Every minister of the Word gets his inspiration from our Great Teacher. The Lord said that the Father will send the Holy Spirit who will guide us unto all truth. No person should dictate him what part of the Word he should feed to the church. But as God leads him and permits him, and that it should be according to Scripture. Those things ought he to declare behind the pulpit. Even as Paul who set aside the foundational teachings to move on to a higher level of revelations which he called perfection. And he said that they will tackle those things as God permits.
There are three stages a man goes through before he is finally reborn in the Kingdom of God as there are three divisions of the sanctuary, which are the outer court, holy place and finally the most holy place. It was in the most holy place that the mercy seat was situated where the shekinah glory of God appears.
The three stages of our Christian birth is first, justification. It is when we first heard about the love of God that He sent His beloved Son to be a propitiation for our sin. He suffered and died at the cross, went to hell, and on the third day rose again, appeared to many and then He ascended up on high to sit at the right hand of the Father until all His enemies are placed under His feet. Then we believed for faith comes by hearing the Word. And as a gesture of declaring our faith and to identify ourselves to God's Sacrifice, we repent and are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance is changing of the mind. Those things we allowed and willingly committed, we now consider us filth and evil. We realize that with such God is not pleased and that we ought not have done. We realize that as a sinner, we are worthy of condemnation but because of God's grace for sending His Son for us, there is now a provided way to escape the judgment of the Almighty. Then we make our decision to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as a sign that we identify ourselves to the Sacrifice and accept that He was judged in our behalf. We are not baptized in titles but in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. For some are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit which are the three titles of one God whose "name" is the Lord Jesus Christ.
After water baptism, we have now entered into fellowship with the believers as one who has the same faith with them but we have not yet entered into the Kingdom of God. For it was said that except a man is born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter God's kingdom. You have just been through justification, the first stage. Just like our natural birth, which types the spiritual, the first thing that comes forth is water, then blood. And after the blood, life comes forth which completes the process.
The second stage is sanctification. As we continue to hear the Word through the five-fold ministry (apostle, teacher, evangelist, prophet and pastor), our way of living changes. God is setting our mind towards holiness. We begin to act differently as we gain knowledge of the truth. The word sanctify means "to cleanse and set apart for a service". God changes our old worldly principles and habits to follow the admonitions of the Scripture as we "eat the good Word of God". But still this is not the rebirth.
The final stage is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is when God seals us to His kingdom. It is the indwelling of God's eternal gene into our heart. The only way for us to inherit the eternal nature of God is to be born of Him. As a natural father expresses his attributes through a seed and that seed becomes an individual being, a child that possesses his father's gene, which gene is the very abstract of all his characteristics. So also is God who is a spiritual Father. He expresses His attributes through His Seeds in the form of the Holy Ghost which is the spiritual Seed of God. And that Seed becomes an individual being, a child of God that possesses the nature of his Father. This means that if we are a recipient of that Spirit in the way of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, God has begotten us. This time not only we could live a holy life because we were cleansed through sanctification but because we have the very nature of the Holy God as His sons and daughters. Then God anoints us with His Spirit as a gift to empower us for a ministry.
Let us not be confused about the word anointing and rebirth. To be born of God is to be a son of God. A man can be anointed of the Spirit and yet not a son of God. God by His sovereign will could impart to anyone a portion of His power. For even Satan at first was called the "anointed" cherub. And in the last days, the Lord said that false Christs will come. The word Christ means anointed, which makes the phrase false christs as false anointed. A man can be anointed, or partaker of the Holy Ghost in that sense, and yet ordained to condemnation. As Paul beautifully illustrated it through nature in Hebrews 6:7-8 that," the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God. But that which bringeth thorns and briers is rejected and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.". The rain symbolizes the Spirit of God that pours upon both part of the earth that brings food and that part which brings thorns and briers. Both are recipients of God's anointing but not both are to obtain God's blessing.
We could say then that a man can be justified (once enlightened), sanctified (have tasted the good word of God), and anointed (have tasted of the heavenly gift and made partakers of the Holy Ghost) and yet not born of God. He could still fall away and reject the truth which he once embraced. It is the same as crucifying the Son of God afresh for Israel demanded Jesus' crucifixion as a gesture of their rejection.
This is like crossing the boundary of grace and judgment and unpardonable in the sight of God.
Remember Israel in the time of exodus. They all passed through the Red Sea and ate of the manna from heaven. They were all partakers of the water from the Rock and witnesses of God's mighty power. But not everyone crossed Jordan. Not all made it to the promise land except for Joshua and Caleb. Which promised land represents Christ.
He who is a seed of Abraham will finish his journey across the wilderness. Through hunger and thirst, through marah and meribah. Not a Korah or a Dathan or an Abiram can hinder him. He will not look back to see the onions and cucumbers of Egypt. But his heart will be set towards Canaan. For God called His son out of Egypt not to die in the wilderness but to possess his portion in the Land flowing with milk and honey. God be praised forever more!
BY. BRO. ALBERTO ESPINOSA
No comments:
Post a Comment