Peace and grace in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 4:1
4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."
John the apostle saw a door standing open in heaven through a sight. He saw the heavenly kingdom clearly; even he saw the throne of heaven.
We commemorate the Ascension of Jesus Christ. It means that Jesus has passed or entered through the gate of the heavenly kingdom through the Ascension. He has ascended to heaven and sat on the right hand of the throne of Father God.
Hebrews 12:2
12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus must ascend to heaven. What for?
John 14:1-3
14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
14:2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
For preparing the place for us in heaven and after that He will come a second time to lift us up to heaven. Where He is, there we may be also. We sit with Jesus on the throne of heaven forever. Our duties now are as follows.
There must be the building of the body of Christ. Why?
Genesis 1:26
1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
In the beginning, God created men as glorious as Him that they could have authority over the trinity of Satan, namely the beast of the air, on earth, and in the sea. The men were put in garden Eden, so they were not separated from God. Unfortunately, they heard strange voice, so they sinned and lost the glory of God. They were naked and ashamed. They put the fig leaves to cover their nakedness. They were driven out to enter the world.
In the world, they did not stop sinning. All men have sinned up to the peak, namely sins concerning eating-drinking such as smoking, getting drunk, and drugs abuse, as well as the ones concerning marrying-being giving in marriage such as sexuality sin with all of its kinds, mixed-marriage, divorce, and remarrying. The men lose the glory of God. They are ruled over by the trinity of Satan. They are naked and not ashamed. Peter, a great servant of God, became the same as Satan. We must be careful.
God does not want that the men He has created must be the same as Satan and destroyed. Therefore, He longs for dwelling among men.
The manifestation is in the building of Tabernacle or physical temple in the Old Testament.
Exodus 25:8
25:8 "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
It is through the building of Christ's body or the spiritual temple in the New Testament.
Matthew 8:20
8:20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
The history of the building of the temple physically and spiritually is as follows.
God blesses you.
Revelation 4:1
4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."
John the apostle saw a door standing open in heaven through a sight. He saw the heavenly kingdom clearly; even he saw the throne of heaven.
We commemorate the Ascension of Jesus Christ. It means that Jesus has passed or entered through the gate of the heavenly kingdom through the Ascension. He has ascended to heaven and sat on the right hand of the throne of Father God.
Hebrews 12:2
12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus must ascend to heaven. What for?
John 14:1-3
14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
14:2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
For preparing the place for us in heaven and after that He will come a second time to lift us up to heaven. Where He is, there we may be also. We sit with Jesus on the throne of heaven forever. Our duties now are as follows.
- We must perseverein waiting for the second coming of Jesus on the glorious clouds to lift us up. Perseverance refers to something we do continually which cannot be hindered by anything.
- We must prepare the place for Jesus in the world, namely the body of Christbecause Jesus comes a second time as the King of all kings or the Heavenly Bridegroom. The bridegroom is the Head, so the place is the body.
It means that we must actively minister to God in the ministry or fellowship for building the body of Christ. It begins from within the marriage, shepherding, inter-shepherding, up to the one perfect body of Israel and Gentiles.
There must be the building of the body of Christ. Why?
Genesis 1:26
1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
In the beginning, God created men as glorious as Him that they could have authority over the trinity of Satan, namely the beast of the air, on earth, and in the sea. The men were put in garden Eden, so they were not separated from God. Unfortunately, they heard strange voice, so they sinned and lost the glory of God. They were naked and ashamed. They put the fig leaves to cover their nakedness. They were driven out to enter the world.
In the world, they did not stop sinning. All men have sinned up to the peak, namely sins concerning eating-drinking such as smoking, getting drunk, and drugs abuse, as well as the ones concerning marrying-being giving in marriage such as sexuality sin with all of its kinds, mixed-marriage, divorce, and remarrying. The men lose the glory of God. They are ruled over by the trinity of Satan. They are naked and not ashamed. Peter, a great servant of God, became the same as Satan. We must be careful.
God does not want that the men He has created must be the same as Satan and destroyed. Therefore, He longs for dwelling among men.
The manifestation is in the building of Tabernacle or physical temple in the Old Testament.
Exodus 25:8
25:8 "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
It is through the building of Christ's body or the spiritual temple in the New Testament.
Matthew 8:20
8:20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
The history of the building of the temple physically and spiritually is as follows.
- The building of Tabernacle.
Exodus 25:1-2
25:1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
25:2 "Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heartyou shall take My offering.
The foundation is a heart that is willing to give.
It means the holy heart or the one sanctified and pierced by the sword of the true teaching Word. It is sanctified from the evil and unclean desires.
The evil desire refers to the will of money which causes one to be stingy and greedy. Stinginess means that one cannot give and greediness means that one robs the possession of God and others.
The unclean lust refers to the sins concerning eating-drinking and marrying-being given in marriage.
Acts20:28, 32-35
20:28 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
20:32 "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
20:33 "I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.
20:34 "Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me.
20:35 "I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
The word of grace refers to the shepherding Word, namely the true teaching Word that God trusts to a pastor to preach to the congregation faithfully, continually, orderly, and repetitively to be the food which may grow the spirituality of the congregation. Growing spiritually means experiencing the repetitive sanctification. The word of grace can be derived at the feet of Jesus through praying, fasting, and praying all night-long.
The sword of the Word is able to sanctify our heart from the unclean and evil desires until we can be more joyful to give than to receive.
It begins from returning the tithes and offerings. The tithes mean our confession that God has blessed us. The base is the truth, namely one tenth (1/10). The offering means our thanksgiving that God has blessed us. Moreover, we can give the alms to the other people who are in need.
The sanctification of our heart from the evil and unclean desires will also result in honesty. Our heart becomes honest and sincere.
Hebrews 13:4-6
13:4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
13:6 So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
We must be honest about marriage, namely we keep the holiness of our marriage. There must be no other woman besides our wife and there must be no other man besides our husband.
We must also be honest about money, namely we return the possession of God and others who are in need. The rest will be the blessings of God we may consume.
As a result, God appears as the Head. He is our Pleader and Helper. He is able to create something that does not exist yet. He is able also to preserve our life in the midst of difficulties in the world. - The building of the temple in the days of King Solomon.
1 Kings 6:7
6:7 And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
The foundation is the peace. No hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
The peace means that we do not feel anything which our flesh feels anymore. We only feel the love of God.
The peaceful heart refers to the conscience which is not condemned before God. We only love God and other people like we love ourselves; even we can love our enemy.
1 John 3:21-22
3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
3:22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
We become the house of prayer or God's dwelling place. As a result, our prayer is answered by God. Our household becomes "home sweet home" or the desired place. The shepherding also becomes the desired place.
If our heart is peaceful, all things will be easy, light, successful, and beautiful. - The building of the temple in Jerusalem.
John 2:19-21
2:19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
2:20 Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six yearsto build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"
2:21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
Tabernacle and the temple in the days of King Solomon accommodated the cloud of God's glory, but the one in Jerusalem could not because there is the spirit of selling-buying or the one of antichrist there. The ministry does not become a consecration anymore, but profession. The place of the spirits of selling-buying refers to a market where the people only look for physical profits or the amenities of the flesh, without Holy Spirit. It can be proven when they rejoice in praising God, but they do not like hearing the Word. On the contrary, the joy of heaven happens in praising God and more in hearing His Word. If there is no anointing of Holy Spirit, the service to God cannot be conducted orderly; even there is no honor to God. The market system also means that everyone may minister to God without the true consecration like the cheap things which are sought for by the people in the market.
Therefore, God turns from the building of the physical temple to the spiritual one. What must be destroyed?
The forty six years refers to the Law system whereas the three days refers to the mercy system. The law system must be destroyed to be the mercy one, namely humbleness and gentleness. The humblenessrefers to the ability to confess sins to God and others. The gentlenessrefers to the ability to forgive the sin of others and forget it. As a result, the blood of Jesus will forgive us and the love of God is poured out. We can love one another; even we can love our enemy.
1 Corinthians 15:9-10
15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
The results of the mercy system are as follows.- We are more faithful and fervent in spirit in serving and ministering to God until the end line, namely we pass away or Jesus comes a second time.
- We are strong and of good courage.
Psalm27:14
27:14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
We are able to wait for Jesus' second coming on the glorious clouds. We can be obedient and faithful to God. We keep on worshiping God regardless anything we must face. We keep on believing and entrusting our life to God. As a result, the hand of God, the Creator, is able to create all things good. He is able to solve all things right in His time.
1 Chronicles 19:13
19:13"Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what is good in His sight."
1 Chronicles 28:20
28:20 And David said to his son Solomon, "Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God--my God--will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.
We are sanctified and changed continually until we are as perfect as Jesus is. We are worthy to welcome His second coming and sit with Him on the throne of heavenly kingdom forever.
- We are more faithful and fervent in spirit in serving and ministering to God until the end line, namely we pass away or Jesus comes a second time.
God blesses you.