had come to celebrate Pentecost.  They understood the words the apostles uttered.  They were telling of the wonderful works of God.

Everyone who has been baptised in the Holy Spirit and has received His gifts of tongues, interpretation of tongues, faith, miracles, prophecy, healings, discerning of spirits, word of knowledge and word of wisdom, has begun to know Him, the Living God and begun to experience the power of His resurrection.

Through the power, anointing, gifts, fruit, guidance of the Holy Spirit, we learn to scratch the surface of knowing God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  The more we know, the more we want to know, but to plunge into the depths of really knowing God, this world has to become nothing.  Our God is far removed from anything that even looks like sin.

He has forgiven sin for sure, as soon as we repent and show remorse it is deleted forever.  No guilt remains and we are free to be grateful.  Free to explore the nature of God and receive all the changes following Jesus brings upon us.  Our blocks to transformation are stubbornness and self-deception which becomes unbelief and backsliding.  It certainly also blocks knowing the power of the resurrection in us.

Most people only ever use a small percentage of the available power of the Holy Spirit.  They don't even know that it should be more so don't dig for it.  It's like finding a diamond on a dry river bed and not realizing if you dug down you would find another Kimberly Hole from which millions of diamonds have been dug out.

But what we seek is no earthly treasure, it is the ultimate depth of being one with the Godhead, the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Paul knew there was more to come but not in his lifetime.  He has pointed the way for those who seek those precious depths, left clues in his epistles to help those who have uncovered the trail of bread crumbs, and which are skimmed over by those who are already satisfied by the gifts they have.

That we may know Him is our holy grail.  It is our quest and should be our one desire.  Paul spent three years alone in the desert after his conversion for one purpose - to know Him whom he had persecuted and hated for no real reason.  To discover the nature and purpose of Jesus appearing to him on that dusty Damascus road, and turning His blinding lights upon Him.

Acts 22 v 8 - 10: "And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
 9  And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
 10  And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do."

That was the beginning of Paul's walk with Jesus.  The Book of Revelation is John's expansion on his very close relationship with Jesus.  Known as the Apostle whom Jesus loved, He loved them all but John was special, John aged 90 was on Patmos, a Greek Island, when Jesus came to him with powerful visions, experiences and foreknowledge of the end times, who the Bride really is, the judgments, the final end of Satan, and much more about His coming again.

There was also a mystery only revealed to Daniel, Paul and John, which they were forbidden to disclose as it was only for the time of the end.

Daniel 12 v 4: "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

2 Corinthians 12 v 1 - 4: "It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 
2  I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
3  And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
4  How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."  This is Paul speaking about himself.

Revelation 10 v 4: "And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not."

There are those learned men and women who have declared that everything we could possibly know out of the Bible is now known and no revelation or mystery remains hidden.  I beg to differ and most of you know the revelation the Lord gave me 42 years ago, that is with me continuously, and still unfolding.

There are depths in scripture and in the gifts of the Holy Spirit that only He can unlock at the appropriate time.  In this particular revelation the enhancement of the fruit of patience in my life was very necessary.

These are the burning questions that the Lord had planted within my soul and spirit that urged me on.

If Heaven is our home why are we on Earth?
For whom was Jesus the Ransom?  Who was the hostage?
What did Lucifer do to get him eternally exiled from Heaven?
Why was he called Satan, the Accuser?
Why do so many nations hate the Jews and want to exterminate them?
Why do different races distrust, hate, per secure each other?
If the Church is the Body of Christ, and Jesus is the Head of the Body, and He is called The Bridegroom, who is the Bride of Christ and why do so many believe the Bride and Church are the same thing?
Long after the Rapture of the Church, on the last page of Revelation, the Spirit and The Bride say, Come Lord Jesus, how come?

Every one of these questions plus many more has been fully and satisfactorily answered in the Revelation given to me about Heaven, the marriage of Jesus and His Bride in Heaven, interrupted by Lucifer, which I was privileged to see in visions confirmed by snippets of scriptures, the war that broke out between Archangel Michael and Archangel Lucifer and their angels, the Bride being taken hostage by Lucifer and he and his angels thrown out of Heaven.

I saw Satan, his new name, accusing the Bride of terrible things, and his new domain, where he threw her to his now evil angels to humiliate, brainwash all memories out of her mind, mentally, emotionally batter her until she shattered into millions of fragments.  He then claimed her as his bride.  (When these particular fragments manifested on Earth after it was made habitable, they would become the nation of Israel.)

I saw Jesus put on her discarded bloodstained garments, take on her sin, leave Heaven for Satan's domain to offer Himself as a Ransom for her, and eventually die there (Revelation 13 v 8), shattered as she was, but upon Himself was all her pain and suffering, torment, abuse and horror, so that she could be set free.  It was the beginning of God's plan to get the marriage back on track.  The world started there and then.  The Earth was yet to be made a habitation for a unique event, the creation of mankind.  (The fragments of Jesus's body, the Gentiles, would become Christians).

Then came Adam and Eve who were unable to withstand the brainwashing being the first two souls, each fragment of this two glorious bodies was known as an individual, unique soul, and literally gave Satan all the power he needed to be god of this world, as Jesus called him.  God was so dismayed that He had to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, plus nearly the whole human race, and restart with only eight people with true faith and belief in God. When Jesus came to Earth 2000 years ago, after His baptism John referred to Him as the Bridegroom speaking to His Bride (John 3 v 28 - 29.)

So the power of Jesus's resurrection is here for us to see out the few years we have left because Daniel shut up this knowledge until the time of the end, and if God has chosen to reveal it through such a simple person, a mere instrument, with the magnificent Holy Ghost as Teacher and Friend, then the end is near.  The above revelation is not necessary for salvation but to give us courage in these end times when things get very tough for the world around us.

So, as Don Francisco once sang, Come a little closer to Jesus, get a whole lot closer to Jesus.  Let us do that and get to know Him more than we do today.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, no matter how long we have been born again and begun a personal relationship with You and Jesus, we need to know You more than we do.  We will spend eternity with You, so every bit of knowledge will be a delight.  Help us to seek Your face and experience Your divine presence in our midst.  In Jesus' name. Amen.