Revelation 21: 5
21:5. Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
God creates new men who are glorious as He is.
He creates new heaven and earth, that is to say New Jerusalem.
Thus, the new men God creates as glorious as He is will be placed in New Jerusalem.
The process of being new men is through RENEWAL.
Thus, we have to be renewed little by littleuntil we have the renewal of New Jerusalem that we become as glorious as He is and we are in New Jerusalem.
The renewal of New Jerusalem is signed with term "THERE SHALL BE NO MORE", meaning there shall be no more old things.
There are seven things that must be no more as follows:
Revelation 22: 5
22:5. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
THERE SHALL BE NO NIGHT, meaning there is no more darkness of sin up to the peak of sin and there is no more spiritual blindness.
The servants of God or the sons of God who live in the darkness of sins are in the spiritual blindness.
Matthew 20:29-30
20:29. Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.
20:30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"
The one who is in spiritual blindness is by the road as a fig tree by the road which produced only leaves without any fruit.
The term 'by the road' refers to the one who is not shepherded, meaning as follows:
Not satisfying God, one is cursed by Him to be in sorrow, bitterness of heart, tears, and thorns.
We have to fight in order to be free from the spiritual blindness so we can be shepherded and produce fruits to satisfy God and He will satisfy us.
We will have a real satisfaction from God up to the eternal satisfaction.
It is the lengthening of God's patienceif tonight the preaching of God's Word is about the shepherding so we can be firm in it.
Do not make the lengthening of God's patience useless!
There is a destruction and curse outside the lengthening of God's patience.
Luke 13:6-7
13:6. He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
13:7 "Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?'
The one who is already shepherded must be careful also because there was a fig tree in a vineyard not producing fruit.
Meaning he has been already shepherded in the true teaching Word but not producing fruit.
Judas is the example. His shepherd is Jesus Himself but he did not produce fruit.
Acts 20:28,31-32
20:28 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
20:31 "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
20:32 "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
The shepherding Word is the Word of God's mercy He trusts to a pastor to preach to the congregation continually and repetitiously and faithfully as the food for them so they can grow to spiritual growth and perfection.
The Word of God's mercy is given to the one who is actually not worthy to receive.Therefore we have to appreciate the true shepherding.
A pastor who does not want to feed the congregation is outside the mercy so the congregation is outside the mercy also.
Besides, the congregation who do not consume the shepherding Word is also outside the mercy. Being outside the mercy, the fig tree is withered with curse and perdition only.
'Three years' [Luke 13:7] is the time limit from God for our producing fruits. It does not refer to the three years interval but the lengthening of God's patience.
There is a difference between a fig tree by the road and the one in the vineyard.
The fig tree by the road was directly cursed by the Lord when it did not produce fruit at the time limit but the fig tree in the vineyard still had the pleading of the keeper of the vineyard or the supplication prayer of shepherd although it had not produced fruit at the time limit.
There are two main duties of a pastor as follows:
The duty of congregation is consuming the Word and obeying the true shepherding Word. The congregation must be careful not to make the pastor grieved.
Luke 13:8-9
13:8 "But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.
13:9 'And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.'"
Why does one not produce fruit although he has already been shepherded?
It is because of a bad root.
Do not be deceived with a great appearance, we have to check the root which is hidden.
There are at least two kinds of bad root as below:
The results of being in the embrace of the Great Shepherd are below:
21:5. Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
God creates new men who are glorious as He is.
He creates new heaven and earth, that is to say New Jerusalem.
Thus, the new men God creates as glorious as He is will be placed in New Jerusalem.
The process of being new men is through RENEWAL.
Thus, we have to be renewed little by littleuntil we have the renewal of New Jerusalem that we become as glorious as He is and we are in New Jerusalem.
The renewal of New Jerusalem is signed with term "THERE SHALL BE NO MORE", meaning there shall be no more old things.
There are seven things that must be no more as follows:
- Revelation 21: 1= sea,
- Revelation 21: 4= death,
- Revelation 21: 4= sorrow,
- Revelation 21: 4= crying,
- Revelation 21: 4= pain,
- Revelation 22: 3= curse,
- Revelation 22: 5= night.
Revelation 22: 5
22:5. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
THERE SHALL BE NO NIGHT, meaning there is no more darkness of sin up to the peak of sin and there is no more spiritual blindness.
The servants of God or the sons of God who live in the darkness of sins are in the spiritual blindness.
Matthew 20:29-30
20:29. Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.
20:30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"
The one who is in spiritual blindness is by the road as a fig tree by the road which produced only leaves without any fruit.
The term 'by the road' refers to the one who is not shepherded, meaning as follows:
- Wandering, not being patient in sheepfold (three main services to the Lord), not holding fast one true teaching Word.
- Not obeying the shepherd's voice or the shepherding Word.
- Because the leaves of the fig tree were used to cover the nakedness.
Meaning keeping self truthin committing service and ministry.
The self-truth means as follows:- Covering sins by blaming other people.
- Covering sins by blaming God and the true teaching Word.
- Covering sins by blaming other people.
- Because the leaves were used as a shelter.
John 1:48
1:48 Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."
Meaning service and ministry to seek self-interest.The service and ministry will be left when suffering in flesh comes.
Fellowship is done not to seek physical shelter but to seek the Vine where the fig tree may grow and yield fruits, not only leaves.
Not satisfying God, one is cursed by Him to be in sorrow, bitterness of heart, tears, and thorns.
We have to fight in order to be free from the spiritual blindness so we can be shepherded and produce fruits to satisfy God and He will satisfy us.
We will have a real satisfaction from God up to the eternal satisfaction.
It is the lengthening of God's patienceif tonight the preaching of God's Word is about the shepherding so we can be firm in it.
Do not make the lengthening of God's patience useless!
There is a destruction and curse outside the lengthening of God's patience.
Luke 13:6-7
13:6. He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
13:7 "Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?'
The one who is already shepherded must be careful also because there was a fig tree in a vineyard not producing fruit.
Meaning he has been already shepherded in the true teaching Word but not producing fruit.
Judas is the example. His shepherd is Jesus Himself but he did not produce fruit.
Acts 20:28,31-32
20:28 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
20:31 "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
20:32 "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
The shepherding Word is the Word of God's mercy He trusts to a pastor to preach to the congregation continually and repetitiously and faithfully as the food for them so they can grow to spiritual growth and perfection.
The Word of God's mercy is given to the one who is actually not worthy to receive.Therefore we have to appreciate the true shepherding.
A pastor who does not want to feed the congregation is outside the mercy so the congregation is outside the mercy also.
Besides, the congregation who do not consume the shepherding Word is also outside the mercy. Being outside the mercy, the fig tree is withered with curse and perdition only.
'Three years' [Luke 13:7] is the time limit from God for our producing fruits. It does not refer to the three years interval but the lengthening of God's patience.
There is a difference between a fig tree by the road and the one in the vineyard.
The fig tree by the road was directly cursed by the Lord when it did not produce fruit at the time limit but the fig tree in the vineyard still had the pleading of the keeper of the vineyard or the supplication prayer of shepherd although it had not produced fruit at the time limit.
There are two main duties of a pastor as follows:
- Feeding the congregation
- Lifting up supplication prayer for the congregation.
The duty of congregation is consuming the Word and obeying the true shepherding Word. The congregation must be careful not to make the pastor grieved.
Luke 13:8-9
13:8 "But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.
13:9 'And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.'"
Why does one not produce fruit although he has already been shepherded?
It is because of a bad root.
Do not be deceived with a great appearance, we have to check the root which is hidden.
There are at least two kinds of bad root as below:
- The root of wickedness, that is to say the love of money or being bound by money.
1 Timothy 6:10
6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Judas is the example.
Judas seemed to be employed by God even he kissed Jesus but the root was wicked.
The practice of having the root of wickedness is below:- Seeking money in illegal ways.
- Being stingy = not giving for the forming of Christ's body.
- Being greedy = seizing the rights of others even the rights of God especially the tithes and special offerings.
For consuming the fertilizer, the root of wickedness must be sanctified.
The fertilizer refers to the true teaching Word, not all kinds of fertilizer may be given.
Haggai 2:7-8
2:7 "For thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;
2:8 'and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,' says the LORD of hosts.
The forming of the temple of God is in the time of crises because God has these purposes:- That our sacrifice is signed with blood sign.
- That we rely on the mercy of God.
- Seeking money in illegal ways.
- The root of rottenness, meaning considering all teachings same.
Isaiah 5:24
5:24 Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Matthew 26:23-25
26:23 He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.
26:24 "The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born."
26:25 Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?" He said to him, "You have said it."
The root of rottenness can be in the form of rejection to the Wordso the heart is never touched by It.
The results of being in the embrace of the Great Shepherd are below:
- The hand of the mercy of Great Shepherd carries and gathers us, meaning to preserve and to protect us miraculously as well as to unite us (to unite us in congregation and to unite our marriage which has been scattered).
Isaiah 40:11
40:11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young. - The hand of the mercy of God carries us in His bosom, meaning all our heavy burdens are born by God so we have a release from Him and all things become easy and light.
- The hand of His grace leads us to beautiful and joyful future life, all things are beautiful and we rejoice without any tears.
We only need to wait the time because all matters are God's concerning.
Revelation 7:17
7:17 "for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."