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Prayer

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PRAYER

 

What is prayer?  Prayer, I believe, is our communion with the Almighty.  There are numerous ways of communion with the Almighty.  The bible says when my saints shall humble themselves and pray then shall I forgive their sins and heal their land.  This is what this essay is all about.  Our intercession and supplication laid before our heavenly Father.

 

There are different kinds of prayer.  One of the main points is praying in the holy ghost and having the spirit of God direct us in our prayer.  Secondly, praying with faith as Mark 11:24 praying with faith is believing with faith we have received the answers to our prayers according to the will of God.  Praying with thanksgiving we must learn to thank God for our answers (Luke 17:17).

 

Prayer is petition (John 16:23-24).  God is our Provider.  He is Jehovah Jireh as John 16:23-24 tells us.  We must learn to ask according to the will of God.  Once in our home, when I was about 9 years old, we were living in Singapore during that time.  We had no food in our home so we decided to pray for food.  Miraculously, the next day, a lady from our prayer group came home with large packets of food because as she and her friend were praying, God gave her a vision of our empty refrigerator and told her and her friend to fill it up.  God is good.  We petitioned God and He answered our prayer.

 

Prayer is intercession.  Intercession is when we share the burden of Christ for a person, circumstance or need anywhere in the world.  We have become partakers of Christ’s suffering.

 

Prayer                          Need in               God’s love

Answered                    the world            and feelings

Get the                        or an                   for that

Victory                         individual            particular

Need or emotion

 

God places the

Burden in the

Heart of the

Intercessor

For that particular

Need or individual

 

Therefore, intercessor fills the bridge between Christ and the need.  Through Christ gaining victory in prayer.  Prayer is therefore praise and worship, waiting on God, confession, intercession, petition and thanksgiving.

 

In conclusion I would like to say that God has bestowed on us this awesome gift of communing with our Creator, thanking our Provider, worshipping our Creator, loving our Heavenly father and listening to Him.  Above all, experiencing His love and growing to be more like Him.

Call of God

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INTRODUCTION

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call, no other reason at all but the sake of the call, wholly devoted to live and to die , for the sake of the call,

Not for the sake of a creed or a cause, not for a dream or a promise, simply because it is Jesus who calls and if we believe we’ll obey.

(Taken from the song, For the Sake of the Call, by Steven Curtis Chapman)

Rom. 8:30:  And those He predestined, he also called, those he called, he also justified, those He justified, he also glorified.

I believe every Christian has a call on their lives.  We are all chosen by God and God has a specific plan for our lives and we can either accept this plan and purpose and go His way;  or we can reject it.  If God calls us for a specific task, God will confirm this call through the scriptures, through His people and provide for that specific call.  Where God calls and guides, God provides.

WOMEN CALLED BY GOD

RACHEL JOY

“I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus.  I am not going to justify my faith to them and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me.  If I have to sacrifice everything .. I will.  I will take it.  If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend Jesus, then that’s fine with me.”  (Extracts of a letter by Rachel Joy, p. 96)

Rachel Joy was a teenager from America who was killed for her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Through her life millions have been blessed.  Jesus had a call on her life.  The journal in which she wrote her prayers to God indicates the intimate relationship she had with the Almighty.  This girl has made a big impact not only on my life but on the lives of people all over the world, especially the young people.

Joan D’ Arc

Her martyr’s death the Living God repaid

A girl, she speaks to us from History

A well-armed slyph she led a vast crusade

The world recalls the tale of Joan the Maid.

(Extract of the poem, Joan the Maid, written by Michael Fountina)

Joan d’Arc was a teenager who died a martyr’s death.  According to the Catholic Encyclopedia “her simplicity, piety and good sense appear at every turn, despite the attempts of the judges to confuse her”.  God had an awesome calling in the life of Joan d’Arc expressed in one of her letters written to Sire de Rotslaaer written from Lyons on 22 April, 1429.  According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, he reports the maid said “that she would save Orleans and would compel the English to raise the siege, that she herself in a battle before Orleans would be wounded by a shaft but would not die of it, and that the King, in the course of the coming summer, would be crowned at Reims, together with the other things which the King keeps secret”.  Joan d’Arc, with a call of God on her life, not only led a vast army of men in battle but also fulfilled the call of God on her life.

MOTHER TERESA

“There is a terrible hunger for love.  We all experience that in our lives – the pain, the loneliness.  We must have the courage to recognize it.  The poor you may have right in your own family.  Find them.  Love them.  Put your love for them in living action.  For in loving them you are loving God himself” (by Mother Teresa).  Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, and she was the youngest of three children.  When Mother Teresa was 18, she joined the order of the sisters of Our Lady of Loreto in Ireland.  It was on 10 September, 1946, God enlightened Mother Teresa with his call on her life while traveling on a train to Darjeeling, a hill station in the Himalayas. In quiet, intimate prayer with her Lord she heard distinctly what she referred to as “a call within a call”.   According to Mother Teresa, “I realized that I had the call to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless – to be God’s love in action to the poorest of the poor.  That was the beginning of the missionaries of Charity.”  She was aware of what she had to do, but she did not know how to get there.  She had previously been called to the religious life but God further called her to another kind of work and service in the religious life.  Mother Teresa’s life and call has touched the hearts of people all around the world.  She embodied the love of God on earth.  Her selfless giving nature has been an eye opener to a selfish materialistic world.  According to Mother Teresa “I see God in every human being.  When I wash the leper’s wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord Himself.  Is it not a beautiful experience?”

AMY CARMICHAEL

The love that leads the way,

The faith that nothing can dismay,

The hope no disappointments live,

The passion that will burn like fire.

(by Amy Carmichael)

Amy Carmichael was an Irish missionary who spent 53 years in South India.  She founded the Dohnavaur Fellowship, a refuge for children in moral danger, especially young girls from the age of four who were sent to the temples to be used as prostitutes by the priests.  These girls were taught to sing and dance and bring pleasure to these temple priests.  The call of Amy Carmichael was to save these girls, and sometimes even boys, from this kind of life and Amy Carmichael became a mother to these girls.  She was called Amma which means mother.  Amy Carmichael, a beautiful woman of God with a definite call and purpose for her life, never married.  Amy Carmichael states “Do I regret now that for your sake I chose to do without that which nature desires, what was pressed upon me, so that I might serve ‘without distraction’, as Paul puts it?  No indeed I do not.”

Amy Carmichael had an impact on the lives of thousands of children in South India Dohnavur.

GRANNY BRAND

I realize now it had to be

Before He taught my soul to pray

Before the glory I could see

The Glory He promised me.

(by Granny Brand)

Evelyn Constance Brand and Jesse Brand came to India as missionaries on 28th August, 1913.  Evelyn had responded silently to a call of God on her life when Jesse spoke at a missionary meeting in St John’s Wood chapel speaking about his work in India.  She told her family she wanted to be a missionary and the Mission Board accepted her application to work in India where she again met up with Jesse Brand whom she later married.  Jesse Brand died of blackwater fever in 1928, and Evelyn Brand with a definite call on her life brought Christianity to the low caste inhabitants of all five mountain ranges of South India.  The ministry and call of Granny Brand was unique because she was a nurse, teacher and preacher to the diseased and poverty stricken hill people of South India.

Joni Eareckson Tada

Joni Eareckson Tada broke her neck in 1967 during a diving accident in which she became a quadriplegic.  The call of God came on her life.  Joni sensed God speaking to her saying “Joni, I want you to live life without use of your hands or legs and learn to smile while doing it.”  God also seemed to tell her “I want you to be my audiovisual aid of how My strength shows up best in weakness.”  Joni Eareckson is truly a testimony of God’s strength showing up in weakness and her life after her accident has accomplished much for God;.  God calls and uses us when we least expect it, when we are least prepared, when we are not termed perfect by worldly standards.  Moses felt the same way, yet God chose Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.  He was a poor speaker yet God made him the greatest leader.

MEN WITH A CALLING

MAHATMA GANDHI

“Austerity implies external renunciation, endurance and sometimes even hypocrisy.  But saintliness is an inner quality of the soul.  My mother’s austerity was only an echo of her inner life.  If you notice any purity in me, I have inherited it from my mother, and not from my father.  Mother died at the early age of forty.  I have been a witness of her behaviour in the flower of youth, but never did I see in her any frivolity, any recourse to beauty aids or interest in the pleasures of life.  The only impression she ever left on my mind is that of saintliness.”

Mahatma Gandhi definitely had a calling on his life.  He preached Satyagraha, or in other words, non-violence.  Mahatma Gandhi has definitely played a major role in the nation of India.  Practising satyagraha or non-violence, he brought about freedom to India.  Practising swaderhi or buying only Indian made goods, he boosted the economy.  Gandhigi was really a role model to the Indians – one frail, puny man accomplished the independence of a nation.  Yet my only regret being an Indian myself is that he did not have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Rumours have it that he was an avid reader of the word of God yet he did not know God.    Hypothetically speaking, if Mahatma Gandhi was a Christian, the whole of India would have been saved.  Gandhi had a call on his life – not a holy, higher calling, but a calling to bring about freedom and independence to India.

MARTIN LUTHER

“Although I lived an irreproachable life as a monk, I felt that I was a sinner with an uneasy conscience before God, nor was I able to believe that I had pleased him with my satisfaction”.  At last, God being merciful, as I meditated day and night on the connection of the words ‘the righteousness of God is revealed in it, as it is written’, ‘the righteous shall live by faith’, I began to understand that righteousness of God.” (Martin Luther, Theology of the Cross)

Martin Luther, this incredible man with an incredible call and purpose, I believe is the father of Protestantism.  Martin Luther plays a significant role in the reformation or, in other words, the purpose of reformation and had the courage given by God to stand up for the authority of the word of God.  This man, I believe, was predestined for this specific call on his life.

MY CALLING

When I was nine years old, I was miraculously healed of asthma in a healing crusade.  When I turned ten, my father, who is now a missionary pastor in Egypt, spoke about preaching the gospel to the people.  In that service, I dedicated my life to God to serve Him.  I came home and wrote a poem which says “I want to be a servant of God, you may ask me why, that’s between God and me and nothing can destroy, the love of God for me.  He saved me from the pangs of death when I was about to die and this is not a lie, for He has a purpose and this purpose is I”.

God has blessed me with a good singing voice and other talents.  Yes, I do know God has a plan and purpose for my life and God has a call on my life.  What that specific call is I do not know.  What I do know is whatever way He is willing to use me, I am willing and I will be obedient to Him.  If God wants me to be a light that shines in the corner, I will;  if He wants me to be on a pedestal, I will.  My heart’s desire is that the glory of the Lord will be manifested in me and through me, through my life and through my testimony.

I would like to conclude with a poem I wrote sometime back while I was in Egypt.

Who am I?

That thought in my heart I ponder

What am I meant to be

Oh God, the future I just can’t foresee

Yet you care for me.

You didn’t just let me be,

You have a place and purpose

Thy Word is the key.

I came into the world a little seed,

Curious about the world so mysterious,

Bombarded with emotions hilarious,

At times delirious, at other times, furious

As I started to grow and mature to the tree I was meant to be,

I faced the storms of life

Into temptations I was tossed,

Yet through thy divine grace at Calvary

To temptation I was no longer held in slavery,

You set me free, enabling me to grow in sanctity,

Your word says, You shall bear fruit in season,

Seasons have come, seasons are gone,

Oh God, I feel so alone, why was I ever born,

Yet you on me never did frown,

The veil to enter the holy of holies was torn

By thy divine blood on the cross which was no loss,

At thy feet I place my supplication,

Oh Christ, on me make a divine transformation,

This season, let me see my life has a reason

Let me bear fruit at a dozen

Change my heart, my attitude

As I grow and mature in thy attitude,

As I pray I feel thy presence come as a ray

I feel the power of thy awesome presence like rain on me does spray

Father, when will you use me

Is it today?

I feel the rain come on me washing all my doubts and fears without a trace

Speaking to me through a gentle breeze

Thy love for me will never cease

I hear they voice saying my plans for you will be fulfilled come what may

All your have to do, daughter, is to pray.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Catholic Encyclopedia

Chanda, Yogesh, Rediscovering Gandhi, 1997.

Elliot, Elizabeth, The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael – A Chance to Die, 1961.

Le Joly, E., We do it for Jesus, Oxford University Press, 1977.

McGrath, Alister E., Luther’s Theology of the Cross, 1985.

Scott, Darrel and Nimmo, Beth, Rachel’s Tears – A spiritual journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, 2000

Wilson, Dorothy Clarke, Granny Brand Her Story, Paul Brand Publishing, Seattle, 1976.

Yancey, P., Lucado, M., Maxwell, John C., Hayford, Jack, Eareckson Tada, Joni, Barnett, Tommy, Boa, Kenneth, Wells, Thelma, Destiny and Deliverance – spiritual insights from the life of Moses, 1998

Pneumotolgy

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T

“Whatever is true of the triune God is true of the holy spirit … a considered perusal of the sacred text yields an impression that the holy spirit is the mighty executive of the Godhead and by so much his relation to both father and son is a theme of great proportions.”  (L. S. Chafer)

“Christlikeness is the primary manifestation of the filling of the Spirit.”  (Charles C. Rynie)

“The holy spirit has graciously connected Himself with two things – truth and prayer.”  (C. H. Spurgeon)

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “The branch of Christian theology concerned with the holy ghost and other spiritual concepts”.

What is the trinity?  We have God the father, God the son, and God the holy spirit – the three in one. The age old examples are a hard boiled egg.  We have the egg shell, egg yoke and egg white.  We have ice, water and water vapour.  Three in one.  Gen. 1:2 tells us that the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  Who is this spirit of God who existed before anything existed?  In Gen. 2:7, God breathed into the breath of man.  When God created man in his image, did man have life in him.  No, the life came when God breathed his breath into man.  In other words, man now has a spirit.  God is Triune.

We can go deeper into this subject but there is no time.   Eg  what is the difference between soul and spirit.

Where does the holy spirit dwell in the life of a born again believer?  The holy spirit dwells in the heart of a believer.  The holy spirit is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.

How does the indwelling of the holy spirit change our lives?  According to Acts 2:104, when the holy spirit came on the believers in the form of tongues of fire, it did not just stop with the gift of tongues.  There seems to be a radical transformation in the personality of Peter as He boldly spoke to the crowds.  The holy spirit, through him, convicted the crowds and many put their faith and trust in God.   (see diagram over)

  1. How has the infilling of the holy spirit impacted your life?
  2. What is more important, baptism of the holy spirit or baptism of water?
  3. How do you think you can renew your relationship with the holy spirit?  or how do think you can have a closer communion with the holy spirit?

One new perspective that I gained while studying the subject of pneumatology was that the Holy Spirit prepares us for ministry.  After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, the holy spirit came on Jesus and Jesus, already anointed, was specifically anointed for the task ordained for Him.  The question I now put forward is did Jesus commence His ministry as soon as He was empowered?  Luke 4:1-12 tells us Jesus was led by the spirit of God to the desert where He was tempted by Satan.  I would like to add that God tests us.  God allows certain trying times in a person’s life .. but God never tempts us.  If we take the story of Job, God allowed Job to go through a very horrendous experience but Job, because his faith in God was firm, was blessed beyond measure in his later life.  Now, coming back to the former question, I believe God prepares us before ministry for the specific task or tasks appointed for us.

Take the life of Elisha.  Elisha waited ten years for the double portion of anointing.  Those ten years were the processing time and the preparation time for Elisha.

Why was apostle Paul two years in the desert before he went up to Jerusalem to meet the other apostles.  Because it was his preparation time.  It was his processing time.

How does the holy spirit prepare and process us?  I believe He sometimes allows us to go through trying times.  He sometimes allows us to see how weak we are so that we rely more on His strength and His wisdom.  He sometimes allows loneliness in a person’s life which enables us to have a closer relationship with Him.  He sometimes just gives us the green signal and tells us, you are ready, go for it.  It is up to God to map our life and it is our duty as His children to walk in His way.  But God never forces us;  God never pushes His call down our throats.  We can either choose to obey or disobey.  The holy spirit is our comforter, our guide, our teacher, our healer, our best friend.  It should be our duty as His children to say, “Holy spirit, have your way in me”.

Why do the Pentecostal churches attract the most amount of Christians?  Is it because it is more fun?  It is because of the move of the holy spirit.  According to statistics taken from the book, The Holiness Pentecostal Tradition, by Vinson Synan, the global Pentecostal/charismatic membership was:

1901 – 40 members

1975 – 96 million

1995 – 460 million

2000 – 550 million

Praise God, the membership is still growing.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Duewel, Wesley, Revival Fire, Michigan, Zondervan, 1995

Synan, Vinson, The Holiness – Pentecostal Tradition, Michigan, Zondervan, 1971

Williams, J. Rodman, Renewal Theology, Michigan, Zondervan, 1990

David

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THE MONARCHY

KING DAVID

Introduction:

1 Samuel 16:11,12 “There is still the youngest, Jesse answered, but he is tending the sheep … So he sent and had him brought in.  He was ruddy with fine appearance and handsome features.  Then the Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him;  he is the one’.”

David, Israel’s greatest King.  David, who name is predominant in the lineage of Jesus.  David, man after God’s own heart.  David who fell into temptation, yet sought repentance.  David, a leader, poet, musician, song writer.  I believe David is one of the most fascinating Biblical characters that ever lived.  David, a rags to riches story, from a humble shepherd boy to the greatest king that ever lived.  Why?  Because God chose and anointed him and appointed him.  God chose a humble shepherd boy.

David, from the Hebrew word pronounced daw-veed, meaning beloved.

Date:  According to Wayne Blank, author of Daily Bible study, “David was born about 1040 BC, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem.  Anton Marks in his journal on King David says that “his reign began in 1000 BC”.  The life of King Davis is written in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel.  Samuel was born 1150 BC.  According to Hayford’s Bible Handbook by Jack W. Hayford, p. 69, “we know that it was written after the division of the nation in 931 BC.  Also since there is no mention of the fall of Samaria in 722 BC, it should be dated before this event”.

Authorship:  The Jewish Talmud ascribes authorship to Samuel.  However, according to Hayford, p. 69, “but some suppose that Abiathar the priest wrote it”.

The Selection of King David:  According to Dr Gartow Friedrich Oehlor in his book, Theology of the Old Testament, p. 361, “The person of Samuel, moved as he was by the prophetic spirit, was now the center of the nation’s life.  The sanctuary being rejected and the agency of the high priesthood suspended, the mediatorship between God and His people vested with the prophet”.  The prophet Samuel is a type of Christ because he was the mediator between God and the people.  In 1 Sam. 16:11-13, it tells us a little about the history and personality of David.  David was the youngest son.  In the Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures, the eldest son is most respected and is usually the elder of the family after the death of the father.  David, on the contrary, was the youngest son.  David was a shepherd.  I believe that it was at this time that David developed an intimate relationship with God.  In Samuel 6:13, when Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David, the spirit of God came on David in power.  In Luke 3:21-22, it tells us about the baptism of Jesus.  When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, the spirit of God came in the form of a dove and rested on Jesus.  It was then, and only then, that Jesus had supernatural power to go and perform miracles.  Now let us compare these two portions of Scripture with a charismatic perspective.

DAVID JESUS
1 Samuel 16:13 Luke 3:21,22
The holy spirit came upon David in power when Samuel anointed Him in the presence of his brothers. When Jesus was baptized by the prophet, John the Baptist, the holy spirit came on Him in the form of a dove.

The significance of the anointing of David is of tremendous importance to me because I believe that it is symbolic of the baptism of Jesus.  It was only after this anointing and this baptism that there was a “radical transformation” in the life of David and the ministry of Jesus.  Why?  Because from that particular point, the holy spirit came on them in power.

David’s powerful reign:  According to the Old Testament Survey by William Sanford, David Allan, Frederic William, p. 244, 245, the reign of David can be split into three parts summarized as:

  1. King over Judah at Hebron:  (1:1-4:12).  David’s respite from Saul’s persecution and his return from exile among the Philistines were clouded by his remorse at the slaughter on Mt Gilboa.
  1. Struggle for the Throne (2:1-4:12):  “David’s triumphal return from his sojourn in Ziglag resulted in his acclamation as King in Judah in Hebron.
  1. King over all Israel at Jerusalem:  The rival gone, David was hailed at Hebron as king of all Israel.

David’s political and religious reforms:

David’s political reforms:  According to the Pictorial Bible Dictionary by Merril C. Tenny, “from 1002 to about 995 BC, David expanded his kingdom on all sides:  west against Philistia, taking Gath;  east against Moab;  north against Syria;  and south against stubborn Edom.  An alliance with Hiram of Tyre enabled David to construct a palace in Jerusalem.  David’s political analogies with Egypt, his cabinet, including such officers as the recorder (public relations official), the scribe (secretary of state), David reigned supreme”.  According to the Old Testament Survey by William Sanford, David Allen and Frederic William, “David’s religious reforms, military outreach and political and social reorganization called for sweeping changes in administrative structure”.

According to Old Testament Life and Literature (1968) by Gerald A. Larue, “the old chieftain type kingship represented by Saul belonged to the past;  kingship now involved administration of a large unified central state and military control of subject areas.  Gone forever was the time when it could be said “everyone did what was right in his own sight”.

David’s religious reforms:  According to the Pictorial Bible Dictionary by Merril C. Tenney, “David also elevated Jerusalem into his religious capital by installing Moses’ ark of the covenant in a tent on Zion.  He honoured it both with dedicatory psalm and with a permanent ministry of Levitical singers under Asaph”.  According to Gerald A. Larue “Ritual sacrifices associated with the moving of the ark were performed by David.  No special shrine or temple was constructed for the ark, making it necessary for a writer to explain why David failed to build a temple for Yahweh, although he constructed a palace for himself” (ch. 7).  What Gerald C. Larue, who wrote Old Testament Life and Literature (1988) failed to realize is that God specifically told David that his son Solomon would build the temple of God and Solomon, blessed beyond measure financially, built a magnificent temple for God.  Solomon did a great job in building the temple.

Davidic Covenant:  According to the Moody Handbook of Theology by Paul Enns, he states that “the kingdom concept reaches its zenith in the Davidic Covenant, which predicts the future millennial reign of David’s greater son, the Messiah”.  Paul Enns goes on to state the nature of the covenant in 2 Samuel 7, God promised David the following:

  1. David is to have a child yet to be born who shall succeed him and establish his kingdom.
  2. This son (Solomon) shall build the temple instead of David.
  3. The throne of his kingdom shall be established forever.
  4. The throne will not be taken away from him (Solomon) even though his sins justify chastisement.
  5. David’s house, throne and kingdom shall be established forever.

Distinctive Pentecostal Beliefs:  1 Samuel 16:18.  “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp.  He is a brave man and a warrior.  He speaks well and is a fine looking man.  And the Lord is with him”.  Why was the Lord with David?  Because I believe he spent time praising and worshipping God.  (Let us picture David sitting on a rock with beautiful hills all around him surrounded by his sheep.  Just lost in the presence of God, playing harp, eyes closed, just loving God.)  That is the reason God chose him and called him a man after God’s own heart.  As David was shepherding his flock, it was a preparation time for him to shepherd his people;  shepherd a nation.

Now coming back to the topic of a distinctive Pentecostal belief, praise and worship is definitely a key point.  I believe David is the most awesome worship leader that ever lived.

Secondly, 1 Samuel 16:13, when David was anointed as King, the spirit of the Lord came on him in power.  He was anointed.  Thirdly, 2 Samuel 23:2 “The spirit of the Lord spoke through me, his word was on my tongue”.  The Lord speaks through David because he is full of the spirit of God.

Personal Application:  This study of the life of David has really put within me a desire and an urge to spend more time praising and worshipping God.  I feel that I am now in the “liminality” or in the transaction period of what God has in store for me.  As I studied the life of David, it gave me hope that in due time God always answers.  God has a specific plan and purpose for our lives.  David was chosen by God and God had a plan and purpose for his life.  In the same way, I can now face the future without worry or fear, knowing that God has chosen me and has a definite plan and purpose for my life.

In conclusion, I would like to quote from the Moody Handbook of Theology by Paul Enns, “God will ultimately move to restore man from his subservience to sin.  He will do it through Messiah, a descendant of David.  God will eventually give Messiah an earthly political and spiritual kingdom over Israel and over the nations in which Messiah will rule in righteousness.

David’s life as King taken from Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts.

According to Walter C. Kaiser in his book Old Testament Theology, “God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7 has to be among the most brilliant moments in the history of salvation”.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blank, Wayne, Daily Bible Study, article from internet.

Enns, Paul, The Moody Handbook of Theology, Moody Press, Chicago, 1989.

Hayford, Jack W., Hayford’s Bible Handbook, Nashville, 1995.

Kaiser, Walter C., Toward an Old Testament Theology, Michigan, 1995.

Larue, Gerald A., Old Testament Life and Literature, article from Internet, 1968.

Marles, Anton, Journal King David, article from internet, 2000.

Nelson, T., Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1996.

Oehler, Dr G. F., Theology of the Old Testament, Minnesota, 1883.

Sanford, William, Allen, David, William Frederic, Old Testament Survey, Michigan, Zondervan, 1982.

Tenney, Merril C., Pictorial Bible Dictionary, Michigan, Zondervan, 1963.

Christ In The Old Testament

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Describe the Christ of the Old Testament.

Christ of the Old Testament plays an extremely significant role in comprehending the Christ of the New Testament.  In the study of Theophany, which is God appearing to man in human form, some evangelical commentators feel that this could have been the Lord Jesus.  Noah and Enoch “walked with God”.  God spoke to Noah concerning the ark.  In Genesis 18, the Lord appeared to Abraham.  “There is good reason to think that theophanies before the incarnation of Christ were visible manifestations of the pre-incarnate Son of God.”  (p. 847, Merril C. Tenney, 1963)  Christ therefore has appeared to man in human form in the Old Testament and the Christ of the Old Testament, whether in the form of theophany or prophesy, is as significant as the Christ of the New Testament.

The Messiah:  The word Messiah means the anointed one.  Messiah also means the Saviour promised to the world through the children of Israel.  Messiah is derived from Mashaeh which means to consecrate an individual or objects with the use of the sacred anointing oil.  The term Messiah has different meanings for the Jews and the Christians.  For the Jews, the term Messiah is one who would be king, a spiritual leader, a political head, and through whom they can enjoy peace and prosperity.  For the Christian on the other hand, the term Messiah refers to Jesus Christ as mediator who came to set his people free from sin and death and who is our spiritual deliverer.  Jesus Christ is therefore called Messiah because He is the original, essential and eternal Son of God (Merril C. Tenney, p. 529, Dr James Smith, p. 1, Jack W. Hayford, p. 699, Luis Berkhof, p. 92).

Messianic Prophecies:  The Messianic prophecies are divided into two groups – the general messianic prophecies and the personal messianic prophecies.  The general messianic prophecies refer to the eschatological sequence or the new age to come.  The personal messianic prophecies refer to Jesus Christ as the king, prophet, counsellor eg Isaiah 9:6 which tells us “And he will be called wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”.

The messianic prophecy is divided into two pre-supposition, which ultimately are:

  1. The possibility of prediction (not being a rationalist, not a skeptic;  these predictions have come true and other spheres and aspects of the prophecies of the Bible are being fulfilled today).
  1. The omniscience of God (“Our God is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient”).  Our God is all knowing, when one looks deeper into the angle of omniscience with a Biblical point of view, one sees numerous spheres of hidden truths.  But the prophecies are not a hidden truth, they are an “open truth” which was fulfilled and which are being fulfilled even today, with historical data proving it.  Therefore our God is omniscient or all knowing.  God predestined us;  but above all God spoke to us concerning the Messiah and what He spoke He fulfilled. (Italics my own)  (Dr James Smith, p. 415)

The First Messianic prophecy:  Gen. 3:15 tells us that God would put enmity between the serpent (which is the devil) and man (and Jesus was the representative of man).  So in other words, the devil and Jesus Christ.  This verse shows us the deity and the humanity of Christ (Jack W. Hayford).

Messianic

Prophecies of His ministry:

Herbert Lockyer, p. 101, 1973 says:  “The sacred sublime task of the Christ of prophecy when He became the Christ of history was to become the Christ of redemption”.  The miracles that Jesus performed and the teaching of Jesus are a proof that Jesus is the authentic son of God.

  1. The Ministry of Jesus began in Galilee:  Ish 9:1,2 “Beyond Jordan in Galilee the light shines”.
  2. The Continuation of the ministry of Jesus went forth into Jerusalem.  “Rejoice greatly .. shout O daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh” (Zech. 9:9).
  3. Christ played a major role in the temple of God:  “I will fill this house with glory’ (Hag. 2:7).
  4. Christ ministry was the proclamation of salvation.  “Loose the bands undo the heavy burdens let the oppressed go free.” (Ish 58:6)  “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me to preach … to bind up … to proclaim.”  (Ish 61:1,2)
  1. The ministry of Jesus was both to the Jews and the Gentiles:  “My people hath been lost sheep” (Jer. 50:6);  “Rejoice o ye nations with his people (Jews)” (Deut. 32:43, Ps. 18:49).
  1. The ministry of Jesus flowed with the anointing of the holy spirit:  “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me” (Ish 61:1) (Herbert Lockyer, 1973, p. 101, 102)

Messianic Prophecies of the Crucifixion of Christ:  Ish 53:1-12.  These verses give us a detailed and accurate account of the crucifixion of Christ.  The purpose of the atonement for our sin is because we are all sinners but as Christ came to earth to die for our sins we are declared righteous and through the atonement of Christ we now have abundant life, abundance physically, spiritually and financially.

Ps. 22 can be divided into two parts, the first part denotes the suffering of Jesus on the Cross and the second part denotes the glory of Christ after his resurrection.

Christ’s suffering (vs 1-21)

  1. (vs 1-5) denote the theme of God the father forsaking Jesus Christ.
  2. (vs 6-10) denote the rejection of men that Christ went through
  3. (vs 12-18) denote the indescribable physical agony that Christ went through on the cross.
  4. (vs 19-21) denotes the love, fellowship and trust between God the father and God the son.  As Jesus calls upon God the father for deliverance.  (Hayford, Dr James Smith)

Eschatological Expectation of the Messiah:  There was a strong eschatological and apocalyptic expectation about two centuries before the ministry of Jesus commenced.

Let us now look into the context of Jesus as the Priest Messiah.  Jesus as high priest can be seen in the form Melchizedek (Heb. 5:7) (James H. Charlesworth, p. 372).

The Qumran and the Messiah:  What is the Qumran?  The Qumran is a region where there are eleven caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were situated.  The importance of the study of the Qumran documents for early Christianity is of immense significance.  According to F. F. Bruce, p. 72, “the Qumran community was sometimes called the community of Aaron and Israel.  A Messiah from Aaron and Israel should probably be taken to mean a priestly Messiah and a lay Messiah”.

The Messianic prophecies therefore are very significant, illuminating the life of Christ or Messiah as He was prophesied about in the Old Testament.  There are a few simple ways of viewing prophesy.  The first being the predictive element of prophecy and the second being to emphasise the message in modern day situations.  Both these points are evident in Biblical prophecy.  God is omniscient or all knowing and in Ephesians 1:5 it tells us the God pre-destined us.  God has a foreknowledge of the future and He knew exactly when the Messiah was to come and bring us salvation and when He is coming back again. (Italics my own.)

Prophecy is therefore like a window that God reveals to his saints the prophets.  The Messianic prophesies are not just windows but doors that Jesus walked through when He came into the world bringing salvation. (Italics my own.) (David Allen, Fredric William Sanford, p. 305

Types of Christ from the Old Testament:

Adam.  Adam, made by God for a divine plan and purpose, who was to commune with our Creator.  Adam, made by divine word.  How did Adam handle this responsibility?  Adam fell through disobedience and this fellowship with our Creator was marred.  But Christ in the New Testament, the second Adam, came to bridge this gap, by becoming the mediator between man and God.  (Andrew Jukes) (Italics my own).

Melchizedek:  James Strong calls Melchizedek a patriarch.  Who is this Melchizedek?  Genesis 14-18 tells us that this Melchizedek is both priest and king.  Zech. 6:13 tells us that he shall be a priest upon his throne.  Ish 32:1 “Behold a king shall reign in righteousness.  These verses show us that Melchizedek is both priest and king.  Another important point to note here is that after Abraham was victorious over the kings, Melchizedek refreshed Abraham with bread and wine and blessed Abraham.  This clearly shows us the character of Christ.  Abraham also gave Melchizedek, who is both king and priest, tithes of all that he had taken.  This clearly tells us that Melchizedek for me was not just a type of Christ, but was Christ himself who appeared to Abraham.  This leads us to the study of theophany.  Melchizedek is a good example of Christ appearing to man in the Old Testament. Alfred Edershiem says “Melchizedek appears like a meteor in the sky – suddenly, unexpectedly, mysteriously – and then as suddenly disappears”.  Ps. 110 tells us the priest, king must belong to “the order of Melchizedek”.  Jesus Christ, not with earthly priesthood such as the Levitical priesthood, but a heavenly priesthood.’  (Herbert Lockyer, Merril C. Tenny)  Italics my own.

Isaac:  Isaac is a type of Christ because when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the altar, it was symbolic of the sacrifice that God the father required Jesus to go through.  The union of Isaac and Rebekkah was symbolic of the union between Christ and the church.  Therefore Isaac plays a very important role to symbolize Christ because Isaac was the sacrifice his father Abraham was to offer just as God the Father offered Jesus as the sacrifice for the sins of the world so that the world might be saved.  Herbert Lockyer says “In Melchizedek we see Jesus as the priest of the Most High God.  In Moses we see Jesus as the mediator between God and Man.  In David, we see Jesus as shepherd, ruler and king.  In Joseph, we see Jesus as preserver, provider and Saviour.

Conclusion:  In conclusion, I would like to say that the Christ of the Old Testament is as real as the Christ of the New Testament and the characters and events that occurred in the Old Testament are symbolic of the New Testament.  Christ is the fulfillment of the prophesies of the Old Testament.  Therefore, Christ is the chief cornerstone that the Holy Spirit has written his word on.  The whole Scripture is therefore like a sphere which starts and ends with Christ.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bruce, F. F., Jews and Christianity Origins outside the New Testament, USA, 1974.

Charlesworth, James H., The Messiah, Fortress Press Minneapolis, 1992.

Edersheim, Alfred, Old Testament Bible History, William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 1977.

Hayford, Jack W., Hayford’s Bible Handbook, Nashville, 1995.

Jukes, Andrew, Types in Genesis, Kregel Publications, 1976.

Lockyer, Herbert, AU The Messianic Prophecies of the Bible, Grand Rapids, 1973.

Sanford, William, Allen, David, William Frederic, Old Testament Survey, Michigan, Zondervan, 1982.

Smith, Dr James, The Promised Messiah, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1993.

Strong, James, The Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible, Ablingdon Press, New York.

Tenney, Merril C., Pictorial Bible Dictionary, Michigan, Zondervan,

JOB

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JOB

Job 1:21  “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised”.

This one verse tells us about the most blameless upright man that ever lived.  A man who lost all, yet gained all, because he won the favour of God.  This man lost all yet he did not blaspheme God in self righteousness;  he praised God.  In other words, he was victorious though he lost his worldly possessions.  He was victorious spiritually.  For me, 1:21 is the key verse because he first of all realized all that he had belonged, not to him, but to God.  Secondly, when he lost all his materialistic and worldly possessions, Job praised God.  It must have been extremely difficult to say and do;  yet Job placed God on a much higher pedestal than his materialism and family.  This key verse gives us insight as modern day believers on how we, as Christians, should react in difficult circumstances.  I recently read the book by Terry Law in which he related the death of his first wife, Jan.  The most painful, yet the most illuminating process, was getting up early and praising God shortly after the death of his wife when he was left with three children.  But Terry Low tapped into the reservoir of God’s love, healing, comfort and deliverance.  The simple key was praise and worship.  Praise God, through thick and thin;  praise God, through wind or storm.  Learn to praise and watch Him lead you through the difficult situation or process in your life.

Authorship: The authorship of Job is uncertain and under an immense amount of speculation.  According to Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts, p. 171 “the contents of the book indicate that its author was a profound thinker who treats some of the most crucial and difficult problems of human existence from a mature spiritual perspective.  According to Jack W. Hayford, p. 130, “perhaps even Solomon himself”.  According to the book, Old Testament Survey, p. 562, “the author of Job hides nameless in the background of his work while demonstrating overwhelming sensitivity to the human plight, capacity for massive theological understanding, group of vast areas of culture and learning, insight into deep struggles among opiniated persons and skill in literary craftsmanship”.

Date: According to Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts, p. 171, “suggestions for the date of the book’s composition range from the patriarchal era to the post exilic period.  Most scholars today date the book between the Solomonic and exilic eras.  According to Hayford’s Bible Handbook, “the manners, customs and general lifestyle of Job are from the patriarchal period (about 2000-1800 BC).

Structure: According to the Old Testament Survey by William Sanford, David Allen and Frederic William, p. 564, the structure can be divided into;

“Prologue (prose), Chs 1-2

Job’s lament (poetry) 3

Dialogue between Job 4-27

.. and friends (poetry) in three cycles

.. Eliphaz (Job replies to each)

.. Bildad

.. Zophar

Poem on Wisdom (poetry) 28

Job’s complaint (poetry) 29-31

Elihu’s speeches (poetry) 32-37

Yahweh’s speeches 9poetry) 38-42:6

Epilogue (prose) 42:7-17

Comparison between Job and Jesus: Was Job a shadow of what was to come?  Was Job a type of Christ?  W. F. Albright has interpreted the name Job as “where is (my) father?”  (taken from Old Testament Survey, p. 560)

Job: Job was a blameless and upright man.  He feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1, Job 1:8).  There is noone on earth like him.  Job 1:21 “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised”.  Job 1:12 “Very well then everything he has is in your hands but on the man himself do not lay a finger”.  Job was the most blameless and upright man on earth.  Job 1:12 tells us that God allowed the devil to bring trials and tests into his life.  Job did not deserve it;  yet he went through physical pain (2:7), emotional pain (1:200 and psychological pain (3:1).  Job, through no fault of his own, was allowed by God to be severely tested by Satan, yet Job did not retaliate;  he did not curse God (2:9,10).  He went through his pain;  he went through his suffering.  Job didn’t deserve it, yet it came upon him.  Why?  Because I believe there is a reason behind it.  Nothing that is in the Bible has happened by chance.  The story of Job for me has a deep prophetic connotation.  Job 42:10-16, 42:12  The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first.  At least it has a happy ending!!

Jesus Christ: Matthew 27:23  What crime has he committed, asked Pilate, but they shouted all the louder, crucify Him.  Matt. 27:30  They spit on him and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  Key verse:  Matt. 27:46  Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.

Jesus was innocent, yet God allowed Jesus to endure immense pain, pressure of our sins, physical and psychological anguish for no fault of his own.  Just because of his love for us.  When Job, the most blameless, upright man that lived in his time, went through that suffering, did God just see Job .. or did God see Jesus in Job, knowing that one day his only son would go through suffering far worse, through no fault of his own.

Job, the meaning of his name is where is (my) father.  Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.  I would like to conclude this comparison with a rhetorical question – Was the suffering and name of Job symbolic to what took place on Calvary?  But what took place on Calvary carried immense magnitude – the enormity of the deity dying for us on Calvary.

Application: This book tells us that God allows tests and trials in a person’s life.  This transaction stage or process stage, as I heard in a seminar, is called “liminality”.  Job went through a liminality stage in his life in which he endured excruciating pain.  But in the end, he came out victorious and the latter part of Job’s life was blessed even more than the former.  I believe Job is an example of a victorious liminality survivor.

We, as Christians, are in the liminality process, just as Job was in the process.  We are waiting for the second coming of Christ.  We are in the sanctification process awaiting the time we will be fully glorified in Christ.

Main themes: According to the Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts, “the basic question of the book is ‘why do the righteous suffer if God is loving and all powerful?’’  The second theme for me is God’s hand on Job’s life during his suffering and God blessing Job because Job stood strong in his faith in God.

Theological Truths: God is in control.  God who is omniscient or all knowing knows about everything, whether it is good or evil, and He is in control.  God has a higher plan, a higher purpose in mind.  The devil needed God’s permission to attack Job, yet God preserved his life and blessed him more as he came out of his suffering, completely victorious.  Isa 48:10 “see I have refined you, though not as silver, I have tested you in the furnace of affliction”.  God refines and tests us.  We, as His children, go through difficult situations in our life many times, but God never leaves us nor forsakes us.  God never tempts us but I believe God allows us to go through hard times in our life so that we come out stronger, ready for His divine call.

Distinctive Pentecostal Beliefs: A distinctive Pentecostal belief here is spiritual warfare.  Satan brought about oppression in Job’s life yet Job stood firm.  In Job 1:10, it tells us that God put a hedge of protection around Job.  In Eph. 6:10-20, the armour of God is our protection.  When we, as children of the most high, live to please God, the devil brings about opposition.  The devil brings about all kinds of oppression.  The devil can attack our mind, our emotions, our finances, our family;  but, what I learnt from Job is that the devil cannot take the life of a child of God unless God allows it to happen.  The devil has come to steal, to kill and to destroy, but God has come to give us life and give it in abundance.  Spiritual warfare is real.  I have experienced it in my life but our God is far greater, far mightier.  Jesus is our deliverer and redeemer.

Another distinctive Pentecostal belief is the prosperity of Job and the latter part of Job’s prosperity was greater than the former (Job 42:42).  Contrary to a pentecostal belief that I have read here in Job is suffering.  Many of our charismatic and Pentecostal churches are so caught up in the prosperity and spiritual warfare teaching that they fail to train and help people going through suffering.  Many charismatic churches talk about the bed or roses, but those roses have thorns.  So I would urge the Pentecostal churches to talk about trials and tribulations or the so called “laminality” process that every person endures during some time of their life.

Application: This book of Job has immensely helped me in my life.  I went through a difficult time in my life.  In fact, I suffered from depression but this book has given me a hope for the future.  I would like to close with a poem I wrote:

Who am I?

That thought in my heart I ponder

What am I meant to be

Oh God, the future I just can’t foresee

Yet you care for me.

You didn’t just let me be,

You have a place and purpose

Thy Word is the key.

I came into the world a little seed,

Curious about the world so mysterious,

Bombarded with emotions hilarious,

At times delirious, at other times, furious

As I started to grow and mature to the tree I was meant to be,

I faced the storms of life

Into temptations I was tossed,

Yet through thy divine grace at Calvary

To temptation I was no longer held in slavery,

You set me free, enabling me to grow in sanctity,

Your word says, You shall bear fruit in season,

Seasons have come, seasons are gone,

Oh God, I feel so alone, why was I ever born,

Yet you on me never did frown,

The veil to enter the holy of holies was torn

By thy divine blood on the cross which was no loss,

At thy feet I place my supplication,

Oh Christ, on me make a divine transformation,

This season, let me see my life has a reason

Let me bear fruit at a dozen

Change my heart, my attitude

As I grow and mature in thy attitude,

As I pray I feel thy presence come as a ray

I feel the power of thy awesome presence like rain on me does spray

Father, when will you use me

Is it today?

I feel the rain come on me washing all my doubts and fears without a trace

Speaking to me through a gentle breeze

Thy love for me will never cease

I hear they voice saying my plans for you will be fulfilled come what may

All your have to do, daughter, is to pray.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hayford, Jack W., Hayford’s Bible Handbook, Nashville, 1995.

Nelson, Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts, Nashville, 1996.

Sanford, William, Allen, David, William Frederic, Old Testament Survey, Michigan, Zondervan, 1982.

Tenney, Merril C., Pictorial Bible Dictionary, Michigan, Zondervan, 1963.