MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
THE FAITH OF JESUS, THE BIBLE AND THEIR SAINTS (Part 1)
“Now faith is the substance of the things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. By it [faith] the elders obtained a good report.” Heb. 11: 1, 2, KJV.
As with the oneness and unity of The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the three Persons of the Godhead or the “heavenly Trio” (1 John 5:7), the faith of Jesus, Bible faith, and the faith of the saints (beginning with Abel down to the last faithful “patient, commandment-keeping saint” (Rev. 14:12) before earth’s probation closes, are likewise “one.” How? Why? It simply follows and is true to the eternal principle of the indivisibility and unchanging unity expressed and manifested in the following few examples:
Jesus Christ, “in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily” (Col. 1:19; 2:9) is “the SAME yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8).
Again, He, “Who is the IMAGE of the INVISIBLE God, the Firstborn of every creature, for BY Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible or invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and FOR Him and He is before all things, and by Him ALL things consist” (Col. 1:16,17), whom the Father “hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the WORLDS, who being the BRIGHTNESS of His [the Father’s] glory, and the EXPRESS image of HIS PERSON, and upholding all things by the WORD of His POWER…”(Heb. 1: 2, 3), is no less than “the Author and Finisher of OUR FAITH” (Heb. 12:!2)!
Even as 1 Corinthians 13 is known as “the love chapter,” and Psalms 119 as the “meditation on the Law chapter,” our lead Bible verses are the opening “It is written”introduction of Christ’s and the Bible’s eternally-honored HALL OF FAITH to the eyes, ears, minds, and hearts of earth’s fallen, sinful inhabitants as well as to the numberless “worlds” in God’s universe mentioned briefly in Hebrews 1: 2. Hebrews chapter 11 stands in stark contrast to all the man-made, self-serving, self-glorifying Halls of Fame of fallible mortals, and the ignominious “Halls of Shame” made up of the worst of human beings and their ignominious careers and deeds, sadly glorified in fiction and film.
In the Bible’s Hall of Faith those whose names are mentioned as well as the unnamed ones including all who refused to “receive the mark of the beast in their foreheads or in their hands” in obedience-worship to “the image of the beast” and “overcome them by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” (Rev. 7: 1-17: 12: 10. 11; 14:1-5, 12, 13; 19: 7-9; 15: 2, 3; 20: 4; 21: 1-27; 22: 1-14) are forever enshrined in God’s book of life, as “nominated” and “fully vetted” by the the three Persons of the Godhead that “bear RECORD in heaven” (1 John 5:7) and are witnessed to by the “ministering spirit-angels” (both cherubim and seraphim, guardian-and-recording) that number “thousand thousands, ten thousand times ten thousand (Dan. 7: 10; Rev. 5:11, etc.), “the twenty four elders’ and the ‘four beast-living creatures’ (Rev..5:8-14; 11:16-19; 19:4; Eze. 1: 4-28).
Their eternally-redeemed status have been judged and finally and irrevocably determined during the pre-advent, investigative judgment session in the heavenly sanctuary solemnly announced by the first of the three angels of Revelation 14.
With prayer and fasting, accompanied with earnest and importunate prayer for the conviction, guidance, and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, study the three angels’ messages like you never did before. Your faith in Jesus and the Bible will grow exponentially in quicker preparation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in latter rain power for the final loud cry of the “fourth angel” of Revelation 18!
To be continued in the next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.