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Ascension Service in Malang, May 09, 2013 (Thursday Evening)

Peace and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 28:16-20 is about the commandment to preach the gospel or to spread the light or shekinah glory. It means we are employed by God in the great revival according to the great commission of the Lord as follows.

  1. [Matthew 28: 18-19] The revival of Holy Spirit at the early rain.
    It is the revival in gospel word or the gospel of salvation. It is also called Good Tidings to bring the sinners to get the salvation through believing in Jesus and water baptism.


  2. [Matthew 28: 20] The revival of Holy Spirit at the latter rain.
    It is the revival in the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ or the teaching Word that is sharper than any two-edged sword. It is called Bride Tidings to bring the people who have been saved to enter the building of Christ's perfect body, be sanctified, and perfected to become the Bride of God who is ready to welcome Jesus' second coming as Heavenly Bridegroom on glorious clouds.

Matthew 28:20b
28:20 .... and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

If we are trusted in the spiritual revival, we will be accompanied by God. He is with us until the end of days. It means He is with us from now on until He comes a second time or forever.

The accompaniment of God is related to the Ascension.

John 14:1-3
14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
14:2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Jesus has ascended to heaven in order to prepare a place for us. He will come a second time to bring us to a place where He is; that where He is, there we may be also. It is the peak of His accompaniment as Head to the body. A father can be separated from his son; a doctor can be separated from the patient, but the Head cannot be separated from the body. The Head refers to the husband and the body refers to the wife. Thus, the accompaniment of the Head to the body is the accompaniment of the Bridegroom or the eternal accompaniment. We will sit with Jesus on the throne of New Jerusalem forever.

The accompaniment of the perfect and glorious Heavenly Bridegroom to His perfect and glorious bride or the body of Christ can be described as the Ark of the Covenant.
It consists of two parts as follows.

  • The mercy seat made of pure gold or godly characteristic.
    The first cherub refers to Father God or the Lord.
    The mercy seat with the sprinkled blood refers to the Son of God or Jesus.
    The second cherub refers to Holy Spirit God or Christ.

    Thus, the mercy seat made of pure gold refers to the Lord Jesus Christ as the High Priest, Great Shepherd, and Heavenly Bridegroom who is perfect.


  • The ark made of acacia wood that is overlaid by gold inside and out.
    The wood refers to fleshly man who is fragile. Such man cannot stand facing sins. The wood must be overlaid by gold, so that we cannot see the wood anymore.

Thus, to have the accompaniment of God so that we experience "where I am, there you may be also", we must be overlaid by the pure gold. It means the fleshly man is renewed by the holiness of Holy Spirit, so that we can be perfect as Jesus is. God is with His people as the mercy seat is upon the ark, so there is none, including Satan, can disturb our life.

There are three disciples who are written in John 14 as the representatives of the fleshly men who must be overlaid by the pure gold as follows.

  1. Thomas.
    John 14:4-6
    14:4 "And where I go you know, and the way you know."
    14:5 Thomas said to Him, "    Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"
    14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

    The weakness of Thomas is fleshly life journey or worldly one, namely he must see first before believing. It is not the true faith.
    The fleshly life journey must be overlaid by the holiness of Holy Spirit to become spiritual life journey or the journey by faith.

    Romans 10:17
    10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

    The word of God is in the anointing of Holy Spirit or the Word that is revealed through a verse that explains another verse in the Bible.

    2 Corinthians 5:7
    5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

    The journey by faith means we live not by sight but believing through the hearing of the Word of God or the true teaching Word.

    John 14:6
    14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

    Jesus Himself has given us example about the journey by faith, whose practice is as follows.


    • "I am the way", namely the way of cross.
      1 Peter 4:1-2
      4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
      4:2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

      It means the suffering in the flesh in order to stop sinning to return to the will of God. It is repentance.


    • "the truth", that is being ruled by Holy Spirit.
      John 16:13
      16:13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

      We live in the righteousness and minister to God in righteousness and faithfulness. We become the servant of righteousness.


    • "the life", namely the journey in the true teaching Word.
      John 5:24
      5:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

      The true teaching Word is the Word which is revealed through a verse that explains other verses in the Bible. The verse is the words of Jesus. The verse that explains other verses means the whole Word is the words of Jesus.

      The result of practicing the true teaching Word are as follows.


      1. We pass from death into eternal life.
        If tonight we come to Jesus with our sins, we must have already perished. If we want to repent, throw away the sins, minister to God in righteousness, and practice the Word, we will get the eternal life now. If God allows us to die, we will be resurrected someday in the body of glory to get the eternal life.


      2. The power of the true teaching Word is able to create something that does not exist yet, that is to preserve our life wonderfully.
        Hebrews 1:1-2
        1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
        1:2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

        Not only to create the world, God also arranges it well. There is mercy of God to arrange our life well and regularly as well as beautify it in time of need.


  2. Philip.
    John 14:8-10
    14:8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
    14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
    14:10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

    The weakness of Philip is fleshly or worldly sight, so he cannot see Father God in Jesus.
    The fleshly sight must be overlaid by the holiness of Holy Spirit or the pure gold, so we can see Father God, the Son of God, and Holy Spirit God or the Lord Jesus Christ as the High Priest, Great Shepherd, and heavenly Bridegroom.

    John 1:43-45
    1:43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."
    1:44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
    1:45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

    John 6:7
    6:7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."

    The sight of Philip is the fleshly one, namely hoping only in money. He has been saved but he cannot see Jesus as the Great Shepherd. It means he has not been shepherded yet, so he cannot be used in the revival of Holy Spirit at the latter rain.
    The consequences are as follows.


    • His life becomes as a dog licking the vomit. It means lying, idle words, and slanders.
    • Destruction in marriage and children, so there is no peace.


    We must see Jesus as the Great Shepherd, so we can be shepherded in the sheepfold. It refers to the Holy Place of Tabernacle where there are three kinds of equipment. They refer to perseverance in doing three main services to God as follows.


    • Golden Candlestick or perseverance in doing General Service. It is as we spiritually drink.
    • Table of Showbread or perseverance in doing Bible Study Service with Holy Communion. It is as we spiritually eat.
    • Golden Altar of Incense or perseverance in doing Prayer Service. It is as we spiritually breathe.


    As a result, our spirituality grows. The sign of being shepherded is obedience to the voice of the Shepherd. All of us, beginning from the pastor, the elders, the servants of God, and the congregation, must be shepherded.

    Sitting in groups of one hundred people and fifty people refers to the measurement of the Tabernacle, whose length is one hundred cubits and width is fifty cubits. Thus, we must enter the Tabernacle, not doing our service to God in groups. It begins from a man, namely the pastor and husband, who must sit to be shepherded.

    We will not ask "how much money do you have?" but "how many loaves do you have?" It is as a dog licking the crumbs under the table of its master. It means we appreciate the true teaching Word. We live by it and worship God to ask for His mercy until someday we can confess "I shall not want." It means the mercy of God preserves our life wonderfully, both for our physical and spiritual life, so we can be peaceful and perfect.

    We use our tongue much more to worship God until someday we confess "I shall not want". We must patiently wait for the time of God.


  3. Judas (not Iscariot).
    John 14:21-23
    14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
    14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"
    14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

    The weakness of Judas is his doubtful heart, so there are many questions facing problems as well as doubt in facing false teaching.

    James 1:6-8
    1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
    1:7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
    1:8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

    The doubtful will never get anything in life but sorrow and there is no peace. Moreover, such people are useless, even they will sink forever.

    The doubtful heart must be overlaid by gold to become obedient one that believes in God so that the flesh does not speak anymore. For example, Jesus is obedient to the point of death on the cross.

    Ephesians 5:1-2
    5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
    5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

    Being obedient and believing in God are as offering a sweet-smelling aroma before God. As a result, the rain of His mercy will come to us.


    • His mercy removes all curses, heavy burden, and weariness. All things become easy and light.
      Genesis 8:21-22
      8:21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
      8:22 "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease."

      The tears are wiped away and we rejoice. Our failure is changed into success.


    • The mercy of God supplies all our need wonderfully.
      Philippians 4:18-19
      4:18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.
      4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.


    • The mercy of God keeps on sanctifying and renewing our life. The image of Satan is erased and replaced by the image of God the Trinity.
      Revelation 5:8
      5:8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

      We become the first creation to be exalted on His throne.

God blesses you.