A Tale of Two Kingdoms (4)

A Stone Cut Out Without Hands

The story is found in Daniel 2. Like Anna’s story, it is a true story.

One day in the year 603 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon woke up all sweaty and troubled. For he had had a dream, a dream that left him with little peace. He was sure this was no ordinary dream and there must be a message in it for him. However, no one in his kingdom could interpret it, including all the wise men –stargazers, magicians and soothsayers –under his payroll. The king was mad at it and was about to execute them all when a young Jewish eunuch came forth and saved the day. His name was Daniel. According to Daniel, God told him both the dream and its interpretation. Daniel said:

You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.  This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Dan 2:31-35, NKJV)

Nebuchadnezzar must have been very impressed when he heard this, for this was indeed what he had dreamed of. But if this impressed him, he would be stunned once he heard the interpretation from Daniel.

You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. (Dan 2:37-44, NKJV)

The stone cut out without hands –this is the Kingdom of God. And whatever kingdom of this world is no match against it. Why “cut out without hands”? Because it’s God’s work, not man’s work. The image as a whole actually represents the kingdom of darkness, whatever that’s opposed to God’s kingdom of light. 

We can infer some truths about His Kingdom from this passage. Firstly, it is superior and more powerful than all others, it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms. Secondly, it’s desirous of knocking down all opposition; the kingdom shall not be left to other people. Thirdly, the reality of God’s Kingdom will replace the reality of the kingdom of darkness it knocks down until no trace of darkness is left. The glory of His kingdom will ever increase while whatever of darkness, may it be sin, sickness, poverty, perversion, strife and other evil, will diminish until it is no more. The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found.

Such is the import of the Kingdom of God. So, make sure you release the stone cut out without hands into your situation and see all negative circumstances crumbling down. They will be gone, as if carried away by the wind

Photo Credit: Evgeni Dinev on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Tale of Two Kingdoms (3)

Anna’s Stone

This is a true story*. It happened in Burma late last century. Anna loved talking to Jesus. At 4am in the morning she would head to a lonely spot in her village to pray. In this predominantly Buddhist country she cried out for the glory and kingdom of God to come. After some years, however, a Buddhist temple was built at the very spot where she spent time praying. How this could be, she said in her heart. Not losing faith, she persisted in her intercession. She would not allow the presence of the Buddhist temple to deter her from crying out for God’s kingdom to come. One day while she was praying, the Lord spoke to her. He asked her to do this: pick up a small stone and throw it at the temple. It seemed quite a ridiculous suggestion, what good will that make? And she thought to herself, I have no need to vent my frustration like this, committing vandalism. Still, the Lord insisted. Finally, she decided to just obey, for she never doubted the wisdom of her Master, and she could recognize His voice. So she picked up a small stone from where she stood and let fly, crying out at the same moment, “In Jesus’ Name.” Then she saw the most astounding miracle of her life! The small stone hit the huge structure and immediately she heard some strange sound coming from the building. Before she could make out what the noise was the building began to crumble and collapse right in front of her! Stunned, she could hardly believe what she had seen.

It didn’t take long for the police to pick her up for interrogation. Everyone in the neighborhood knew she went to the spot to pray. She told the police the truth, insisting that her God asked her to do it and she did it in Jesus’ Name. They were terrified and speechless, thinking what an awesome God she had. In the end they let her go. They reasoned that if her God was so powerful and would make a big temple collapse just by a small stone thrown at it there was no telling what He would do to them if they harmed her in any way. Smart move.

In case you think that I tell you this story to encourage you to go throwing stone at every temple you see, I must declare here and now that I DO NOT! I am telling you this story to bring across a point, something spiritual. This story depicts a powerful picture of the superiority of Jesus’ kingdom. It is a kingdom like no other. Whenever it comes colliding with the kingdom of this world, it always wins. Darkness cannot stand the invasion of light. Death must give way to Life.

God is more willing to invade the realm of our life for our sake than we dare think, as Anna’s story demonstrates. In fact Scripture tells us that the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (2 Chron 16:9, NKJV). Imagine this: here is God, ever looking from His throne to see if anyone would apply to His help, who would believe that He is ever present and willing to help whatever the matter. And He is ready to unleash His kingdom come crashing into our present reality and utterly turns things around for us. Can any difficulty stand in our way of the life He wants to give us? Of course not. Are you sick? Did you just lose your job? You need a breakthrough for your finances? Your marriage hit the rock? All the same, all you need is to pick up Anna’s Stone and hit your temple. Not just any stone, the Kingdom of God - a superior kingdom.

In my next post, I will share with you from Scripture another powerful picture that will get stuck in your mind just like Anna’s testimony will.

(*Note: source: Prophetic Intercession by Barbara Wentroble, p. 120. (Ventura, CA: Renew Books, 1999))

A Tale of Two Kingdoms (2)

A Different Kingdom

These are the two propositions. (1) Jesus came to take over from Satan as the owner and ruler of this world. (2) Jesus came to bring His own world to us: the Kingdom of God. Let’s see how they are different.

A few years ago I was driving a local-made car. It was an affordable, economy made. The carmaker provided warranty of parts for a certain period of time. Less than six months into use, the air-conditioning compressor unit became faulty. I sent the car back for repair and the mechanics fixed the problem, assuring me that it’s now okay. In less than two weeks, the problem resurfaced. I sent the car back. This time, the mechanic didn’t bother to do any repair but simply changed the compressor unit. After that I never had the same problem again. In fact the air-conditioning system, which was the most problematic part of the car for the first six months, became the car’s most admired strength for the rest of the eight years the car was with me. In the tropical country that I lived in, my car was well appreciated by family and friends alike for its powerful air-conditioning system. 

Now, you will agree with me that there is a difference between repairing the air-con compressor and changing it altogether. It is the same with the two scenarios we are considering. Clearly there will be very different results from the two options, and this in itself proves that they are not of the same. Let’s consider further.

The British monarchy has come under some scrutiny in recent years, not least after the tragic death of Princess Diana. One question being asked is who will ascend the throne after the Queen. Some suggested that Diana’s son Prince William will likely be crowned instead of his father. But the fact is that whoever becomes the next monarch, there will be little change to the livelihood of the subjects of the United Kingdom. Succession of throne brings about continuity. What has been continues to be. If there is change, it will be minimal. The laws, culture and practice of the land will largely remain the same. The same cannot be said if there was an invasion by a foreign power.     

The holocaust was without question to the Jews the most painful event in their recent history. During World War II, by early 1940s Hitler’s Nazi Germany had conquered much of Europe. Jews found themselves under unbearable persecution. Suddenly to be a Jew had become the chief crime, punishable by death. There was no escaping for them; they were confiscated of their properties, put into concentration camps, tortured and put to death. Six millions Jews in Europe were killed during this time. Almost the entire race was wiped out. All because Hitler had invaded Europe, where the six millions and their forefathers had made their homelands for centuries. Hitler brought a different world to them. 

You might think that this is an extreme case in history, but so is the invasion of Jesus’ kingdom into our world. King Jesus is not interested in ascending the throne of this Babylonian kingdom; He wants to bring His world with Him. It is a world governed by very different truths and exhibits the glory of God every way we turn.  And when it comes, there’s no escaping this glory. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5, TNIV).

The Kingdom of God is a far superior kingdom. 

Photo Credit: Catherine Hadler on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Tale of Two Kingdoms (1)

The Devil’s Offer

When the devil finally got to meet Jesus, and that on his own turf, he wasted no time to tempt Him, if only to ascertain whether this Man was made of the same stuff as Adam. Adam practically handed over to him the dominion man once enjoyed. The Prince of the World relished the sight of this second Man in a weakened state after much fasting.  Along came his advances.

See, these are the marvelous kingdoms of the world, from Egypt to the Roman Empire to China in the east. All these belong to me, and I can give them to you. Isn’t it what you want and why you are here?

One by one the Prince pointed out to Jesus, all in a flash, the splendor and majesty of civilizations on the earth, from near to far, from eons past to ages future. And as if to prove beyond doubt his ownership, he summoned the greatest of the rulers of these kingdoms before them, and they bowed to the Prince.

See, I told you so, they belong to me, these kingdoms.

Jesus did not dispute the claim - Satan is the Prince of this world.  Nevertheless He was overcome with emotion, and chills went up his spine. He was hungry, after having gone without food or water for forty days, but it was not physical weakness that led to this. Jesus was not fooled by the appearance of the earthly kings; their majestic look could not camouflage the wretchedness of their soul. Jesus could see through all this. But His concern did not stop with these. He had seen the atrocity Satan lashed upon the people of the lands. The  devil had indeed come to steal, kill and destroy.  So for a moment Jesus was thrilled at the possibility of an immediate relief for them. He longed to free them from the clutch of the evil one, for He so loved them.

I will give all to you, together with the subjects of the lands, those children of Adam that you love. You have come to save them, have you not?

We know the story (Luke 4: 1-13), Jesus did not accept the offer. We are told the reason too.

Only bow down and worship me.

Jesus could not have submitted to such a preposterous condition, even as a Man. But if we think that the last statement by Satan is the reason why Jesus could not have accepted the offer, we could be wrong. I think there is more as to why He turned down the offer.  Let’s take a look at it from another angle and ask ourselves this question: could Jesus have accepted the offer if Satan did not require Jesus to worship him? Suppose that somehow Satan had come to his senses and recognized Jesus as the true king of the universe. Now he desired to surrender all back to Jesus. Could Jesus have accepted the offer?

I think not. The reason is this: Jesus did not come to take over Satan’s kingdom; He came to bring His own. These are two very different propositions.   

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Scripture Link:BibleGateway.com 

Kingdom Awareness

He brings out those who are bound into prosperity (Ps 68:6, NKJV). The Lord works to bring us out of our limitations into prosperity and success. God’s nature is one aligned with wellness, prosperity and success. Being “bound” speaks of lack and oppression, falling well short of His glory; in fact, it could be brokered by evil. If we look at it from the perspective of the Kingdom of God, we can say the verse has somewhat the same connotation as Col 1:13 which say that He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (NKJV). From the influence of one kingdom to that of another, that’s the idea.

We need to bear in mind that it is God who “brings” us out, “delivered” us and “conveyed us into”, it is not our work, even for entering into the experience of signs and wonders, or for that matter any other blessings He has in store for us. It is all by His grace. But it is also not right to say that since it’s all by grace then nothing is required of us, we need do nothing and signs and wonders will just manifest in a believer’s life on their own accord. It is simply not true. Or else every Christian will automatically live the life of the Acts of the Apostles. However, I believe what is required of us is not in doing, but in knowing.

I don’t believe you need to fast forty days, pray incessantly, read the Bible all day long before you can move in power. It would be very wrong to think that these disciplines are in themselves necessary works to bring us to power. If they are good at all it’s because they could help us know where we stand as children of God and make us aware of the presence and reality of His Kingdom. We can never over emphasize the importance of this knowing. In my last post, I conveyed the insight of a preacher who practically said that we have a lot of knowledge, but do we really know? The Apostle Paul took this knowing very seriously; in Eph 1:15-21 he prayed that believers might know God and His exceedingly great power towards them who believe. Knowing precedes the walking in power.

In my own experience I find this to be very true. It’s when I am aware of His Kingdom that I see its reality manifest all around me. Every time a power encounter takes place I am blessed and I become a blessing to others. To me, Col 1:13 is a very good blueprint for meditation in this aspect. So I propose to lead you in a series of meditations concerning this through my coming posts. Most of the articles will come from material that I used for a sermon in last October. I welcome you to join me in my second series on this blog: A Tale of Two Kingdoms.

Scripture Link: BibleGateway.com

An Appetite for the Supernatural

All believers have a strong appetite for the supernatural. In fact the supernatural is natural to the believer. When I say this, I am fully aware that most Christians don’t experience the supernatural in their lives on a regular basis. But most, if not all, of them recognize that God is supernatural. When I say God’s nature is supernatural I mean He can intervene with the order He put in place in nature to accomplish His purposes or to reverse an order that came about as result of the intrusion of evil. The Bible tells us in many places that we have His nature: for example, 2 Peter 1:4 says that we are partakers of the divine nature, and in Gal 2:20 we are told that it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. If it were so, if God’s nature is supernatural and that a believer has the nature of God, surely to the believer the supernatural is natural also. So, when a believer yearns for miracles, signs and wonders, he is simply yearning for his nature to be let out and lived out, the nature he inherited from Christ.

Something is very wrong if a believer doesn’t have the desire to experience miracles, signs and wonders. You might as well say an Indian hated curry or a monkey doesn’t like banana. Every time you read in the Gospels that Jesus performed miracles you hoped you could be like Him, and when you read that the disciples healed the sick you wished you could be like them, didn’t you? What about John 14:12? Jesus said you will do even greater works than He did.

A few days ago I was reminded again of this inborn desire by none other than my wife. We went to pray for a sister tormented by a recurring ailment. I will not go into the details here. It suffices to say that when we reached her place she greeted us with anxiety and discomfort written all over her face, but  by the time we left her demeanor was one of ease and peace. On the car my wife told me that she felt very fulfilled that she could minister healing and deliverance. Her words got me thinking. Yes, I know that she was very happy for our sister to be relieved from her ailment, but it was equally true she was very happy because she got to express herself, the nature she inherited from Christ.          

Are there Christians who don’t have an appetite for signs and wonders? Yes there are. There are many reasons why many believers don’t have the appetite for the supernatural; one of them I believe is because they have been taught wrong. The result is that they not only don’t have the appetite, they actually developed an aversion towards the supernatural. I once heard a preacher say this: “If you give each of ten new converts a Bible, tell them to read it on their own without consulting anyone, none of them will come to the conclusion that signs and wonders are not for today. They have to be taught this stuff.”  Isn’t it profound? Somebody got to teach them that signs and wonders are not for them, they won’t get it from the Bible. If a monkey has been told from birth everyday that banana is not good for him, that it is poisonous, trust me, the monkey will shun banana.

I have faith in you that this won’t be your problem, so I will not dwell on it. If there be any problem, you will say, it is that even though I have the desire to cast out demons, heal the sick and raise the dead I couldn’t do so with much success. You find it hard to accept that it is part of your nature even though you have a strong appetite for signs and wonders because your experience didn’t add up to it. You have a desire but you feel limited in your ability to fulfill it. If the above describes your condition I urge you not to despair. I urge you not to elevate your experience above the truth presented in God’s Word. I have a word for you. This verse has been burning in my heart for some ten days now and I didn’t know why, until I sat down and write this article. It’s for you and it’s for me. A part of the sixth verse of Psalm 68 says this: He brings out those who are bound into prosperity (NKJV). The word “bound” gives a connotation of limitation. It is as though a part of you has been kept in prison. If you have been limited for a long time in your ability to live out your nature (the one you inherited from Christ), take heart. The Lord Himself will lead you out into success and fulfillment. His Word is your surety.

More Prophecy

There were quite a few reactions from readers after reading my last post, all very positive. I am very glad that they have grasped the truth about the nature of the testimony of Jesus. With this understanding they will no longer look at testimonies casually.  It will stand them in good stead both in receiving and in giving prophecy, and ultimately God’s blessings. In fact there will be a sense of expectation every time they hear of a testimony or giving a testimony. Something good is going to happen!

One sister told me a very interesting account, which happened to her after our thanksgiving session on December 14, 2010. As you could recount (check out my post Give Thanks - Dec 30, 2010), on that evening a brother who worked in a bank marketing their investment products shared with us about his superb sales result: he not only exceeded the target set for him he also clinched second spot in the state for sales performance. Our brother gave glory to God; he knew that the Lord’s hand was on him for he was barely a few months into the job. Now, this sister works in another bank but she is in operation, not sales. However there are also targets for them to meet as a branch. By early December there was a shortfall of about four million Ringgit from the target for deposit amount the headquarter set for the year. Failure to meet targets could affect staff performance bonus. Our dear sister prayed and the Lord did marvelous things. The deposits shot up in the month in sensational fashion: some three days from New Year Eve, they were short only a couple of hundred thousand. But towards the end the big moneys stopped coming in as customers prepared for the New Year. She could only hope for a miracle in the last two days.

Then, a miracle took place in a most unexpected way. The management at headquarter sent a directive revising the target concerned downward some four million Ringgit. The scenario was totally reversed. Instead of a shortfall of a couple of hundred thousand the branch had now exceeded the target by some four million Ringgit! Our dear sister was thinking of how to reach the target, but the Lord used people in high places to lower the set target so that the branch not only could meet it but far exceeded it. What an incredible twist in the plot of the story. Simple, isn’t it?  But could we have thought of it? It has the mark of the Lord all over it. Jesus is very creative when it comes to His way of solving a problem. According to our sister, in the twenty years of her employment with the bank, she had never once experienced the management revising a set target downward. It is supernatural. It has to be God.

Again, what I want to stress is how a testimony of one had become a prophecy for someone else. I have no doubt that the spirit of prophecy was at work in our sister’s life after she heard the testimony of our brother. And I know this is not the end. This testimony of our sister has now become a prophecy for you, and it will go on and on, until it becomes like an avalanche of snow, gathering up momentum and sweeping off everything in its path. Only it is an avalanche of God’s goodness, the favor of Jesus. You wouldn’t mind to be a part of this, would you?

Photo Credit: Salvatore Vuono on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I Have a Prophecy for You

In my last post I shared some testimonies of our group members for which we give thanks to God. I wonder what you think of them when you see God’s marvelous works in these people’s lives. Today let me tell you what I’ve learned about the nature of testimonies in the past year, I am sure you will be very excited once you hear about it. I owe the understanding mostly to the book by Bill Johnson entitled Release the Power of Jesus. One year ago all I had was head knowledge, although I was so excited I treated it like nothing less than an important revelation, but today I can tell you that I have seen with my own eyes the actual manifestation of the truth revealed in the book. Nothing beats real life experience in the power of Jesus.

The basic understanding comes from the verse Revelation 19:10. It’s a real amazing revelation: the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10, NKJV). In a nutshell, what it means is this: whenever a testimony is spoken about the miraculous works of Jesus, what’s spoken has actually become a prophecy of things to happen. We are always happy to hear testimonies, having been encouraged by them we even hope that with a bit of faith on our part the same can happen to us. But with the understanding of Rev 19:10, we can go much further than that. When the Lord causes you to hear a testimony of His works, He is actually saying to you that the same will happen to you, or at the very least you have become the carrier of this prophecy for the benefit of someone else. It is in a totally different dimension than what most of us have understood about testimonies.

I remember it was in March last year that I first introduced the concept to the group. At the time I was preaching on the second of a series of messages on the Much More Life. Earlier on after my first message a sister had spoken to me regarding her son’s experience of the Much More in his examination results, which was no less than a breakthrough for him. She spoke with so much conviction of the Much More Life I asked her to give a testimony in our group meeting. In the meeting I was to deliver the second message on Much More Life, and I arranged to have her speak her testimony as part of the sermon. After the testimony I told the group about my new understanding on Rev 19:10 and using the testimony of our dear sister I actually prophesied Much More Life in general to all. To be frank I cannot remember if I had particularly stressed on students’ examination results. I could have, even though it was not my main point. In less than a month a sister who had attended the meeting and heard the testimony reported that her son scored eight A’s out of ten in his external (government) examination. At year end four children of another three sisters (including the one who gave the testimony) in the group who attended that particular meeting did very well in their external examinations too. This is no coincidence. What happened? Our sister’s (or her son’s) testimony became a prophecy that brought all the good results into being!

Only a few days ago I learned of another story from a brother. On Christmas Eve he heard from a sister that she had an unexpected increment and also a bonus as per her heart’s desire. I was thinking it would be good to get her to share in our next meeting so that some will benefit from the spirit of prophecy. But before I even had time to think about when we will have the next MMG meeting the brother got his bonus! To him it was really unexpected because his company normally issues bonus at Chinese New Year.  Jesus is so impatient in doing good!

Surely you will have a very different attitude towards testimonies from now on. They are not simply incidences for which we can give thanks to God. Much more, they are prophecies to you waiting to come to pass. You may ask if it’s really so easy? It is, because Jesus is really so good. If you do not actively look out for things that God has done for His people, at least open your ears wide every time you hear someone boasts about what God has done for him. You never know, it may just be what you need.

I have a prophecy for you. Do you want to know what it is? Check out my last post.  

Scripture Reference Link: BibleGateway.com