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| Covenant Of Peace (rest); Ref: Peter Tan | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 4 2007, 01:05 PM (153 Views) | |
| Stace4Jesus | Jul 4 2007, 01:05 PM Post #1 |
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This is long, but worth the read. You can read more of Peter's Articles at: http://www.eaglevision.com.my/ This article was under the Blood Covenant and then the fifth article under that heading. Be blessed stace\o/ *** The Covenant of Peace Heb. 4:1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it. It says here there is a promise that up to the time of Hebrews that as he writes as a new covenant writer. He says that there is still a promise of entering into the rest. And he speaks about a rest that is ours that some of God’s people did not succeed into entering. The background of the book of Hebrews is that this group of Jewish Christians that were born again was having problems. They have some form of the Word of God given to them. They were under great pressure. There was a group of Jewish people who were pressuring them to give up Christianity and go back to the Jewish traditions and follow after the Jewish customs. Persecution was round the corner. They haven’t resisted until blood was shed yet. But there was intense pressure to compromise. Intense pressure to give up what they have received. So here Paul writes to them and tells them there is one thing that you lack. It almost sounds like Martha and Mary with Jesus Christ. And there was Jesus coming into the house and Martha was so busy cleaning the house, cooking the food. And Martha got frustrated. Why should she be doing all these work alone? Where is Mary my sister? She should be helping me. There was Jesus speaking the Word of God. And there was Mary and she was just sitting listening to Jesus. After some time she says that she is going to report about Mary to Jesus and say that she didn’t fulfill her household duties. Then she came straight to Jesus and asked Him whether He can tell Mary to help her. To her surprise Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, why are you troubled about many things? Mary has chosen the better part.” What happened was Martha did not enter into this rest. I wonder how many Christians are like the Hebrews and like Martha. There they are trying to do every thing but under pressure they could not find the rest. In chapter 4:1 says there remains a rest. Look at verse 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. There is a rest that we can enter into. And as I meditate upon this rest, I realize that this rest is not only spiritual but it affects your soul and it affects your body. Just look around you sometimes in the secular world and you find so many people not at rest. And in the world they are trying to pursue it through wrong teaching and wrong philosophy. Top executives pay thousands of dollars to learn how to sit in the yoga position. Some millionaires will pay all the money they have to get a good night rest. Many of them can’t sleep. They take pills to put themselves to sleep. That’s physical rest. And as I was meditating on this realm on the new covenant the rest of God gave, the Holy Spirit said to me, “Son, do you know that also implies physical rest. He says I don’t promise some thing in the spiritual that doesn’t affect the natural.” I said, “God if that is so then there are a lot of Christians who have not entered into that kind of rest.” And out there with all their wrong philosophy and wrong teaching, they are trying to get people to function at their best level without Jesus. So they tell you that there is the alpha wave that they try to move into. If people only know that there is a rest in Jesus that affects spirit, soul and body. As we go through life we do feel tension. But the key is the ability to rest in Jesus, which many did not discover. The most interesting thing is that this is part of their covenant. It is a part of the promise of Jesus for their lives. There is a rest that is possible. Let me point to situation that people are not at rest in. If they were at rest they won’t have this kind of tension. I believe a lot of the Body of Christ suffers from tension, pressure and stress in their lives. And I believe that this doesn’t belong to us. Because there is a rest where we can enter into the spiritual realm first which will affect the soul and then the physical body. Do you know you think better when you are at rest? And some of us are very tense all the time. Every thing you do without relaxing will cause you not to function at your optimum. If you are too tense playing a musical instrument, you cannot bring out your best. If you are too tense while you are singing, you can’t bring out your best voice. I was having fellowship with a top sportswoman in Perth who has won the women’s championship for several years. And she said the sad thing that she experience is that she wished that she had come to know Jesus much earlier and she would have done a better job. And she said that every time before the championship she would feel all these tensions. And she tried to do every thing she can to relieve that pressure so that she could be as relaxed as possible to play her best game. And she said I wished I had known Jesus and I could have prepared myself even better mentally and spiritually. Top athletes try to get into a mental frame of relaxation so that they could do their best. This is because tension diverts your energy into some thing else. It’s called wasted energy. But when you are relaxed you could channel all your spirit, soul and body to fulfill all that God wants. When people are tense, they are frustrated and upset easily. Do you know that when you are relaxed and calm and some one gets angry at you, you could just smile and quietly say, “Praise the Lord.” People who are easily upset have too much built-up tension. Why are we like that even though we are born again? What God wants is to get rid of all these things. You don’t have to learn to relax by doing yoga or transmeditation. But we need to teach God’s people the right way to get rid of all those tensions in their lives so that they could be more relaxed in their life, spirit, soul and body and achieve all that God wants. Lets look at Matt. 14:25-27 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them saying, “Take heart, it is I, have no fear.” All these tensions that was in their lives caused them to fear. Turn to Mk. 5:21And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about Him; and He was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jarius by name, and seeing Him, he fell at His feet. You could see that emotional pressure that came on his life. But I want to point to the fact that unless you are at rest in Christ you will find it hard to exercise faith. And so Jesus is on His way to heal his daughter. And in verse 35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” Now we get caught up in the miracle of Jesus raising the dead. But we forget the preparation behind it. Many people want instant miracle when they don’t get themselves into the rest of Christ. It is so wonderful to see an airplane fly. Do you know how much work goes into making that plane. It is so nice to see a miracle that breaks natural laws and crosses the natural barrier. Then we look at it and say that it is wonderful. We forget all the preparations behind it. It was as important to say to Jarius these words as much as it was to raise his daughter. Jesus said in verse 36 Do not be fear, only believe. See Jesus had to bring Jarius to rest in faith. And all along the way Jarius must rest in Jesus. I believe the reason why we don’t see the works of Jesus or greater works of Jesus is because we don’t even enter into His rest. We got so tensed up wanting a miracle, so tensed up wanting some thing. And we are not even at rest in Jesus. We don’t have words that say don’t be afraid only believe and we enter into the rest for some time. I am sure from that moment Jarius refused to let himself be pressured into tension and frustration, Jarius rested in Jesus and put his trust in Him. So that by the time they reached the house all his trust and rest was upon Jesus. The Bible says, “Cast all your cares upon Me for I care for you” (I Pt. 5:7). But Jesus says here in a different way. He says, “Come unto me all ye who are heavily laden and I will give you rest.” We can’t do the works of Jesus until we get into the rest where Jesus is. Jesus’ name is Yeshua which in the Old Testament is the same as Joshua. Just as Joshua brought the people into the land of Canaan Jesus seeks to bring us into rest. Now look carefully at Heb. 4 the land of Canaan in comparison equals the rest of Jesus. He is comparing the 2 Canaan equals to rest. Lets look at Mk. 4 first before we go to Heb. 4 again. Mk. 4:35-38 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them just as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him. And a great storm of wind arise, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” Look at the word care, or you can replace it with one big word you all know worry. “Don’t you care that we are perishing? Do you not worry at all? Are you not concerned for us?” Jesus stood up and said, “Why are you so fearful?” Verse 39 And He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still.” And the wind ceased. You can never calm the storm that rages against you until you have that calm in your own life. Unless that peace is in your own heart you cannot release it through your spoken word. The Prince of Peace says peace. Unless you are at rest you cannot bring others into rest. Unless you are at peace you cannot bring others to peace. Have you seen some one who is frustrated and tensed trying to calm another guy? They will add to the problem. Have you seen some one who is fearful trying to tell some one not to be fearful? You can’t give what you don’t have. Unless peace is in your heart you cannot release it out. Jesus was sleeping on a pillow He was at rest. And He releases rest. If you have a storm raging on your inside how can you calm the storm raging on the outside? And yet so many Christians have storms raging on their inside. Outside they put on a plastic mask. But inside there are lightning bolts, thunder storms, all kinds of turmoil going on in their inside. The big question we ask is, “Is this Christianity?” Is this what the Christian life is supposed to be? No, it is not. Turn to Heb. 4:9-10 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for whoever enters God’s rest also ceases from his labors as God did from His. If you compare Heb. 4 to Joshua going into the land of Canaan, Canaan is represented by rest. Capital Rest in the New Testament. The land of Canaan is not spelt with the C. Its spelt with the I. My rest is my land of Canaan. Now what is in the land of Canaan? In the land of Canaan there are abundance of blessings. In the old covenant it will be material blessings and all kind of blessings. Can you take the land with milk and honey before you cross into the land of Canaan. You can’t. Where is the honey, where are the grapes? It’s all in the land of Canaan. You can’t stand in the Jordan over here and say I would like some grapes. You can’t, you got to get inside. All your prosperity all your healing and all that Jesus promised is in that rest. If you don’t enter into that rest you can never partake of fruit. Entering it is a prerequisite to receiving it. Without entering into the rest you can never partake of any fruit that is in your land of Canaan. You could tell whether a miracle is going to take place by listening to whether people are at rest. Before you can have your healing which is one of the fruits in the land of Canaan, you must enter into rest. Before you can have your provision and prosperity you must enter into the rest. These are all words that Jesus said. There is a prerequisite to every healing miracle. And the prerequisite is you must enter your land of Canaan spelt with the word rest. Verse 33 is the land of Canaan. Mat. 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these shall be added to you. Everyone wants a blessing. Have you lived a life where things are added to you? You just love God, you just love righteousness, and God blesses you with all kinds of things. The question is why is it not happening in many people’s life. It is because they don’t fulfill the condition. Look at Matt. 6:33 the first word it is spelled with the “but” and look at verse 34 the first word that follows it is “therefore”. Now He is telling you how to get Matt. 6:33 He says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things.” We know that all these things will be added to you when you seek first the kingdom of God. Now He is telling us how to really seek the kingdom of God. First, you must enter into that rest. And He repeats it many times in Matt. 6. Verse 25 Therefore I say to you do not worry. Verse 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature. Verse 28 So why do you worry. Verse 31 Therefore do not worry. And you look at it worrying is serving mammon. Because the context of His verse is verse 24 “no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. Why is He so against worry? Worry is tension building up in your soul. Your soul is not at rest and storms are building up. Of course when tension is in your soul it gets into your body. A lot of people worry and get stomach ulcers. Tension builds up in their soul. And as long as your soul is not at rest you are not in the land of Canaan. You are not in your promised land. By not resting you are walking back into Egypt. Egypt is a place where you labor under a taskmaster. We have to observe whether we are at rest or not. The best place to observe is in your soul. It is because the symptoms are there in your soul. And one of the signs is worry, concern and built up tension. Jesus said do not worry. And every time before answers to prayer can come, we must completely get rid of every aspect that is not at rest in our life. Turn to Phil. 4:6-7 Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Have you ever tried praying a prayer of faith in healing for some one sick perhaps an incurable disease? You will never succeed to connect a power line into that sick person’s life unless you bring that soul to rest. If you could bring him or her to rest in the Lord and there is a peace quality in their soul its so easy to get the power of God flowing. The moment you lay hands and you pray the power of God just flows. And you could literally feel the power like the heat in electricity flowing right into them. And they could immediately receive the healing. But in may people life there is a blockage. The blockage is not always a big sin. The blockage is there is no rest. They are not in the position of rest. There is so much tension in their spirit, soul and body for God’s power to flow. It is a prerequisite before anything takes place. Why is it possible in the New Testament? What is so special? Lets us explore the book of Hebrews. We see the point that he’s getting us to. In chapter 4 he introduces the rest that we have in Him. And he focuses in chapters 5, 6 and 7 on the great promise that Jesus has brought forward for us in chapter 9. Heb. 9:15 Therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. Now we all know that He died for our sins. But look at the purpose in verse 15. Those who are called, those who are in the new covenant may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance and that is now in this life. Turn to chapter 10:12-18 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool for His feet. For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them, after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds.” Then He adds “I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. In other words peace reigns in your heart. What happens when the Word of God is written in your heart and in your mind? How do you know that it is written? Peace. Phil. 4:7 peace reigns. When faith comes there is peace. You see some times you can be confessing the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. Then you could tell the way people are saying and confessing they are trying to get it written into their heart and mind. They are trying to convince themselves. But when the Word is finally written some thing takes place - peace. I want to show that peace and faith are working together. Without faith completed there is no peace. Peace is the first result of faith. You know that faith has entered in when there is peace. Rom. 10 is a great chapter on faith. It tells us here in verse 8 But what does it say? The Word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach). Now he calls the Word the word of faith. But as you look on in verse 14-15 But how are men to call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news?” He calls the good news the gospel of peace. The word of faith is the good news of peace. The word of faith is that you can have peace in your heart. You can have peace in your soul. You can have peace in your body. You can have rest in your soul, you can have rest in your spirit, and you can have rest in your body. When faith comes peace manifests. When faith is not there peace is not there. Faith and peace operates together. When faith has completed its work it is written in your heart. When it is written in your heart and in your mind the peace is there. The peace that passes understanding. In Rom. 16 he continues on the same sense. Verse 20 then the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Is the God of peace dwelling in your heart? If your answer is no you will not have Satan’s work crushed under your feet. The God of peace must reign in our heart, in our mind and in our soul and in our physical body. And He will crush Satan under your feet. It is in the future tense for the Romans. It says here and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. That means its somewhere in the future. Why suddenly talk about the future? It is because there were things in their lives that were not at peace yet. And until God succeeds in bringing it to peace they will not have that happen in their life. In the context of Rom. 16 he was talking about divisions in their midst like in verses 17 and 18 all kinds of strife. Do you know strife is caused by people who are highly tensed? You can call it anger, jealousy, envy or anything but all these things can be lumped together. They produce tension in a person. Why do people complain or be angry? Because they are highly tense. They don’t have rest. And who are the ones who solve their quarrels? They are called the peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. That means for example if A is quarreling with B and I am highly tense and I hear what A said I get tensed. I hear what B said I get tensed. Can I be a peacemaker? I can’t because I will be either siding with A or siding with B. But if I am at peace and I hear what A said and let my peace come in what a difference. Do you know that a person can disagree with you but if they are at peace, they can sit down and talk over the differences? Do you know why husbands and wives cannot talk with one another? It is due to their tension. You see the problem is not that inability to discuss and fellowship. You don’t agree with everybody 100%. There are many things that got to be discussed along the way. The problem is not with our disagreement, do you notice that? The problem is that tension behind that disagreement. If we are all not tense, if we are all cool and calm we could discuss our differences easily. The problem is not the difference. The problem is that we are not at rest. If you allow the God of peace to reign in your heart, to reign in your soul and reign in your body, that peace will be so powerful that it will come upon other people. Turn to Matt. 10:13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. What happens when the God of peace comes on anything? Satan is crushed. Anywhere where peace comes Satan is defeated. If peace comes in your business Satan is defeated. What is the purpose of people fighting war? To bring peace. And when Jesus came in the new covenant He brought the most powerful peace possible. Something tangible that is different from the old covenant. You see Hebrews were trying to say these things are not possible in the old covenant. Because in the new covenant it is all done in Christ. Once and for all it is complete. All we have to do is to enter into that peace that is in Jesus. In the Old Testament they had to struggle very much for healing. They have to ask God for healing. They have to do a lot of things. In the New Testament you look to Jesus and lift up your hands and you thank God for healing. Look at Isa. 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole and with his stripes we are healed. Now did peace come first or healing came first? The other thing to take note is the tenses. It says, “For the chastisement of our peace was upon him; by his stripes we are healed.” Turn to I Pt. 2:24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. In the Old Testament they had to actually struggle. Remember Moses had to pray to God to heal Miriam. In the New Testament you lift up your hands and say, “Thank you Jesus” and you allow the peace of God to come into your life because it is already done. It was not done in the Old Testament yet. In the New Testament its completed and you focus on Jesus. Gal. 3:13-14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us – for it is written “Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree – that in Christ Jesus the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. One more thing when the Spirit came and in the coming of the Spirit Jesus particularly mentioned in John 14:26-27 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Now this was before the coming of the Holy Spirit. There is a peace that He brings us into. Jesus said My peace I give to you. Remember the first word of Jesus when He was resurrected to His disciples, “Peace be with you.” Unless you enter into peace you cannot enter into the things of the Spirit. Unless you enter into peace you cannot enter into prosperity (Matt. 6). Unless you enter into peace you cannot enter into healing. Unless you enter into peace you cannot enter into any of the blessings in the new covenant. That is why Heb. 4 says try to enter into that rest. And I have shown you that, that rest is the peace. If God crushes your enemy you don’t have to do anything. All you do is let the God of peace reign in our life. But this is the peace you have to fight for. This is the peace you have to strive for. And there are 2 ways to enter into that peace. It is implied in Phil. 4:6 Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. It tells you how to get rid of your anxiety. How to get rid of worry. We are not saying that we live in the world where worries don’t try to come. They will try to come. But there is a way around it. No. 1 through prayer. St. Paul says in everything by prayer and supplication. And the best pray I know is praying in the Spirit. When you are tensed, I mean in this life once in a while you get upset and tensed. And the devil will try to take away your peace. Remember if Satan cannot take your peace, he cannot take your joy and then he cannot take your goods. What did Adam and Eve lose? They lost their peace. They were no more at rest. They got to do something. Before joy comes peace must come. Try to rejoice without peace you can’t. Peace must reign in our life. The first way into peace is pray in tongues. Such a simple method but so little utilized. The next time if Satan tries to steal your peace, just pray softly in tongues. You could be angry or upset or whatever. And you enter into your prayer closet so upset, angry, you go so angry in your prayer but after sometime you go softly and peacefully. There is something that happens in your life that tries to take your peace away. Don’t ever move out of your land of Canaan your land of peace. Don’t allow tension to build up in your body much less your soul much less your spirit. The moment you sense it start praying in tongue. Remember what praying in tongue is; building yourself up. Keeping yourself in the love of God. If you don’t lose your peace you will get all your blessings of Canaan, health, wealth, prosperity and abundant life. Second is the meditation in the Word of God. The Word carries peace. And every time you meditate on the Word a measure of it comes into your life. Every time you hear the Word you may not feel it but faith comes. And as you keep hearing God’s Word over and over again and through speaking it forth and through hearing it again, faith comes and its building up. Every time you face insurmountable pressure take up God’s Word, take up praying in the Spirit and just confess. By the time I confessed maybe about 10 pages or so of God’s Word I could feel the peace in my heart. And my body is so charged up with the energy to do some thing for God. That’s the rest. You rest from your own works and God works through you. |
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11:36 AM Nov 8
