Mar 22 2011
Living out the Fullness of Christ
Living out the Fullness of Christ
Since I now no longer attend cell groups, I thought it’ll be good to do some bible study to keep my sword sharp kekeke. And this study has blessed my life and re-aligned my focus on Him to carry and live out the fullness of Jesus once again. Just wanna share with all and hope you find this a blessing.
Read Rev 6:1-8
In Rev 6, John saw 7 seals. The first 4 revealed 4 different horsemen on 4 different colored horses (white, red, black, pale).
The Significance of Seals
Seals can be an entity or spirit being. When we are saved, we are saved by the blood of Jesus and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Demons see the seal of the Holy Spirit in our lives and flee – they cannot touch us. We are sealed with the HS!
If you belong to Jesus, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. You are the temple and He lives in you.
And so long as there’s an evil seal over our lives, we cannot enjoy our inheritance. Jesus came to remove it for us and set us free!
The 4 Horsemen in Rev 6:1-8
The four horsemen in the book of Revelation bring false doctrines, war, death, famine to mankind. They are really BAD NEWS!
1st Seal
Rev 6:1-2 gives us the 1st Horseman. He rides on a white horse, carrying a bow and wore a crown on his head. In the bible, only Jesus rode on a white horse – in the second coming.
The first horseman represents false doctrine. Long before bad things can happen to us in our lives, there must be false doctrines, false teaching and false believing. When you believe wrong, things become wrong.
Right believing produces right living: Right believing comes when we unveil Jesus to the people – who He is, what He done, etc
2nd Seal
Rev 6:3-4 gives us the 2nd horseman. He rides a red horse, carrying a great sword that brings war and terror into earth. Peace is taken away – people live lives in fear.
Obviously, this is a sign of the works of evil spirits. You need to use the name of Jesus to overcome evil spirits everywhere you go.
As a child of God, you are not the one to fear. You are sealed with the HS!
3rd Seal
Rev 6:5-6 gives us the 3rd horseman. He rides on a black horse holding a pair of scales. Scales (Gk zugón) represents yoke, and in this context, scarcity and lack.
Verse 6 says that “a quart of wheat is sold for a denarius and 3 quarts of barley for a denarius (a Denarius is the ancient Roman currency representing a full day’s wage)”. This means that the economic situation must be very bad – to have wheat and barley – common commodities costing such exorbitant prices. The only possible situation this can happen today is in a situation of famine and lack. Today we see commodity prices rising due to crop failures brought about by global warming causing prices to soar. Economic instability and market volatility – a sign of the times?
4th Seal
Rev 6:7-8 gives us the 4th horseman. His name is death and he rides a pale horse. Hades followed him. He was given power to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death and by the “beasts of the earth”.
“beast of the earth” is a diminutive term used to represent “very small” organisms – germs and virus? E.g. SARS, bio-chemical?
These 4 horsemen will be out to wreck havoc in lives.
The 4 Living Creatures
In Rev 4:6-7, John saw 4 Living Creatures:
Lion, Calf, the Face of a Man, Flying Eagle.
These 4 creatures speak of the 4 faces of Jesus, in the order of the 4 gospels:
Matthew – this book typifies Jesus as King of Jews (picture of Lion)
Mark – this book typifies Jesus laboring untiringly serving (healing sick, washing disciples’ feet, etc) like an Ox (picture of Calf)
Luke – this book typifies Jesus as Man (often seen in Luke, the term “son of man”) (Picture of face of man)
John – this book typifies Jesus as Son of God from heaven (picture of Eagle)
2 of the 4 gospels have mentioned Jesus’ genealogy – Matthew (purpose was to certify His kingship – Jesus is from the line of David), and Luke (certifies his “human form” – the author of this gospel writes His genealogy going all the way back to Adam).
The gospel of Mark typifies Jesus as servant, hence no genealogy – you don’t ask a servant for his genealogy). And the gospel of John typifies Jesus as God – hence there is no ancestral line depicted by a genealogy – because He is God (Jn 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God).
The Fullness of Jesus Christ
The Fullness of Christ is found in the prophetic vision of the Eagle, the untiring labour of an Ox, the intelligence of a man, and the boldness of a lion. We need to put on these 4 faces in our lives. It represents the fullness of Christ!
How the Children of Israel Set Camp
This is very interesting!
Numbers 2 speaks of how God wants the Israeli tribes to camp.
It is divided into 4 sections – East, West, North and South, each with 3 tribes and carrying the standard (banner) of each of the leader – Judah (Lion), Dan (Eagle), Reuben (Man), Ephraim (Ox). This is according to what was written by the Hebrew scholar, Keil-Delitzsh :
“According to Rabbinical tradition, the standard (banner) of Judah bore the figure of the lion, that of Reuben (south side) the likeness of man or a man’s head, that of Ephraim (west side) the figure of an ox, and that of Dan (north side) the figure of an eagle”
The priests and the tabernacle of God reside in the center of the formation:
Ezekiel’s vision of God
In Ezekiel 1:10, Ezekiel saw the 4 faces of God, which is really the picture of Jesus.
In Num 2:1-2, God wants his people to camp facing the tabernacle.
How we should conduct our lives today to protect ourselves from the 4 winds/horsemen
It means that God wants your entire life – your career, ministry, children etc – everything you do to face Jesus, to revolve around Jesus. This means that the church is not peripheral to the world. The world is peripheral to the church!
Matt 6:33 – “seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you”
Everything we do should be facing and have the focus on God! Our backs are to face the world so that God’s blessings can overtake us from behind!
The Israelites have all their camps face inwards to God’s dwelling place. Their backs are exposed to potential enemies. However, it was never recorded in the bible that when Israel camped in this way, they were attacked. God protected them! Because whenever we focus on Jesus, He takes care of our back. But if we turn our focus to the world, our back is facing the tabernacle and God cannot protect us.
Here’s how it looks from Ezekiel 1:10. Notice how the enemy’s attack on each side is well guarded by a face of God.
In Genesis, when God asked Moses to go to Pharaoh, God told Moses to throw down his staff – it turns into a snake. Then He asked Moses to catch the tail (normally snake catchers catch the head and not tail so that the snake cannot turn and bite).
In this case, Moses caught the tail, so that God can take care of the snake’s head – He fights for us!
God says, plan everything of our life facing Jesus – putting priority on God.
The fullness of Jesus is around His people.
“as the mountains are around Jerusalem, the lord is around his people” – Ps 125
The Attack of The Enemies (The 4 Winds of Heaven)
The 4 horsemen were foretold in the book of Zechariah in the Old Testament –he saw them as chariots.
Zech 6:1-6 v5: there are 4 spirits (Hebrew word: winds)
Black horse – go toward the North Country
White horse – go toward the West Country
Pale (dappled) – go toward the south country
Red horse – go toward the east country
We are in the middle (the church) – recall the golden standing boards making up the house of God. We look toward the shekinah glory of God and we reflect His glory – we are to reflect God’s glory! Not some worldly success that forgot about God except to bring Him in to religion.
We are protected all around! The banners are raised and the horses flee! Nothing evil can come in to affect our lives. We are totally protected by Jesus, sealed by the HS!
How The Church Should Be
A church must always lift up the fullness of Jesus and not man’s name or accomplishment. That’s what drives away the devil! Every week in service, lift up the standards (raise the banners) of the fullness of Christ – the man, lion, ox and eagle.
When a church lift up Jesus instead of man’s success or works, we shine the fullness of Christ. Every time the devil comes and attack, he sees something like what Ezekiel sees in his vision, and we are safely hidden in the center, protected by the fullness of Christ! (that’s what it means “in Christ”!)
Jesus Dealt With The 4 Winds On The cross
He must have suffered the 4 winds in our place so that we can exchange and take His place of protection:
Prophetically, Jesus spoke about the 4 horsemen without talking about them – he sat on Mount of Olives in Matt 24:3-5:
Signs of His coming
First sign: False doctrine: Matt 24:5 (first horse) false teaching will be prevalent
Second sign: War: Matt 24:6 (second horse – red horse)
Third horse: Famine Matt 24:7a (third horse – black horse)
Fourth horse: Death Matt 24:7b (pestilences (diseases) and earthquakes)
Redemption of the body – dead in Christ will rise first
Focus on Jesus everyday! Raise Jesus high everyday! Songs 2:4
Matt 24:8 – beginning of tribulation – we will be raptured before it starts! Suggests pre-tribulation?
The blessings will come from behind and overtake you as you focus on Jesus and live in the fullness of Christ everyday!
What It Means To Me
All along, we have been lifting up man in our church services, forgetting that when we lift up the banners of Jesus, the devil cannot mount a successful attack on His church.
Seeing the love of Jesus through the Word greatly encouraged me. In the bible, Jesus desires for us to carry His fullness – of the man, lion, ox and eagle. He died so that by His blood, He has redeemed me and sent the HS to guide and protect me. I am loved by Jesus. And so are you.
It is amazing how everything was so clearly ”coded” in the bible.
It shows me once again that nothing else I do is ever sufficient to “prove” my love for Him. His love for me greatly overtakes me and there is nothing else I can do except to receive His everlasting love for me.
Just felt that this Word will bless you, and I pray you will meditate on it.
Blessings.
Ronald
Notes taken from the sermon, “God’s Protection Plan Against The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse”, Pastor Joseph Prince, New Creation Church
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