“Now and again, people would say (concerning her ministry in Hong Kong), “Isn’t it WONDERFUL that God would choose a woman to go? I would say, “No, it’s not wonderful. Excuse me for being rude about God, but He can pick who He likes.” I mean, it’s no more wonderful for Him to send a woman than a man, or an old man or young woman. He picks who He wants. That’s His business. It was God’s wisdom that sent me. I was just doing what He made me for. That’s no credit to me; it’s all credit to Him. If He’s made you for something, you just do it.”
The New Covenant promises are there to be a foundation for our hope in the Lord. This is the reason I would like to share below the comfort I have found in Jesus, Him being the High Priest of the New Covenant. When “darkness hides His lovely face”, when we go through hard times, when we feel lost or lonely, then it is that this hope must be “the anchor of our soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 8:19, 20
The difference we have in the New Covenant with Jesus as our High Priest:
Old Covenant
New Covenant
Moses was the mediator of the Old covenant
Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the New covenant
No oath was made to human priests by God.“for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath…” Hebrews 7:21
Jesus was made a priest by an oath:“God has sworn and will not relentYou are a priest forever, according to the
Order of Melchizedek” Psalm 110:4
The law appoints as priests men who have weakness.
Jesus is the guarantee of a better covenant because of the oath. The oath appoints Jesus as Priest, who has been perfected forever.
The priests were human. As such they were sinners themselves, bound to the earthly realm.
Jesus is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and is not earth-bound, but rather He is higher than the heavens.
The priests needed to daily offer up sacrifices for both their own sins as well as the sins of the people.
Jesus is sinless so does not need to offer up a sacrifice for Himself. At the cross He offered up a once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
The priests offered animals as sacrifices for sin
Jesus offered up Himself as the sacrifice for sin.
The priests each eventually died, and so there were many different priests at different times.
Jesus never dies so His priesthood is unchangeable. (What a comfort!)
The priests could only intercede for the people whilst they were alive, therefore their priesthood was LIMITED.
Therefore, because our Priest never changes, because He always lives and is always interceding for us, He will save to the UTTERMOST those who come to God through Him. His Priesthood is UNLIMITED and NEVER-ENDING.
“His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the ‘whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay”
(lyrics from “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand”)
(This table is by no means exhaustive. There are so many more eternal truths about Jesus as our High priest. I have compiled this table from a study of Hebrews 6 & 7)
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover feast, the Passover lamb and the feast of Unleavened Bread. Whilst these Old Testament shadows pointed to the One to come, He is the reality behind the shadow. There is so much in the feast of Passover that foreshadows Christ that I don’t have a hope of covering all of it here. So this is just to skim the surface of these treasures:
The Lamb:
Type: A lamb was selected for the Passover sacrifice on tenth of Nisan. “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying “On the tenth of this month (Nisan) every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.” Exodus 12:3
Anti-type: Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem on the tenth of Nisan. As He entered the city, so too were the Passover lambs being brought into Jerusalem in preparation for the Passover sacrifices.
Type: The Passover lambs were reared in Bethlehem and brought into Jerusalem for the feast
Anti-type: Jesus was born in Bethlehem and came up to Jerusalem for the feast
Type: As the Passover lambs were ushered into Jerusalem the crowds cried out “Hosanna!”
Anti-type: Jesus was greeted with “Hosanna!” as he entered Jerusalem. (Hosanna means “Save now” or “Please save”)
Type: “Your lamb shall be without blemish….you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.” (Exodus 12:5, 6). The lamb was kept by each family until the fourteenth of Nisan when it was sacrificed. During this period of four days the lamb was inspected to ensure it was without spot or blemish, which would preclude it from being offered to the Lord.
Anti-type: Before Jesus Christ, was offered to God as a sacrifice He too was also examined – by Annas, by the High Priest, by the Sanhedrin, by Pontius Pilate and by Herod. No spot nor blemish could be found in Him, indeed He was wholly without sin.
The Leaven:
Type: “For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses….” (Exodus 12:19). Homes needed to be cleansed at this time. (For Jews it is still a time of spring cleaning). Leaven needed to be searched out in each home and removed as this was also the time of the Feast of Unleavened bread. Leaven in scripture is, of course, a picture of sin.
Anti-type: Jesus having arrived in Jerusalem, goes straight into the temple and begins to cleanse the leaven from House of God, driving out those who bought and sold in it. (Luke 19:45) Jesus, of course is the fulfillment of “Unleavened” bread, Him being without sin.
The Passover:
Type: Jesus’ fervent desire is to eat the Passover seder with His disciples. The Passover was a remembrance of what God had done in setting the Israelites free from their bondage in Egypt. The blood of the lamb was painted on the lintels and doorposts so that the angel of death would pass over the Israelite’s homes and they would be saved.
Anti-type: It is at Passover that Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper. “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” As Jesus broke the matzah He was telling them that His body would also be broken. Just at the Passover lamb’s blood was shed and painted on the lintels and doorposts – so too would His blood be shed. Under the covering of Christ’s shed blood we are set free from our bondage to sin and the judgment of God passes over us so that we are saved.
(The Jewish day begins at sundown. Jesus shared the Passover meal with His disciples at sundown as Passover began. He was crucified the next day before sundown, therefore, on Passover.)
The Sacrifice:
Type: During the time the temple was standing in Jerusalem, three lambs were sacrificed on Passover.
Anti-type: Jesus was sacrificed on the cross at the same time that the first Passover lamb was killed in the Temple. Around the time the second lamb was being slain in the Temple, everything went dark. At the time of the third lamb’s sacrifice, Jesus gave up the ghost on the cross and the veil in the Temple was ripped in two.
God had commanded in the Law that everyone was to be in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. That means that everyone got to witness the veil being ripped from top to bottom. The New Covenant was now instituted through Christ’s shed blood and the way into the Holy of Holies was made open by the death of the spotless, perfect, sinless Lamb of God – Jesus Christ.
Oh if we could only truly comprehend what He has done for us! He laid down His life for us – Him who never sinned. His body broken, His blood shed so that we could enter into communion with the Father. The veil of His flesh torn so that the way to God is open for us now!
“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.… Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD….For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:1-14
By one offering Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, took away all the sins of the world…. Hallelujah to the Lamb!
The Master was searching for a vessel to use; On the shelf there were many – which one would He choose?
“Take me”, cried the gold one, “I’m shiny and bright, I’m of great value and I do things just right. My beauty and luster will outshine the rest And for someone like You, Master, gold would be the best!”
The Master passed on with no word at all; He looked at a silver urn, narrow and tall;
“I’ll serve You, dear Master, I’ll pour out Your drink, and I’ll be at Your table whenever You dine, My lines are so graceful, my carvings so true, And my silver will always compliment You.”
Unheeding the Master passed on to the brass, It was wide mouthed and shallow, and polished like glass.
“Here! Here!” cried the vessel, “I know I will do, Place me on Your table for all men to view.”
“Look at me”, called the goblet of crystal so clear, “My transparency shows my contents so dear, Though fragile am I, I will serve You with pride, And I’m sure I’ll be happy in Your house to abide.”
The Master came next to a vessel of wood, Polished and carved, it solidly stood.
“You may use me, dear Master”, the wooden bowl said, “But I’d rather You used me for fruit, not for Bread!”
Then the Master looked down and saw a vessel of clay. Empty and broken it helplessly lay. No hope had the vessel that the Master might choose, To cleanse and make whole, to fill and to use.
“Ah! This is the vessel I’ve been hoping to find, I will mend and use it and make it all Mine.” “I need not the vessel with pride of its self; Nor the one who is narrow to sit on the shelf; Nor the one who is big mouthed and shallow and loud; Nor one who displays his contents so proud; Not the one who thinks he can do all things just right; But this plain earthy vessel filled with My power and might.”
Then gently He lifted the vessel of clay. Mended and cleansed it and filled it that day. Spoke to it kindly. “There’s work you must do, Just pour out to others as I pour into you.”
I guess he could have. It would have probably been a whole lot easier for him to accept the first offer from Pharoah which came after the plague of flies : that the children of Israel can go make their sacrifices to God right there in the land of Egypt.
But Moses said “no deal” – that’s not what God had instructed: “We will go three days’ journey in to the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He will command us.” Exodus 8:27
After the plague of hail Pharoah conceded slightly and offered a new deal to Moses “Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord.”
But, again, Moses said “no deal”, that’s not what God had commanded : “And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.” Exodus 10:9
After swarms of locusts and 3 days of intense blackness Pharoah called Moses in. He was ready to offer his best compromise yet:
“Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you,” he said.
This was his best deal yet. After all, Egypt’s own animals had now been wiped out by boils, hail and disease. Moses only need leave the animals behind and all the men, women and children were free to go!
Did Moses yield and make a compromise with the one holding God’s people captive? Did he agree to the deal with Pharoah potentially bringing about peace and unity between the Israelites and the Egyptians?
‘But Moses said, “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” Exodus 10:25, 26
Of course Moses didn’t make a deal with the devil, oops, I mean Pharoah. He didn’t compromise one inch! Not even one little hoof was to be left behind!
Moses was a man of God with a foundation of truth and integrity that was built on the Word of God. Moses had always told Pharoah the truth. The whole truth – even the hard parts about judgment. Moses had always proclaimed the truth and he wasn’t going to start backing down now.
My question is…..So what on earth has happened to the Church?
At every turn we are compromising: making deals with the devil, shaking hands, signing documents with Islam (Chrislam), Interfaith conferences, performing occult practices in the Church.
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For whatfellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14
Imagine if Moses had said “yes” to one of Pharoah’s little deals…who knows, maybe he was tired and the offer was tempting….
What would we have done? Would we have had the guts to say “No. Not even one hoof is going to be left behind! I am not budging on God’s Word one teeny iota” ? Would we have been brave enough to stand on God’s Word, hard as it may be…?
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…” Romans 1:16
Let us not fear men more than we fear God. Where would that have gotten Moses?
“Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth” John Wesley
“The Lord Jesus calls people who realize they cannot function at all apart from His grace and empowerment. God chooses to use those individuals who know Him intimately! This is the primary qualification for service in the kingdom of God.”
“If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.” (Leonard Ravenhill)
“What are you doing?”
“WHAT are you doing?”
The man was standing on my right hand side, and he was very, very close. Yesterday morning I was preaching in the city. It had been a great morning, with very little resistance to the gospel. In fact, astonishingly, people had been quite open to it. As soon as I’d started preaching some individuals had immediately come over to talk to the others and ask for tracts (I’ve never seen that before!). But then this man: he couldn’t have been standing more than a foot away from me. It made me uncomfortable.
“What are you doing?” he said to me again.
“I will talk to you when I’m finished,” I said, momentarily pausing from preaching. I could see that he wasn’t about to go anywhere soon.
I turned my back to him slightly and kept going, trying to ignore him.
I usually get nervous when I go to the streets, but I’ve never been afraid. There is a difference.
Something the Lord has caused me to see is that when I am sent somewhere by the Holy Spirit, then I am going in the authority of Jesus Christ. I am going in His Name. It is like an ambassador being sent from the US to another country. He goes with the authority of the US and with the strength of the US behind him. When we go out from Jesus’ presence into the world we go as His ambassador. We go under His authority and we have the whole of Heaven behind us, supporting us, cheering us on.
“…and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him, who fills all in all.”
JESUS IS LORD!
There is nothing to fear when we walk with the King of kings, the Lord of Lords.
Back to that man standing close to me: as I spoke with him it became obvious there was a proud, religious spirit manifesting. (…”You don’t know the Bible….You don’t know Jesus….I know Jesus…I know Him better than anyone, better than He knows Himself…“) – and, yes, he actually said that.
The Holy Spirit was grieved by this and He had me take authority over the situation. I had no choice but to tell him politely but firmly that his heart was not right, that he was wasting my time and that I was ending the conversation with him. I walked away. As Christians we are to show love to people but zero tolerance to Satan.
“I am well assured that I did far more good to my Lincolnshire parishioners by preaching three days on my father‟s tomb than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit.” John Wesley
“I can easily see why the folks at home want to eliminate Hell from their theology, preaching and thought. Hell is indeed awful unless its preaching is joined to a life laid down by the preacher. How can a man believe in Hell unless he throws away his life to rescue others from its torment? If there is no Hell, the Bible is a lie. Unless we are willing to go to Hell on earth for others, we cannot preach it.”
“I believe I never was more acceptable to my Master than when I was standing to teach those hearers in the open fields…I now preach to ten times more people than I would if I had been confined to the churches.” George Whitfield
We were there to street-preach before the concert began and set up the PA system. With wave upon wave of people coming across the street toward us and hundreds more pouring out from the train station behind us, it was crazy busy. There were so many people that at one point I could hardly move.
It was too good an opportunity to pass up. I preached.
“Nobody cares!” someone screamed at me.
Who cares if nobody cares? I certainly don’t. My Lord Jesus told me to “Go”. I kept preaching. I preached for as long as I could, until my voice started cracking and I had to stop for its sake.
Street-preaching – why? (I ask myself this when I’m feeling tired or lazy)
Because thousands of people, both old and young heard the gospel of Jesus Christ last night who perhaps wouldn’t have otherwise.
What if those people never once in their life ever stepped inside a Church?What if they never heard the gospel before they died?
It was 3am. My three year-old son, Tom, had been coughing without reprieve for 8 solid hours. The cough was deep and contained a strange rattling sound. With each cough my heart was torn. He had double pneumonia, croup, bronchitis and asthma all at once.
I had been praying, weeping, crying out to God for those 8 hours “Have mercy on my son Lord!” At 3am I left my husband at Tom’s bedside and went to “get serious” with God. I knelt down and prayed.
Immediately He said to me “No. Praise Me.”
That was the last thing I felt like doing! I was exhausted, heart-broken, anxious. But it was a definite and clear command from the Lord, so I stood up and sang :
“Oh Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God
I love the Holy Lamb of God
Oh wash me in His precious blood,
My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God!”
As I sang I saw the outline of a Man in front of me in the darkness and Tom’s coughing immediately stopped. We slept soundly the rest of the night.
One thing I have learnt is that there is power in praise.
“Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him all His angels;
Praise Him all His hosts!” Psalm 148:1, 2
Praise brings victory
Powerful enemies were coming against Israel (2 Chronicles 20). Jehosophat and the people didn’t know what to do. He proclaimed a fast and they cried out to God. God told them not to fear, that they would not have to even fight – the battle was His not theirs. By faith in God’s Word they sang and praised the Lord and the enemy was defeated:
“Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his[c] holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
“Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”
22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.”
This morning I was feeling discouraged and defeated myself in some of the areas my husband and I have been called to minister in. But we decided to sing. We sang that old chorus :
“Be strong and of good courage
Be not afraid neither be dismayed…
For the Lord thy God is with thee
Whereever you go…”
This afternoon I got a phone call – there has been victory in the very area I had felt discouraged over this morning! Praise the Lord!
Praise is a powerful weapon in the Christian’s arsenal.
“Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;….To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;” Psalm 149
The Holy Spirit has given me two dreams lately about the power of praise. In both dreams I have come face to face with the devil and found that they only way to stand and to defeat him is through worshipping and praising the Lord Jesus Christ. I’ve sung and asked others to sing with me, anointed songs of the blood of the Lamb and the cross – and the enemy has been bound and defeated.
I saw this actually happen a couple of weeks ago in our women’s prayer group. As we praised the Lord the anointing of the Spirit fell down upon us. His power came so strongly upon us that we could not do much at all but shake and cry. From that moment in each of the lives of those whom were present there has been victory in our lives in different areas.
Praise magnifies the Lord
“O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.” Psalm 34:3
When we exalt the Lord in praise He is magnified. We see Him for who He truly is – He is great, He is mighty, He is powerful. He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He is not some dumb idol made with man’s hands! God cannot remain small in our eyes when we praise Him. Suddenly our faith increases as we see the Lord for who He truly is and we know that NOTHING Is impossible.
Praise lifts our eyes from ourselves up to Him
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-3
When we praise the Lord we stop focusing on ourselves and our problems and focus on Him. We “set our minds on things above, not on things below” and we are lifted in faith. Truly the atmosphere of heaven is brought down to earth in praise of our Lord, we enter His presence and that is when our prayers are answered and our help comes.
Praise is a sacrifice
Praise is something we can offer to the Lord Jesus for all that He has done for us. We can never praise Him enough for Who He is and for what He has done but we can offer Him the fruit of our lips. Praise is a sacrifice of our time, of our pride, of even our own feelings and emotions.
“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name….for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” Hebrews 13:15, 16
Praise breaks bondages
Paul and Silas were in prison, bound and chained for the sake of the gospel. Sometimes we are too, persecuted, hurt by man’s words, bound by rejection and fear.
“Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.” Acts 16:24-26
The thing about praise is that it sets captives free. When we praise we are set free from bondage. And the amazing thing is, those who are around us are also set free.
“I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.” Psalm 34:1-3
choose a woman to go? I would say, “No, it’s not wonderful. Excuse me for being rude about God, but He can pick who He likes.” I mean, it’s no more wonderful for Him to send a woman than a man, or an old man or young woman. He picks who He wants. That’s His business. It was God’s wisdom that sent me. I was just doing what He made me for. That’s no credit to me; it’s all credit to Him. If He’s made you for something, you just do it.”
Grace and Truth 