Peace and grace in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 19:11-16refers to the second coming of Jesus in the glory of the King of kings and the Heavenly Bridegroom. Jesus will rule with a rod of iron.
Psalm 23:4
23:4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Jesus rules His sheep with the Shepherd's rod and staff. The three kinds of the shepherd's staffs are as follows:
God blesses us.
Revelation 19:11-16refers to the second coming of Jesus in the glory of the King of kings and the Heavenly Bridegroom. Jesus will rule with a rod of iron.
Psalm 23:4
23:4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Jesus rules His sheep with the Shepherd's rod and staff. The three kinds of the shepherd's staffs are as follows:
- The staff of Beauty.
Zechariah 11:7
11:7. So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock.
It means as follows:- Christ's sacrifice. He is the Good Shepherd who willingly dies on the cross for His sheep.
John 10:11
10:11. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
John 19:32-34
19:32. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.
19:33. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.
19:34. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
Actually Jesus has died with four major injuries, namely two in the hands and two in the feet. It is God's love to seek and save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Gentiles just cost a dog before God, no matter how great they are. The fifth wound at Jesus' side is the biggest and deepest one for the Gentiles--the wound is caused by the soldier of the Gentiles. It is God's mercy to save the Gentiles who cost a dog.
Matthew 15:24,26
15:24. But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
15:26. But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."
The Gentiles must receive the signs of blood and water that come out of Jesus' side that is pierced.
It means as follows:- The blood sign refers to the Altar of Burnt Offerings. The Gentiles must believe in Jesus as the only Savior. Jesus must die, but He is risen to redeem our sin. We must willingly die to sin, namely we repent, especially from lie and killer or hatred, because Satan is the father of killer and liar.
- The water sign refers to the true water baptism, namely one who has believed in Jesus and died to sin or repented must be buried in the water with Jesus and come out or rise from water with Him to receive new life or the heavenly one, namely life in the anointing of Holy Spirit--the sign of dove.
3:20. who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
3:21. There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism(not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
The bitter, unclean, and disobedient hearts must be changed into obedience. We must experience the renewal of life from dog to sheep that belongs to God. - The blood sign refers to the Altar of Burnt Offerings. The Gentiles must believe in Jesus as the only Savior. Jesus must die, but He is risen to redeem our sin. We must willingly die to sin, namely we repent, especially from lie and killer or hatred, because Satan is the father of killer and liar.
- The shepherding Word is the one of Jesus' grace.
Acts 20:28,32-35
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 sheep in the shepherding is purchased with Jesus' own blood. The shepherd or sheep must have seriousness in the shepherding. The staff of Beauty refers to the shepherding Word, namely the true teaching one which is entrusted by God to a shepherd to be preached to the congregation faithfully, continually, and repetitively to become the spiritual food for them, so they experience the purification and spiritual growth up to perfection.
The shepherd's staff leads us, so we know the things which we must do. We can walk at the true way up to the New Jerusalem.
Matthew 15:27
15:27. And she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbswhich fall from their masters' table."
The Gentiles must be able to enjoy the crumbs, namely the revelation of the Word of God, the true teaching Word, or the repeated shepherding Word. We must be able to hear and obey to the Word of God. Thus we can be purified from evil desire, unclean desire and bitterness.
The evil desire is the will of money that makes one become greedy and stingy. We are purified, so we feel more blessed to give than to receive.
The unclean desire is the sin of eating-drinking and marrying-giving in marriage.
We must also be purified from bitterness, namely hatred, revenge, envy, et cetera.
Ezekiel 20:37
20:37. "I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;
If we have been purified, we will be led to enter the sheepfold--the Holy Place--, namely the perseverance in committing the three kinds of main service to God. If we are always in the sheepfold, namely we have perseverance, obedience, and holiness, we will be counted by God. Even the very hairs of our head are all numbered by God.
God is able to protect and take care of us physically in the midst of our powerlessness and worthlessness while the difficulties of the world increase until the Antichrist reigns over the world for three and a half years.
God is also able to take care of us spiritually in the midst of sins up to the peak on the last days, so we keep living in righteousness and holiness. God does not let the Gentiles who are small like a hair. We will not be neglected and lost. We keep belonging to God forever. We are counted. It means that God purges the rebels from among us.
Ezekiel 20:38
20:38. "I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Acts 20:29-31
20:29. "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolveswill come in among you, not sparing the flock.
20:30. "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
20:31. "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
Why does one rebel to God? Because he follows wolves, namely the false prophets who preach the strange voice or the false teaching. It teaches about the false marriage and ordination.
The false marriage is mixed-marriage, divorce-remarrying, and marrying-giving in marriage, including the marriage between homosexual and lesbian. He marries people without purpose to become one, so their marriage just aims at decay and destruction.
The false ordination is not in line with the Bible. For example, woman teaches or has authority over a man. The strange voice is also gossip that is not true.
The sheep that hear the strange voice will surely feel as strangers in the shepherding because they are not purified. They always try to go out of the sheepfold and the true teaching Word; even they drag others. But in the true sheepfold, God still gives opportunity and mercy through shepherd's rod and staff for those who feel separated from the true teaching Word. The staff is used to guide us, and the rod to hit or chastise.
Hebrews 12:9-11
12:9. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
12:10. For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
12:11. Now no chasteningseems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
The chastisement in all things does make us mourning and sick, but God wants to bring us back to the sheepfold--the Holy Place--, namely perseverance in committing the three kinds of main service to Him. Thus, we can bear the sweet fruits, namely righteousness, salvation, and peace, so our life becomes easy and light. In the shepherding, we will surely bear the fruits.
Acts 20:31
20:31. "Therefore watch, and remember that for three yearsI did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
That is why, we must be watchful in the true and good shepherding which is brought up by the true teaching Word. The three years is the limit in the shepherding for bearing the fruit. Not bearing the fruit, we should be cut down. But there is still the intercession prayer of a shepherd to lengthen the time and opportunity to bear the fruit. No matter the attitude of the sheep to their shepherd, a shepherd always prays for the chance to bear the fruit. But, if the sheep keep hardening their heart, so they do not want to be shepherded well and correctly, God will come with a rod of iron. They choose to hear the strange voice. They keep committing sin, so they do not experience the renewal of life. It is better for us to return to God and be shepherded well and correctly.
Psalm 2:9
2:9. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.'"
- Christ's sacrifice. He is the Good Shepherd who willingly dies on the cross for His sheep.
- The staff of Bonds.
Zechariah 11:7
11:7. So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock.
Ephesians 4:15-16
4:15. but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ--
4:16. from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
John 10:16
10:16. "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
The sheep are made one flock, namely one body with one Head. It is like the whole body which is knit and joined together. It means that we are used by God in the marriage, shepherding, inter-shepherding--fellowship--until the Israelites and Gentiles become one perfect body of Christ.
Ministering the building of the body of Christ is the same as crossing the tempest the sea.- Our journey is full of the impossible challenges and obstacles, so we must put Jesus as the Head who is responsible for our life.
- Our journey is full of sacrificing, especially our right. Jesus sacrifices His right to live by willingly dying in curse on the cross to put the base of the building of the body of Christ. Do not demand the right! Demanding the right will make quarrel and cleavage.
12:17. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
12:18. Then I stood on the sand of the sea.
We may not be inactive in the ministry although we are in the storm and waves. If we are inactive in the ministry of the building of the body of Christ, the Antichrist will become our head. We will experience the persecution of the Antichrist up to perdition forever. - Our journey is full of the impossible challenges and obstacles, so we must put Jesus as the Head who is responsible for our life.
- A gold reed.
Revelation 21:15
21:15. And he who talked with me had a gold reedto measure the city, its gates, and its wall.
A gold reed leads us to the last sheepfold in the New Jerusalem. We become the heavenly bride to enter the eternal kingdom of heaven.
Esther who had neither father nor mother ever received a gold reed. Having neither father nor mother refers to one who is powerless. But Esther was always in the women's quarters, under the custody of Hegai. It means always being in the sheepfold with a shepherd who was true, having persevere, and obedient. Esther obeyed Hegai.
Esther 2:3,7-8,15
2:3. "and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel, into the women's quarters, under the custody of Hegai the king's eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them.
2:7. And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
2:8. So it was, when the king's command and decree were heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king's palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women.
2:15. Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king's eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.
Someday, Esther received the stretching of a gold reed. The gold reed refers to the shepherding Word that is able to change us from the fleshly men to the spiritual ones like Jesus. We become strong and of good courage.
Esther 4:16
4:16. "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"
Fasting three days refers to the death and resurrection experience. We experience the renewal of life to become strong and of good courage.
It means as follows:- We do not get disappointed and desperate no matter the thing that God allows to happen in our life.
- We keep holding fast the true teaching Word. We do not commit sin.
- We keep trusting and worshipping God until the finish line.
It means as follows:- God's powerful hand is able to protect and take care of us miraculously in the midst of the difficulties of the world up to eternal life in heaven.
- God's powerful hand is able to finish all of impossible problems. He is able to help us.
- God's powerful hand gives us beautiful and successful future.
- We do not get disappointed and desperate no matter the thing that God allows to happen in our life.
God blesses us.