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WALKING ON WATER
BRAVING THE TURBULENCE (PART1)
As I write this article today the whole world is facing an unfamiliar storm, a world pandemic; the worst that most of us have ever seen in our lives. It is only befitting that we go back to our Bibles and study what Jesus did when He was faced with storms. Maybe the lessons therein will help us in these very critical times. There are two storms that Jesus handled differently. On one storm He woke up, rebuked and calmed it; on the other storm He walked on the water. Suffice it to say that some storms in our lives need to be rebuked and to calm immediately but there are other storms that are meant to showcase who God is. There are certain tough times that need to be rejected, resisted and not tolerated but some other tough times are for our own advantage, growth and for the Glory of our God. We will rebuke what we must rebuke and we will walk on top of what we must walk on. Let’s first take some lessons from the storm that He rebuked before we come to the storm that He walked on it.
PEACE! BE STILL!
After teaching them many parables, Jesus set out to go to Gadara where He had ‘an appointment’ with one mad man. I wonder which kind of preacher today can set himself on such a long journey not to go and meet a prominent politician or businessman who has heavy tithe or ‘seed’ as they call it; but to go and meet and minister to a useless social reject; a mad man who lives in tombs and in whom there is a legion of demons. This man was not even a Jew so that makes him even more useless to a Jewish preacher like Jesus. But Jesus being The Christ who came to seek and to save that which was lost, considered every human being to be important. So after ministering to the Jews in many parables He tells His disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side’ (Mk 4:35 & Lk 8:22). This was such a profound statement that I believe the disciples didn’t really consider well. You see when Jesus speaks, we have to be very careful of both what He said and also what He didn’t say that was also hidden in the message. They say that the devil is in the details. But I think when dealing with Jesus we can say the power is in the details.
If Jesus says ‘let us cross over to the other side’ it means we shall actually reach the other side regardless of what happens in between here and there. Jesus never told them that there is going to be a storm in between this side and the other side. He only said, ‘let us cross over’. You see dear friends if we can broaden our study so that we are not just limited to the Corona virus storm only; there are many times that Jesus gives us assignments without mentioning the challenges you will face; many times when He only shows us the end product and let you think about the process in between; many times when God will promise you a land flowing with milk and honey but it is up to you to figure out about the cow rearing and the bee keeping.
Assume you were Simon Peter and Jesus says, ‘let’s cross over to the other side’. You will quickly begin looking for a vessel that will fit all of the disciples and Jesus inside. If it was a common means of public transport maybe then you will want to look for the fare for all who will accompany Jesus and then look for one that was ready. You may find that there is no vessel that wants to take you across because they have studied the weather and they know it is not safe to sail at that moment. So maybe you will be forced to give them a small sermon on who Jesus is and how that when He says He wants to move nobody should question Him. Maybe you will even be forced to hire someone’s boat and use it. So you see there is a lot of staff in the details of that command. But His disciples had to obey and do it as Jesus had demanded. Though I doubt if it was really a big deal since the disciples of Jesus were former fishermen who were used to this kind of environment.
Now they had finally gotten into the boat and they were now headed to Gadara. I think none of them knew what they were going to do at Gadara except Jesus. If He had told them that they were going to the tombs to visit a mad man I don’t think Thomas and Judas would agree to go. Heheee… I think this is the reason why sometimes God hides some things from us. Because His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts (Is 55:8-9). Sometimes what we consider great and important is not what He considers great and important. Sometimes dear friends, God can send you to places which when you arrive you will exclaim, ‘If I knew it was here I wouldn’t have come’. But He took you there for His purpose and so glorify Him by doing His will. Jonah was stubborn just because he knew where God was sending him and he knew the outcome of his message. So God is saving you from ‘Jonah’s experience’ when He hides the details from you. Someone said that God’s voice is like Google navigation guide in your car, it only speaks when you are near a junction.
If we were to know the details we would not be walking by faith. Paul tells the Corinthians (5:7) that we walk by faith and not by sight and to the Galatians (3:11) he says the just shall live by faith. You see dear friends, in this season where we have many questions than answers, that’s when we prove that we are believers. We don’t need to see for us to believe. We simply believe because we know that whom we have believed and we are persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day (2 Tim 1:12). We simply believe that all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). We simply believe that in all things, including this pandemic, we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loved us (Rom 8:37). These disciples had no choice but to believe that they are going to make it across the sea and that they are going to a good place. Even though it wasn’t good in their own eyes but as long as it pleased the Lord for them to be there, then it was indeed a good place to go. And that good place was in the tombs of Gadara. Meanwhile as they sailed in the sea all they were obeying was his last instructions, ‘let us cross over to the other side’
They thought they were men of faith until a storm arose in between the sea. When the storm arose, like most of us do, they turned their faith to their own skills. You see ever since Adam and Eve tried covering their nakedness using their own skills, man has always been behaving strangely when faced with a crisis. And in this series of teachings that I have dubbed “BRAVING THE TURBULENCE” I will give you more examples of men in the bible who used their own intelligence and ability to handled various crises that they faced and how that turned out to be a bad idea. So these guys thought that they were professional fishermen who had encountered storms before and they thought they knew how to go about this. When they had run out of ideas and were now facing possible death, that’s when they remembered that Jesus was in the boat.
When they got to Him in the stern they were shocked to find out that Jesus was actually sleeping. I usually guess that it was Simon Peter who first got to where Jesus was lying on a pillow at the stern and that image had never left Peter for many years; The image of a Man who can actually catch sleep in turbulence; The image of a Man whose Peace and sleep can’t be interfered with by cold water getting into the boat. I think Peter took out his notebook (in his mind) and recorded this as a key lesson in His life; that in the turbulence everybody else was worried and anxious except Jesus. This Man Jesus trembles at nothing, nothing causes Him to lack sleep, nothing threatens Him and in Him there is absolutely NO FEAR! What a strange sight to behold. A Man sleeping in a turbulence. Talk of peace!
Paul told the Philippians (4:6-7) ‘Be anxious for nothing but in everything (including the turbulence) by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the PEACE of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.’ You see PEACE here becomes a precious commodity in the turbulence. And this PEACE is not just absence of war; no, this peace speaks of wholeness or in contemporary colloquialism – ‘being in one piece’. In other words, there could be turbulence around you but let there be no turbulence in your heart. There could be fear around you but let there be no fear in your heart. Let there be a difference between what is in you and what is around you. Jesus was asleep!
I said Peter must have learned a big lesson here because later on after Jesus had died and rose and ascended and they had received the Holy Spirit and began preaching the gospel; there was a time in Acts chapter 12 when Herod had killed James the brother of John who happens to be the first of the 12 Apostles to be killed. Fear gripped the hearts of the believers especially because after killing James, Herod laid his hands on Peter to kill him too. He only delayed killing Peter because of the Passover celebrations. The saints went and locked themselves in a house and began to pray for Peter. In the jail Peter was guarded by 4 guards on shifts under 24 hour surveillance. The guards were armed to the teeth and ready to slash peters head off at the snap of Herod’s fingers. This now was a real turbulent moment for the church. Peter must have remembered what Jesus did during storms because the bible says in verse6 that when Herod was about to bring him out that night, Peter was sleeping. I understand this to mean that Peter had grown to a point of putting his trust on Christ so much so that no amount of threats would get to his heart. He had rested his hope in a God who never fails. Hallelujah!
That day when they were with Jesus in the boat and they noticed he was asleep, they asked him a very interesting question as they woke Him up, “Master, don’t you care that we perish?” I usually can’t read this statement without giggling because the ‘we’ in the question included Jesus. In other words they were saying, ‘Jesus, You and us are perishing together and you don’t care about that?’ It is one sentence that carries two mistakes in it. But we thank God for the mistakes of the disciples because they are our opportunities to learn so that we don’t repeat them. however, sadly, we often times find ourselves behaving exactly like these brethren. The first mistake they made in that question that we also often times make is thinking that Jesus does not care.
How many times have you been in a situation where you doubted if Jesus still remembers that you even exist? How many times have you faced hardships until you wonder if Jesus saw what you just went through and if at all it interested Him. Let me come closer home – how many of you are now wondering if Jesus cares that we cannot meet every Sunday and worship even during this Easter season? Does Jesus care that some people have lost their jobs and many others will be sleeping hungry because of the current crisis? Does Jesus care that businesses are closed and the economy is crushing? Don’t you feel like asking the same foolish question that the disciples asked? “Master, don’t you care that we perish?” Before we respond to this lets point out the second mistake that the disciples made in that interesting question. The mistake was that according to them, they were perishing. They didn’t see themselves surviving this storm.
Now let’s allow the Holy Spirit reveal to us the truth. Dear friends, CARE is the language of LOVE. God not only has love but actually God is LOVE. It is wrong for anyone for any moment to allow the thought that He does not care. The answer to this two mistakes is in one most common verse in the bible – for God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever BELIEVES in Him shall NOT PERISH but have everlasting life. I choose to highlight three things; one is that He LOVES the world. He loves me and you. Regardless of what we face, Jesus loves us. A mother may forget her own child but Jesus never forgets nor forsakes His own. He has the count of hair on our heads and our names are written in the palm of His hands. He remembers you. He knows what you are going through. He cares. He is interested in every detail of your life. The second thing I choose to highlight is whoever BELIEVES. Your faith in Him during the turbulence is all you need. Then finally if you believe you will NOT PERISH.
Dear friends you can take this to the bank – perishing is not in the vocabulary of Jesus. Where Jesus is there is no perishing. He came all the way from heaven to abolish perishing. So His disciples were absolutely wrong to think that they could perish with Jesus. In fact their faith was too weak to an extent they even thought that Jesus was going to die that day. As we sail through this storm dear friends don’t allow this question to find space in your mind, ‘Master don’t you care that we perish?” Behind their voices was yet a third mistake that they made. Forgetting the Word of Jesus – let us cross over to the other side. Jesus had not said that they go into the sea and die. No. Jesus said, ‘let us cross over to the other side.’ Dear friends, come Corona, come what may, Jesus will take you to your destination. Don’t be distracted by the storms of the journey.
Now when they had woken Jesus up, the bible says He rebuked the storm and said, ‘peace, be still!’ I know God is in control of nature and someone may quickly want to ask here how then did Jesus rebuke something that came from God. Well, did it? Look at it carefully. Jesus was headed to Gadara to set free a man who had a legion of demons in him. How do you expect such a mission not to have setbacks? My own guess is that this storm was not from God. The demonic world must have gotten so uncomfortable seeing that ship sail towards Gadara. I am not trying to magnify the devil but let us also not underestimate our enemy lest he utilizes our naivity and defeats us in our ignorance. This storm must have been from the devil. No wonder Jesus REBUKED it! Brothers and sisters it is not everything that is beyond your control that came from God. Many times we like sitting back and accepting our fate claiming that God has done it or God has allowed it. Some of the problems we face have nothing to do with God’s will or Gods plan. They need to be rebuked in the Name of Jesus.
Remember we have said that there was turbulence around Jesus but there was no turbulence on the inside of Jesus. His heart was full of PEACE that surpasses the understanding of men. It is that peace that He released when He woke up. He said, maybe not in a loud voice but in a firm authoritative voice, ‘PEACE! Be still!’ and the Bible records that there was great calm. But He wasn’t done with the storm yet. After rebuking the turbulence on the sea, Jesus turned and rebuked the turbulence in the hearts of the disciples. “Why are you so fearful?” He asked, “Why is it that you have no faith?” His biggest disappointment was not that there was a storm in the sea; His biggest disappointment was that the storm had entered the hearts of His disciples. Brothers and sisters we need to grow nerves in our spirit man to resist fear and panic. As we brave this turbulence of the virus, I dare ask you in the Name of the Lord, ‘where is your faith?’
The disciples of Jesus turned to each other wondering out loudly, ‘What manner of Man is this, that even the sea and the storm obey Him?’ dear friend, the knowledge of who He is so vital for your faith. You see if my president offered me a chance to buy me something of my wish, I could ask him to buy me lunch if I don’t know that he is the president of Kenya; but knowing who he is and what he can do, I will ask him to buy me a house and a car and above. You see, what I demand from him changes with my realization of who he is. If the disciples had known that the Jesus in the boat is the same WORD OF GOD that collected all the waters on the earth and separated the waters from the dry land during creation; then they could have joined Him to sleep and wake up in Gadara. Friends, what manner of Man is this? This is a Man whom what is impossible with man is possible with Him. This is a Man who is a specialist in impossibilities. So as we brave this turbulence, where is your faith?
DON’T BE AFRAID, IT IS I
The second storm was unlike the first one. This one was never rebuked. It wasn’t from hell. It was for a purpose and the purpose was to glorify Jesus and to teach faith. Look at the story in Matt 14, Mark 6 and John 6. They had just come from a crusade where Jesus had multiplied bread and fish. The Evangelist Mark will tell you that the disciples had not considered that miracle. (Mk 6:52) They must have been bargaining whether it was real or it was stage-managed. Jesus now wanted to help their unbelief, strengthen their faith in Him and in a way to justify what had happened with the loaves and the fish. So when they all left that crusade and went into the boat, Jesus did not join them. Jesus remained behind praying. I wonder why they were comfortable to go without Jesus. I think Jesus must have instructed them so; but still if I was one of them I would have protested like the way Moses protested one day when God asked him to go on with the Israelites without Him. Moses said, ‘if Your Presence is not going with us do not take us up from this place.’
The worst mistake any believer can make is to get into anything or any place without Jesus. Always check to ensure that Jesus is in your choices, your education, your career, your marriage, your family, your ministry etc. Don’t just leave Him out of anything! But anyway, for some reason they sailed away without Jesus because they left Him behind praying. While they were in the middle of the sea, a storm arose. Jesus, from wherever He was, saw them struggling against the waves. He quickly rushed to them walking on water. You see Jesus is not like you Bishops who run away from crises. Jesus will rush towards you when you are in trouble. Ps 46:1 says, ‘God is our refuge and strength; A very present help in trouble.’ During turbulent times, everybody runs away from you except Jesus. Jesus will run towards you. Mark says that Jesus almost overtook the boat. He was really rushing. I am tempted to say that He was not walking on water, He was running on water.
Then when they saw Jesus walking towards them they got really afraid thinking that it is a ghost. Sometimes when you are in trouble you can be too paranoid until you suspect even that which would help you and think it is coming to destroy you further. If you were for instance, the Zarephath widow; life has pushed you to such a corner that you are left with one meal and die together with your son; then comes a stranger from Gilead asking you to give him that last meal to eat; would you not for a moment think that this man has come to add more pain to your already painful life? Brothers and sisters we have got to raise our spiritual antennas because sometimes Jesus may come to your aid and you will think it was a ghost. May the Lord help us so that we may have correct discernment.
Jesus cooled them down and said, ‘it is I, don’t be afraid.’ Dear friends some of you reading this article are enrolled in a school – the school of the Holy Ghost. He is now taking you through some tough training. I am here to encourage you that as you take those very important notes that will be of help to you in future, open your spiritual ears and hear Him whisper to you in a still small voice, ‘It is I, don’t be afraid.’ And while they all were still bargaining if indeed it could be Him, one of them didn’t join in the theological debate; rather he spoke to Him who had said ‘it is I’ and as though taking the words straight from the Master’s mouth, Peter said, ‘Lord, if it is You (other translations say, since it is You), tell me to come.’ Now Peter had learned a very crucial lesson about dealing with Jesus. He had learned that whatever Jesus says will happen. He had learned to depend fully on the word of Jesus. Or as the songwriter would say, Peter had learned to ‘stand on the promises of God’.
Peter wanted to walk on water but not until Jesus says it. He knew that all his ideas were wrong but Jesus’ words were always right. He knew that the mere fact that he thought about it was not enough reason for him to succeed in doing it unless Jesus Himself spoke it. You see today brethren we are treated every Sunday to a psychological dose of ‘if you can think it, you can have it.’ Well, brother, not if He never said it! So Peter dares Jesus to say it. And Peter knew if Jesus says it then it will build enough faith in him to do it. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). And Jesus never disappointed Peter; He said one word, ‘come.’ I think there is no other response that Jesus can give to anyone who wants to come to Him. Look at it keenly dear friends, I know most of us when we study this we quickly conclude that Jesus responded positively to Peter’s request because Peter had expressed great faith and Jesus loved Peter’s faith. Well that sounds like a good idea until a few seconds later when Peter’s so called faith is put to test. I personally think that the real reason Jesus quickly responded positively to Peter’s request was that He never rejects that kind of request. He said in John 6:37 that whoever comes to Him, He will by no means cast out. Especially in such a situation where Peter is daring to leave a comfortable ship that had no Jesus to go to a turbulent sea that had Jesus. Jesus was surely not going to say no to that prayer.
As peter stepped into the waters, his eyes were on Jesus. And as long as his eyes were on Jesus he remained afloat. But the minute he lost his focus and turned his attention to the boisterous wind, he began to sink. Brothers and sisters, fix your eyes on Jesus through this turbulence. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith (Heb 12:2). Don’t turn you attention on the storm so much until you begin to think that the storm is bigger than your Jesus. As long as you keep your eyes on Jesus, you will walk on the waters. Now, when Peter turned his eyes to the storm, hi faith waivered. But interestingly the Bible doesn’t say that he sank; it says that he began to sink. There is no way he was going to sink while Jesus was within reach. Remember what we said earlier; where Jesus is, perishing is not an option. There is only one thing you must do when you realize you have began sinking – use your mouth. The Bible says that with the heart man believes unto righteousness but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10). Your mouth was created to save you. If you keep your mouth shut in this storm, you will die. Peter cried out and said, ‘Lord, save me!’ and immediately, Jesus stretched forth His mighty hand and saved him. But that did not go down without a little lecture from Jesus to Peter about his wavering faith.
I want you to notice that when Jesus pulled Peter up they both walked back to the ship. In fact while Jesus gave Peter the little lecture on faith, they were still standing on water. Then they came back to the ship holding each other’s hands like real buddies and they boarded the ship. I pray that this season Jesus may hold your hand and walk you through the turbulence! John says that “Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.” (6:21) After Jesus had entered the ship on one second, the next second they were on the shore. When Jesus enters the scene, you arrive where you were going. Jesus is our destination. When you go past the cross, you are lost. Beyond Jesus there is nothing else. Preachers who have additional revelations on top of the revelation of Christ are all liars. If you ask me, what the world needs now is not science but Jesus because even science needs Jesus.
See you in part 2 of BRAVING THE TURBULENCE right here on knowyourbiblebook.wordpress.com God bless you
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LET MY PEOPLE GO (PART 3B)
THE BLOOD SHED 7 TIMES
Exodus 12:13 ‘Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.’
On the evening of the Passover, Jesus left the house after the last supper together with His disciples (Judas Iscariot was absent here) to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Before He faced His adversaries, Jesus prayed. The very fact that Jesus, the Son of God prayed, is the highest argument for prayer. But I want you to note that this was not the first time He prayed BEFORE. Jesus did not master on reactive prayers like the 21st century intercessors who are called to action when things have gone wrong to counteract. He always prayed BEFORE! Here we see that before He was arrested, He prayed. BEFORE He began His ministry, He was driven by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness and for forty days and forty nights, He prayed! BEFORE choosing the twelve disciples (Luke 6:12) He went to the mountainside and prayed! BEFORE feeding the five thousand Jesus withdrew Himself and went to a solitary place and prayed (Matt 14:13). BEFORE walking on water He had been left behind by His disciples because He had excused himself to be alone and pray.
Before God’s kings went to battle, they inquired of the Lord. Today we see people remembering God when they are already on the battle field. When the conference or mission is going on, you will hear some noise from a ‘power house’ somewhere of intercessors ‘pulling heaven down’. I have no problem with this but I have a lot of question marks. Where were you before you went to battle? Aren’t you just creating a show now so that we can see that you are a prayer warrior? Are you not trying to take the glory so that all the miracles in the crusade will be attributed to your ‘fervent prayers’? Jesus demonstrates this before He raised Lazarus from the dead. He had already prayed before coming to the tomb. Probably He had been on the mountain for the whole night. When He came here He did not start binding demons of death with big vocabularies of, ‘you demon of death I decapacitate you! I render you jobless!’ No. Look at what He said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.’ (John 11:41) When had He prayed? He did it before coming to Bethany.
Now before they came to arrest Jesus at Gethsemane, He prayed. The prayer was so intense that He sweated blood. This was the first time Jesus shed His blood during the Passover. The Lamb had just begun to be slaughtered. If you follow me keenly from now on, you will discover that Jesus shed His blood seven times. This was just the first time. His heart was deeply troubled. Doctors call it Hematidrosis – a very rare condition that occurs in extreme emotional stress. Here blood was shed to cover my soul (mind, will and emotions). When I apply this precious blood my heart finds peace. Regardless of my prevailing circumstances, He gives me peace that surpasses the understanding of men. That is why the prophet Isaiah called Him the Prince of Peace. So when you see me smile, it is not because I am having happy moments every day of my life but the peace of God overshadows me in both the mountains and the valleys. Lift up your hands where you are and whisper (or shout) ‘Thank you Jesus for Your blood’! Halleluyah! This is why the world will never understand us. We have the precious Blood of Jesus.
They then beat His face and totally disfigured it at the house of Caiaphas the high priest. The beating was obviously ruthless because they were killing him. A murderer does not beat you softly. Isaiah would tell you that they even pulled out His beards and spat on His face. His face was so disfigured that you could not identify Him. Anyone who came to the scene after this had to be told that that is Jesus. Otherwise you could not look at His face and know who He was. He shed blood from His face to restore the image of God in you. The enemy has always been trying to distort this image of Christ in you – for you were made in His image and likeness (Gen 1:27). One day they asked Him whether they should pay taxes to Caesar and he borrowed a coin and asked, ‘whose image is in this coin?’ They said, “Caesar’s” then He told them, ‘Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God’ (Mt 22:21) In this he meant that just like the coin which bears the image of Caesar belongs to Caesar; so is it with the people. They bear the image of God and so they belong to God. We can only render to God what belongs to God by the Blood of Jesus.
They then put on Jesus’ head a crown of thorns before Governor Pontius Pilate. The long thorns pieced so deep into His skull. He shed blood from His head to give me ability to have the mind of Christ. We already looked at Philippians 2:5 which says, ‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus’. Through the blood of Jesus, we can now have the mind of Christ. We have answers to problems that no science or philosophy can answer. Romans 12:2 says, ‘And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.’ You can never understand the Word of God until you have applied the blood of Jesus so that you can have the mind of Christ. It is this mind that overcame the tempter who actually had come to tempt Jesus while quoting scriptures. For you to be sure that you are on the right track, making the right decisions and exercising proper discernment; you must apply the blood of Jesus.
They then tied Jesus to a whipping post and began to whip Him. They whipped His body with whips that had about 20-30 leather strips; each strip having hundreds of little nails/hooks that had the ability to tear His flesh as the strips were pulled back after each stroke. His flesh was so much torn that His inner body parts were now exposed. His entire body now from head to toe was soaked in blood. Isaiah explains this way, ‘But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.’ (53:5). By the blood of Jesus our health is guaranteed. Sickness is not our portion. Halleluyah! Thank you Jesus! And this is not just physical/biological health but also psychological, social, financial and political health. So you don’t need to go and see a specialist who calls himself a healing evangelist for you to be healed; just apply the blood of Jesus.
When they took Him to the cross they nailed His hand to the cross. He shed blood from His hands for the work of my hands to be established. Psalms 90:17 says. ‘And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.’ The word WORK does not necessarily mean ‘job’. When God created Adam, He told Adam to work. Adam was not employed by a certain company. So God was not referring to a job as we define it today but He was referring to work. Remember this was not a curse because God gave Adam work before Adam sinned and before He even created Eve. Work is your purpose on earth. There is a purpose for you beyond what you do to eat. You were not born just to provide yourself with food and die. There has to be a reason beyond your stomach. And it cannot succeed lest it be covered by the blood of Jesus.
Jesus was then nailed at His feet. He shed blood here for my Christian walk. This is vitally important because we are not just saved to work for God but more importantly to walk with God. It was said of a man in the old days called Enoch in Gen 5:24 that he walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Think about this – that a man can walk with God until God says, ‘this one now is above this world. The planet earth is too dirty for him. Let me take him away’. Hebrews 11:5 says, ‘By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.’ The disciples of Jesus walked with God so much until their enemies said, ‘surely they have been with Jesus’(Acts 4:13). Elsewhere they said, ‘the ones who have turned the world upside down have come also upon us’ (Acts 17:16). You cannot walk with God except by the blood of Jesus. It is this blood that gives us access to this kind of intimacy with the Lord Jesus.
The seventh time He shed His blood was when the Roman soldier came with a spear and pierced His side. You remember what happened in the Garden of Eden when God tore the side of Adam and removed a piece with which He used to create Eve. This was exactly what was happening here. Blood shed for the creation of Jesus’ wife – the church. Church is not a building. Neither is it a registered organization that has a permit from the government. Church is the redeemed of the Lord who have been washed by the blood of Jesus. You remember He said with his own mouth that, ‘I will build my church’. (Matt 16:18) This statement means that firstly, he is the builder. Not the pastor nor the apostle but Jesus. Not the biggest tither nor the politician but Jesus. Then secondly He implies that the church belongs to Him. He bought it at a price. The price was His precious blood. Now this is how the Passover took place. See you in Let My People Go (Part 3c)
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LET MY PEOPLE GO (PART 3A)
THE LORD’S PASSOVER
Exodus 12:13 ‘Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.’
Moses had demonstrated the mighty hand of God through many infallible proofs; yet to his rude shock Pharaoh was still not letting the Israelites free. God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that He may demonstrate His power to the whole world. You see we serve a God of ostentatiousness. He did not just want the Israelites to sneak out of Egypt. No – He wanted Egyptians to be used as a teaching aid to the world that nobody should cross His line. After all the plagues failed to yield expected results, Moses was almost giving up. God on the other hand was getting excited because He had spared one more stroke that the enemy cannot survive. This was, is and will ever be the ultimate blow to the devil. It is this same blow that kicked him out of Heaven when he had tried to insubordinate God – the Blood of the Lamb. The bible says that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death (Rev 12:11).
This was long before Calvary. Lucifer (satan) had brought trouble in Heaven because he had said, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ (Is 14:13-14) Then war broke in heaven. Even though Lucifer had staged the battle against God, God Himself did not fight lest the devil thinks that they are equals. God chose his equivalent, Michael (a fellow angel) to fight him. So there was war between Lucifer and his team and Michael and his team. And the Bible says Michael and his team overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. This testimony is their confession of the power of the blood. Think about it; if Michael could defeat satan by the blood long before Calvary, how much more should we defeat satan in this dispensation?
So God showed Moses the ultimate weapon against satan. This one never fails. Locusts may fail; frogs may fail; hailstorms may fail; even an imitation of blood (on the waters of the Egyptians) may fail; but the BLOOD OF THE LAMB never fails! So because this was going to be a sure deal, the Israelites were told to prepare for departure. Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ‘This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself A LAMB, according to the house of his father, A LAMB for a household. And if the household is too small for the LAMB, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be WITHOUT BLEMISH, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire-its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’S Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (Ex 12:1-13)
All the other times Moses could argue and bargain with Pharaoh but after the Passover night, pharaoh had no bargaining power! He requested Moses that only men should go but Moses said, ‘no sir! We are going with the women and the children and the cattle plus the gold and jewelry of Egyptians!’ When you have applied the BLOOD there is no more argument with the enemy. He is now at your mercies! This is the ultimate weapon that believers must know. Preachers don’t preach it nowadays because they want to continue enslaving the believers in church witchcraft of ‘anointed stickers, soil, salt and handkerchiefs’. However, there is power, wonder-working power, in the Blood of the Lamb! The Israelites were told to always celebrate this great day throughout their generations. They would do it exactly as they did it in Egypt before the lord delivered them from bondage.
Then one day a man by the Name John the Baptist was going about his ministry duties. And Jesus came walking down the waters of river Jordan to be baptized by him. When John saw Jesus coming toward him, he said, ‘Behold! The LAMB of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1:29). Every Jew who was around there and heard about THE LAMB quickly remembered Passover. They killed a Lamb and smeared its blood on their doorposts and that’s how they secured their freedom from bondage. Now here was a ‘LAMB OF GOD’ that was being introduced to them by God’s servant John. John says that this one will deliver them from the bondage of sin. This was a serious matter. From there they watched Him; they followed Him; they listened to Him. Then when the fullness of time came and the Jews were ready for Passover, the Lamb of God Himself was present. This time it was not going to be about the shadows and images but the real Lamb without blemish – JESUS. Satan was equally ready for his job. He entered Judas Iscariot and led him to leave the fellowship of Jesus and go to plot against his Master. Preparations in both kingdoms were now underway for the real Passover celebration. The other one in Egypt and the ones practiced every year were simply shadows of this one.
Now during the day just before the Passover which was called the Day of Unleavened Bread, which is actually the day when the lamb was usually killed; Jesus and his disciples were supposed to participate in the celebrations too. Little did they know that everyone else was doing a shadow of what they (disciples) were doing. Jesus did not provide them a lamb to kill – He was the Lamb and he was about to be killed. He told Peter and John to look for a man carrying a pitcher of water and follow him to his house and demand for the guest room for the celebrations (Luke 22:10-11). Jesus was not talking about what shall be killed. His instructions were not about ‘what’ but ‘where’. HE WAS THE ‘WHAT’. And if you notice, Jesus has always been looking for where and not what. The other day when they had a big group of hungry people; Jesus asked Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?’ (John 6:5) Not, ‘what shall they eat?’ He had no problem with the WHAT. He is the bread of life. He is Jireh. Philip gave a wrong answer. He raised concerns about the what claiming that the treasurer was not in a good position (yet he was not even the treasurer). One disciple called Andrew gave Jesus the answer He had been looking for. He said, ‘there is a young man here…’ (vs 9) Think about that. He has always been the ‘what’. Would you choose today to always be the ‘where’? Be the young man!
So Jesus was looking for where to celebrate the Passover; not which lamb shall be slaughtered. He was the Lamb. Luke 22:14-20 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; “for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; “for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.’ This is what we call the Holy Communion; The blood and the body of Jesus; The foundation of our faith. Let’s look at this now more graphically in my next blog – Let My People Go Part 3B.
KNOW YOUR BIBLE 