I have a Word from God. Judge it, accept or reject it. Whatever, but this is it:
What this generation needs more than ever is the Prophetic Voice.
A prophetic voice under the anointing of the Spirit to cut through the clouded numbness that has settled over the Church.
A prophetic voice to divide truth from confusion. But even more than that: the prophetic voice to speak forth the oracles of God.
Don’t you see? We are now so bogged down with questions and confusion. What to do about/with homosexuals, how to deal with transgenders, how to appeal to the youth, how to stop people leaving our churches.
To hell with all that! What we really need is prophetic voices raised up.
Don’t you see? We are now in a period the church has never seen before. A time of such manifest wickedness and gross darkness. The things we’ve been busy with in church over the last few decades ain’t cutting it anymore. How are we to answer these things? With endless discussions, conversations and conferences? There’s no time anymore to mess around. If you’ve been waiting for God to do something then I am here to tell you what it is:
He is telling you to lift up your voice now, and be not afraid.
Now more than ever we need those who are unafraid to stand in the midnight hour. We need men and women with the courage of their convictions to speak forth the Word of truth. Once again we need WATCHMEN TO STAND ON THE WALLS. To take up the Sword of the Spirit in the power of the Spirit. To cut through the crap! I’m sorry but that is the least offensive word I can use for what I see.
I see the Church bowed down under a weight of confusion. I see a Church struggling to cope and turning to the wisdom of the world. I see a Church in its sad desire to be pleasing to this world ultimately conforming to this world and losing its witness. I see a Church in the depths of horrendous spiritual adultery.
I see a Church turned in on itself. I hear more messages about Self than about Christ. I hear the psycho-babble of heathens infiltrating the pulpit. I hear calls to “find yourself” from ministers of the gospel. The Spirit is grieved and my heart breaks.
But there is a cry from His heart that is breaking forth amongst the remnant. That cry is for the Sword to be picked up again. To be wielded in the courage, power and strength of the Holy Spirit.
I have seen it I tell you. When the Word of God goes forth in power a cry rises up from the Church. She recognises her Master’s voice and she is desperate and hungry to hear it again. I’ll tell you something else: the world also recognises it. They may reject it, but when there’s an anointing they know it and they respect it.
That is the only way forward now O People of the Cross. The only thing that can cut through now is the Sword of the prophetic voice. There is no time left for anything else.
“Lift it up your voice with strength
Lift it up, be not afraid” Isaiah 40:8
Lift it up! Lift it up in your homes. Lift it up in your work place, lift it up in your church, lift it up on Facebook, lift it up on Twitter, lift it up in the streets. Lift it up be not afraid, lift it up!
Holy Spirit bless this word to go forth, in Jesus’ Name Amen
In Suffering: According to the Pattern, we saw that Calvary is the pattern. And if we are God’s child He will deal with us according to the pattern.
“That is the strange lesson we all have to learn, and Calvary is the pattern of it from beginning to end. God’s victories look like defeats. It is victory in the unseen realm while one is apparently, absolutely down and out in the visible.” Prayer and Evangelism, Jessie Penn-Lewis (emphasis mine).
Therefore if Calvary is the pattern, then we know that the pattern is of suffering because we know that Christ our Lord and
sacredsharingsforthesoul.blogspot.com
Saviour suffered. Conversely we also know that if the pattern is of Calvary, then the pattern is also of victory because we know that through suffering our Lord was greatly victorious.
If we are the disciples of Jesus Christ, then we will too be greatly victorious in Him. However, it is through suffering that the victory will be won. This was true of Paul, of Peter and of all the apostles. And it is true of us too.
“The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.” Luke 6:40
We know the story of Peter denying Christ thrice. We know that Jesus, in His mercy, sought Peter out after the resurrection and restored him. The interesting thing is that once Jesus had restored Peter, He prophesied over him. Jesus foretold to Peter the actual pinnacle of his life for God – the very event that would bring the greatest glory to God.
It is interesting to note that Jesus’ prophesy excluded the fact that Peter was to be always happy, healthy and eventually own his own private jet. Why is that? Surely that would bring God the most glory! No, rather, what Jesus told Peter was something according to the pattern:
“’Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish’. This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”” John 21:18, 19 (emphasis mine)
Peter was to glorify God by being crucified!
How could this bring glory to God? This really goes against the grain of our own thinking….
But remember: God’s victories look like defeats.
Consider for a moment this man, Peter. He had fearfully denied Jesus over and over again in order to preserve his own life and avoid the agony and humiliation of the cross. Could it be possible that this man would one day be so given to Christ, so full of the Holy Spirit that the fear of pain and death, the fear of the loss of his reputation would be so victoriously overcome that he would eventually take up his cross and follow Christ?
Jesus knew that the one thing Peter wished to avoid the most was the very thing that would bring God the most glory!
You see, Self is always trying to preserve Self (ie. Self-preservation). Self, or the “flesh”, cries out for comfort, for ease, for safety, to be liked and accepted. Feed me! Please me! Preserve me above all else! It is only when the power of the flesh has been broken that it is able to come under the dominion of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately the flesh in man is strong. So strong that it usually takes the rod of suffering to break its strength throughout a lifetime.
The flesh was also strong in Peter. He was, of course, no different from the rest of us, and yet this man was eventually crucified for the glory of God. What happened in-between his restoration by Christ and his death that effected this transformation? The answer is : the Holy Spirit.
It is “…Christ in you the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27 (emphasis mine).
It is God’s ultimate purpose to conform us to the image of His Son. It is God’s will to work His Son in us by His Spirit. Contrary to what we may imagine, God isn’t a dispensary, dishing out to our flesh an ounce of love, a pound of patience etc in order to improve it. This would be futile. Why? Because judgment has been pronounced on the flesh and now it must die. Our only hope is God coming to live in us by the power of His Spirit. God doesn’t give us more love and more patience, but what He does is work in usHis very Son. Christ’s nature is loving, truthful, patient and kind and so the more of Christ that has been worked in us, the more His nature will naturally shine through us. In order for this to be able to happen the flesh will have to be crucified. And that’s always going to be painful.
God’s victories look like defeats.
We think of victory as our lives always being smooth and easy. We believe when we are happy and healthy we are being blessed and when we are sad or sick, we are not so blessed. Perhaps we have done something wrong? But God’s perspective is totally different. His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than our thoughts.
Key Point: If God’s purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son, then whatever happens in our lives to achieve that end is victory.
Be encouraged that God has a much greater purpose than we can see at this time. What you and I are currently facing is intended to bring death to Self in order to allow the Spirit of life to work in us. If we yield to His hand He will bring forth a great victory in us and through us. And God will be glorified.
The battle field is empty
The soldiers all gone
Weapons discarded
Unused, forgotten, alone
A tired old banner hangs,
sad and forlorn
And I stand and look and wonder:
Where have all the warriors gone?
The belt of truth, I see
It lays forgotten in the field
Look, at those brave soldiers’ boots
That used to tread out
The gospel of peace
What to make of this?
What on earth has happened?
I look beyond the hill
And I see the enemy-
He still advances
His banners read “Peace
We want no war with you”
Another:
“Go home,
put your feet up
And we will leave you alone”
Alas I now can see it:
The warriors – why they’ve gone,
They’ve believed the propaganda
And they’ve all headed home
Comfort, convenience,
Relevance, Reputation.
These are the only things
For which the “church” will fight
In this last generation.
The sword is at my feet….
Dare I….?
What can one person do?
And (the big one):
What WILL they think?
in my mind, these make a to-do
I don’t care anymore
I’ll do it!
I lift up the sword!
In my hands it is powerful, alive
The eternal Word of God
As I lift it up
Those ancient words
In my heart revive
“for to whomsoever i shall send thee
Thou shalt go
And whatsoever i command thee
Thou shalt speak”
I stand
My son’s work, 7yo
The fear of man all gone
In its place – the fear of God
It surrounds me
And propels me forward
Where those before me trod.
My daughter’s work, 10yo
“Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.” John Wesley
The state of the Church breaks my heart. Yes it does. I weep over it, and I believe so does Jesus.
The deadness, the formality, the coldness. Where is the life? Where is the joy? Where is my Jesus?
I don’t seem Him in it.
I don’t see Him in the dry formality, I don’t see Him in the ritual, the “way we’ve always done it.”
Why do people’s faces look sad and somber in church? Why do we feel we have to pretend to be serious to be spiritual?
Jesus where are You?
Not there.
The thing is, we know it. We know it’s not right, that something is missing. We know that Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t so we could sit and be bored in Church for two hours every Sunday morning. We feel it. Something in our spirit says this is not the way it was in the early Church, there is something more. What are we missing?
So, we try to fix it in our human-ness.
Entertainment, rock concerts, frenzied behavior, yelling, emotional manipulation. Get people to cry, yes, if that brings emotion, ANYTHING but that dead dryness. Oh God, anything but that.
Entertainment for true joy.
Emotional manipulation for true broken-ness
Frenzied behavior for the real work of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus where are You?
Not there.
After awhile, the yelling makes us tired, the emotive manipulation falls on dead ears, and, after all, we are not changed.
That didn’t work either. Oh God, what next?
Look at pubs, worldly concerts, sporting events. They are full of happy, excited people. There are crowds. They must know something we don’t. We must learn from them.
Advertising, marketing surveys, seeker-sensitive churches. Things not to mention:
the cross
sin
the Blood
God’s holiness
never ever use the word “sinner”
hell
judgment (shriek)
(But make sure you use the word “unpack” in your sermon at least 5 times.)
Jesus where are YOU?
Not there.
Something wrong. something missing. something different than the Church in Acts.
Spirituality. Candles, liturgies, labyrinths, darkness. Ooooh, we get goosebumps again. This is it! we feel again, we are not dead, not bored, we are spiritual.
We feel.
JESUS where are YOU?
Not there.
Don’t we see? don’t we know where He is?
He is outside the Church.
He is outside the door.
Long ago He was asked to leave. Oh yes, we use His Name, but we don’t really want Him. We want to be comfortable, we want convenience at all costs. We don’t want our formality and rituals confronted or thrown away. We want to feel good, positive emotions. We don’t want to be convicted. We want to feel intellectual and deep and have wonderful spiritual experiences. We want lots of people around us because that shows we are on the right track.
But we don’t want HIM.
Him – the goodness, the holiness, the righteousness, the kindness, the love, the truth, the mercy, the conviction, the call to the lost, the call to obedience, the faithfulness to Him that is required, the cost of the cross of Christ…
Jesus is a gentleman, He will not stay where He is not welcome.
There is only one way back to Him.
Let us cast off everything else and fall on our knees before Him.
There is only one thing that is required:
BROKENNESS
Utter broken-ness.
Let us fall on our faces before our Lord and weep for the state of our own hearts, for the Church, for the lost around us. Let our hearts be broken. It is only when our hearts are broken before the Lord that LIFE, the real life of the Holy Spirit enters in.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand the deadness any more. I have had enough of formality and boredom. I have had enough of human solutions to the problem. I can’t handle any more extraneous rubbish – I WANT HOLY GHOST REVIVAL! This world needs men and women who have the fire of the Holy Ghost.
Lord, send Your Spirit. Revive us again. We need You Lord. I repent of my hardness of heart Lord. My heart breaks for the state of the Church Lord. My heart breaks for those around me on their way to Hell. Enough Lord ! Rend the heavens and come down!!! In Jesus’s Name, Amen
In my last post in this series A Harlot, An Emergent and a Pope Walked into a Bar… we looked at how Ken Wilber’s Integral Consciousness is becoming instrumental in bringing together the Emergent Church and the Mystery religions. The end goal being of course, the creation of the One-World Religion.
When we talk about the Emergent Church we must understand that nothing is by accident, nor coincidence. Even the terms “Emergent”/ “emergence” /“emerging” have greater significance than we are led to believe. In this post I would like to examine the use of the word “Emergent/Emergence”. I would also like to prove it’s atheistic and New Age roots.
Emergent Church leader Doug Pagitt says:
“Five years ago or so when numbers of us started using this phrase “emergent,” there were a number of reasons why we thought this word worked well. The reason I was most excited about it is the use in a forestry term or an agriculture term. Emergent growth is the growth in a forest that is growing below the surface, that if you were to knock away the dead pine needles and leaves and branches, you would see the growth that’s happening there …. So it’s not against, it’s not over in another field, it’s not something that wants to destroy the forest; in fact, it’s going to grow because of the protection of it — the idea that there was this emergent growth that was happening in Christianity, that was protected and that was going to have the chance to survive because of the environment. We wanted to talk about what is the nature of that emergent growth of Christianity in the world…” (source: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2005/07/08/july-8-2005-doug-pagitt-extended-interview/11764/)
As lovely and organic as that all sounds, “emergent” has a much greater meaning and a wider application than Pagitt acknowledges here.
The term “emergent” was coined by philosopher and skeptic G. H. Lewes, who wrote:
“Every resultant is either a sum or a difference of the co-operant forces; their sum, when their directions are the same — their difference, when their directions are contrary. Further, every resultant is clearly traceable in its components, because these are homogeneous and commensurable. It is otherwise with emergents, when, instead of adding measurable motion to measurable motion, or things of one kind to other individuals of their kind, there is a co-operation of things of unlike kinds. The emergent is unlike its components insofar as these are incommensurable, and it cannot be reduced to their sum or their difference.”
To apply this philosophical Theory of Emergence to a religious context: one might say that typically two opposing elements, or religions, such as Christianity and Islam when compared, have differences between the two that are easily detectable and measurable.
However, as Lewes says, it is otherwise with “emergents”. Within the Emergent philosophical framework, the two religions are not compared as two opposing elements but rather become a “co-operation of things of unlike kinds”. And “The emergent is unlike its components insofar as these are incommensurable, and it cannot be reduced to their sum or their difference”. The differences therefore become immeasurable, undetectable as the two opposing elements are merged.
(Sounds a lot to me like the Hegellian Principle…you may remember from Satan’s Tool in the Emergent Church: a “thesis” combined with an “antithesis” makes a “synthesis”.)
Does philosophy have the ability to influence? Is the Emergence Theory of Lewes affecting Christianity?
Ken Wilber’s Integral Consciousness theory seeks to build a new platform of truth and reality. This new platform is created by bringing together a synthesis of the “best of pre-modern, modern, and postmodern reality. It is portrayed as a “theory of everything” and offers an approach “to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching.” (source: wikipedia)
As we saw in the last post the Emergent Church is heartily promoting Ken Wilber and his New Age ideas and philosophies. This is no surprise considering that both Ken Wilber’s Integral Consciousness and the Emergent church are based on Emergent Theory.
“An integrative level, or level of organization, is a set of phenomena emerging on pre-existing phenomena of lower level. Typical examples include life emerging on non-living substances, and consciousness emerging on nervous systems….The sequence of levels is often described as one of increasing complexity….” (Corning: Wikipedia, emphasis mine)
Doug Pagitt addresses this very topic here:
“But emergence theory also began to be used in this conversation at the same time, and emergence theory has to do with complexity and that which is going to develop out of chaos and complexity — that what we would look at and think is just random actually starts to form patterns to it, and that’s a helpful way to think about this, too, that there seems to be this chaos that’s happening, but if you were to study it long enough you begin to see the patterns…. That’s not a bad way to talk about it as well” (source: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2005/07/08/july-8-2005-doug-pagitt-extended-interview/11764/)
If Doug Pagitt’s quote sounds alarmingly like the Theory of Evolution it’s because Emergent Theory and Evolutionary Theory go hand in hand. In fact Emergent Theory was one philosophy that paved the way to Darwinism.
“[In] evolutionary processes, causation is iterative; effects are also causes. And this is equally true of the synergistic effects produced by emergent systems. In other words, emergence itself… has been the underlying cause of the evolution of emergent phenomena in biological evolution; it is the synergies produced by organized systems that are the key.” (Corning: wikipedia)
The premise of evolutionary theory is that a higher set of phenomena arises or emerges out of a pre-existing lower level of phenomena.
This is the basis of both Emergent and Integral Consciousness theories. That out of a lower order comes higher order. You know, like apes turning into humans…
SO in summary:
Ken Wilber’s Integral Consciousness theory says that humans evolve to a higher level of consciousness. (This is standard New Age doctrine.)
“Some see the process of integration as incarnating Christ consciousness, some call it becoming the Divine Human, but perhaps it is most accurate to think of it as a “new normal” for those of us who want to be pioneers and begin to live in a new way, fully connected with our divine potential.
What is clear is that integrating aspects of this higher octave of our being HAS been demonstrated by historical mystics and that we are getting closer to being able to replicate this in a wider way.” Barbara Marx Hubbard, New Ager, occultist (http://theshiftnetwork.com/NextStageOfHumanEvolution)
Emergent theory says that there is a “co-operation of unlike kinds” and that distinctions and measurable differences between unlike kinds disappear.
Emergent theory lead to Evolutionary theory. And Integral Consciousness is based on Evolutionary theory.
And the main point of it all:
The Emergent church promotes Ken Wilber’s Integral consciousness. Integral Consciousness is the evolution of human consciousness into godhood or divinity;
The Emergent church have deliberately called themselves by the name of “emergent” because they see themselves as the next level, the higher level of a “set of phenomena emerging on pre-existing phenomena of lower level” in the “evolution” of Christianity. Christianity as we have known it is outdated, irrelevant, politically incorrect, low-level. But through these “emergents” a new relevant, higher-level of Christianity is evolving.
Ultimately this higher-level of Christianity is heading towards “emergence”: the “co-operation of unlike kinds” as consistent with emerging theory. In other words: the creation of a one-world religion.
Once again the devil is using human pride to further his plans. Pride in intellect, pride in attaining to “higher levels”, pride in reaching “god-hood.” There is nothing new under the sun…
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil…” Genesis 3:4,5
Of interest: Brian McLaren, in collaboration with a New Age yoga teacher, has recently brought out a video series “integrating Naked spirituality, Yoga, Tai Chi and Chi Gong” ( http://brianmclaren.net/archives/get-involved/).
This pregnant Christian woman is facing hanging, after receiving 100 lashes, for apostasy. She has been sentenced by an Islamic court in Sudan. Her lawyer is going to appeal. Please pray for this sister and her family:
There can be no doubt that the emerging religious synthesis between the Emergent Church and the Mystery religions is part of Satan’s plan to usher in a false religion. A One-World religion, paving the way for the Anti-Christ, is coming. In fact, the unity of all religions in a One-World system is a stated purpose of the New Age/occult (The Emergent/New Age Connection)
But when “Christianity” begins to say the same thing as the occult then it is time to wake up and take notice of what is going on.
This began all the way back in Genesis at the Tower of Babel. This is not a “new” or “re-imagined” Christianity, but rather an ancient scheme of Satan designed to bring together a united rebellion against the only true God.
But how will Satan do it?
Integral Consciousness
The West is actually no longer Post-Modern. We are past that point now. Right now we are “emerging” from Post-Modernism into post-Post-Modernism.
Integral Consciousness is an “emerging area of discourse” within philosophy.
Where Post-Modernism de-constructed the foundations of absolute truth, Integral Theory/Spirituality, promoted by Ken Wilber, seeks to build a new platform of truth and reality. This new platform is created by bringing together a synthesis of the “best of pre-modern, modern, and postmodern reality. It is portrayed as a “theory of everything” and offers an approach “to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching.” (source: wikipedia)
Think of it like this: Post-modernism philosophy broke down (de-constructed) everything that we previously had accepted as truth – whether it was in art, design, philosophy or religion. The broken bits and pieces of truth’s foundation were left lying around for anyone to pick up and create whatever truth they wanted out of the mess. Every part equally true and important as the next, a level playing field of truth was created (otherwise known as “relativism”).
(I am engaging poetic licence at this point): Now along comes Satan, rubbing his hands at the field of broken truth. He picks up all the “best” bits of these broken truths and starts fitting them together until gradually a form emerges…. The best way to entice and seduce humanity? “Peace – they all want that: I’ll put that bit of Buddhism in;… “Love” , yes, that will stick – a bit of Jesus’ teachings will do here; ….Unity – ooooh that’ll really get ’em going – I’ll take that New Age concept of unity and stick it right in the middle there. Hmmmm – now what to stick it all together with…? – Aha! Human Integral Theory – that will be the glue.”
You may wonder how this post-post Modern philosophy will be sold to humanity. The answer is simple: Pride– the oft-proven and thus oft-repeated method. Human pride in philosophy and intellectualism is appealed to by Satan and used to aid his plans.. As we saw in The Emergent-cy of Post-Modernist Christianity , philosophy does influence and shape culture.
Satan is now using human Integral Theory to re-construct a new reality out of the debris of post-modern deconstructionism.
This is the philosophical Tower of Babel.
This philosophical Tower of Babel will then be expedited by mysticism into integrating all religions, including a form of Christianity, into a synthesis of the “best” of each religion. (See: Mysteries and Mysticism) This will create a false religious system which the Bible calls the “great harlot” or “Mystery Babylon”:
Mystery Babylon the Great
“And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written:
MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH
And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her I marveled with great amazement.”
(Revelation 17:5)
Notice the beast which the woman sits on – the false religious system will “ride on” the united One-World government. The tenth horn on the beast’s head is the Anti-Christ, which is also riding on the One-world government.
It is crucial to understand that what is occurring within the Emergent Church, and the world at large, is opposed to Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ is God’s appointed Ruler. He came to earth the first time as the humble, obedient Lamb. The second time He is coming as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Judge and Ruler. God has exalted Him far above all rule and authority.
This knowledge absolutely infuriates Satan. Satan hates Jesus with an undying passion. He is jealous of Christ’s authority and position – for this is the very position to which he tried to exalt himself (see Isaiah 14:12-15). When Satan sets up the anti-Christ as the authority on earth it is his way of trying to usurp Jesus Christ’s rightful authority as King of kings. Satan ultimately wants to be worshipped and will receive worship through this person of anti-Christ. The anti-Christ is a substitute of the real Christ. We must realize that when absolute truth is attacked, down-graded or dismissed, it is a direct attack on Jesus Christ Himself. Truth is not a disembodied philosophy nor theory. No – Truth is a person – Jesus Christ. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” said Jesus Christ, John 14:6.
Anti-Christ – is a counterfeit “Christ” opposed to the true Christ.
The great harlot – is a counterfeit religion opposed to the true Bride of Christ.
Make no mistake: there is another “Christ”.
And this false Christ is already making headway into the Church.
Integral Theory/Spirituality and the Emergent Church
So has Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory entered the Emergent Church?…
Rob Bell: “For a mind-blowing introduction to emergence theory and divine creativity, set aside three months and read Ken Wilber’s A Brief History of Everything.” Velvet Elvis, pg 192
Brian McLaren: on “A Theory of Everything and “The Marriage of Sense and Soul”
“These two books by philosopher Ken Wilber are not the next Christendom Christian books, but the way of thinking Wilber promotes and exemplifies which he calls integral thinking and which I call emergent thinking is powerful and important, in my opinion.”
“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” 2 Corinthians 11:3, 4
(On Jan. 21, 2014, Kenneth Copeland Ministries received a personal video message from Pope Francis calling for “unity” which caused a leader to declare “Luther’s protest is over!” (ie Protestantism) Watch his message here and Kenneth Copeland’s reaction to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eulTwytMWlQ)
As the Altar of Incense fore-shadowed Christ, so too the incense offered on the Altar also fore-shadows Him. This is how:
The Incense
Old Testament Shadow
New Testament Reality in Jesus
The Church’s Application
It was made of a delicate blend of four different spices. Each spice had to be of equal quantity, exactly balanced.
Jesus Christ is the One in whom is perfectly balanced grace and truth, holiness and love, righteousness and mercy.
Christ lives His holy life through the Church, as His Body. “Christ in us, the hope of glory.”
Each spice had to be crushed to a fine powder before it was added to the incense.
Christ was “wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities”. He was smitten, stricken, crushed. His perfect, sinless life poured out.
This points to “death to self”, the humbling of the believer.
Salt was added to the incense – salt is a seasoning and a preserver
Salt points to the holiness of Christ and the flavor of His life.
The Church is the salt of the earth –a preserving agent.
The incense was burned on the altar in front of the Ark of the Testimony.
Christ went through the fire of affliction in His sufferings and ultimately His death on the cross.
Our faith is tried by the fire of affliction and suffering.
The incense sent up a sweet perfume which entered the veil into the Holy of Holies, surrounding the Ark of the Testimony.
Christ’s sinless life of obedience was as a sweet perfume unto God. Christ has entered the veil and has made the way open for us too through His shed blood.
We are now able to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”
Aaron was to burn the incense in the morning and the evening when he also attended the lamps.
“As Christ ministers to the Church interceding for His own, He trims the wicks of the lamps and supplies the oil of the Spirit.”(1)
We are to pray in the Holy Spirit. “Prayer is the key for the day, the lock for the night” Corrie Ten Boom
No strange incense was to be offered on the altar, nor was anyone to make for themselves the incense. It was to be holy to God.
Points to Jesus being the only Way to the Father, there is no other Name under heaven whereby man can be saved.
It’s only through faith in Christ that we are saved. We are to have no other gods before Him. We are to pray in Jesus’ Name.
The incense was to be “perpetual…before the Lord”.
Points to Jesus as our High-Priest “who ever lives to make intercession for us.”
We are commanded to “pray without ceasing”. Our life is to be a perpetual prayer unto the Lord.
The Golden Censer
“Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he die” Leviticus 16:12-13
Old Testament Shadow
New Testament Reality in Jesus and the Church
On the Day of Atonement the High Priest brought a golden censer full of fire and a handful of incense into the Most Holy Place. He put the incense on the fire in front of the Ark so that the cloud of incense covered the mercy seat. He then sprinkled the blood of the sin offering upon the mercy seat.
The mercy seat is a picture of Christ Himself. The sprinkled blood points to Christ’s shed blood. The censer of incense is significant of Christ taking the prayers of His people within the veil to God’s presence, on the basis of His shed blood. Read also Revelation 8:1-5
Incense is simply an Old Testament shadow or type of prayer and intercession. God is no longer interested in the shadows or types, but rather in the eternal realities to which these shadows point.
He is extremely interested in the prayer and intercession of His Church. For the life of a believer to be truly saturated in prayer is well-pleasing to God.
“Pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Ephesians 6:18
“The New is in the Old concealed, the OId is in the New revealed.”
The Tabernacle of Moses was built as an earthly copy of the true, heavenly Tabernacle. As the earthly, temporal priests ministered at the earthly Golden Altar, (or the Altar of Incense),on behalf of the Israelites, so too our eternal Great High Priest ministers at the true Golden Altar in Heaven, on our behalf.
“God has sworn and will not relent: You are a priest forever, according to the Order of Melchizedek” Psalm 110:4
The ministry of the priesthood in the Tabernacle of Moses points to Jesus Christ’s ministry now as our Great High Priest. Understanding the principles concealed in the Tabernacle of Moses unlocks so many wonderful eternal treasures about the One we love, Jesus Christ. It also relates to us as believers in our ministry of prayer and intercession.
The Altar of Incense itself is a type of Christ:
Old Testament Shadow
New Testament Reality in Jesus
The Church’s Application
It was made of acacia (or shittim) wood. Acacia wood was a very durable, non-decaying wood.
Wood points to Christ’s human nature.Non-decaying wood points to His incorruptible, sinless humanity.
It was overlaid with gold
Points to Christ’s Divinity/Godhood
It had four horns on each corner of the altar. Horns are the strength and power of an animal.
Points to all power given to Christ in heaven and earth.
Points to the gospel of Christ going to the 4 corners of the earth under the authority of Christ’s Church
On the Day of Atonement blood from the Sin Offering was applied to the horns of the altar and sprinkled seven times.
It is Christ’s blood that was shed on Calvary (or the Brazen altar) which forms the foundation of His ministry of Intercession.
The blood of Jesus allows us to stand before a Holy God and gives power to the incense of prayer.
It had a crown (or moulding) of gold around it.
Points to Christ being the King-Priest
The Church joins Christ in His King-Priestly ministry as a kingdom of priests.
It was 2 cubits high, making it the tallest piece of furniture within the actual Tabernacle
Points to the highest ministry of Christ now on behalf of the Church – prayer and intercession
The highest ministry of the Church is also intercessory prayer
It was in the Holy Place, in front of the veil, before the Ark of the Testimony. It was the nearest piece of furniture to the Shekinah Glory of God.
Points to Christ’s earthly life of prayer and His ascension to the presence of God in His High-Priestly ministry.
Points to the place of prayer being the closest place to the presence of God.
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2
That is the only way forward now O People of the Cross. The only thing that can cut through now is the Sword of the prophetic voice. There is no time left for anything else.
Grace and Truth 