Bible Study Service in Malang, February 09, 2012 (Thursday Evening)

To Coincide with the Opening Service of Lempin-El Kristus Ajaib Generation XXXIV.

Matthew 26:57-68is about "WITNESS and TESTIMONY".

The Church of God or Christians must bear witness or be in the light of testimony until someday we can be shown as Heavenly Bride or the light of the world.

The Bride of Heaven is equipped with red moon under her feet, the crown of twelve stars, and the covering of the sun.
Meaning we must shine from the sole of our feet up to the top of our head. Nothing can be hidden until we become the perfect light of the world as Jesus is.

If we do not become the witness or we keep the darkness, someday we will deny the Lord. Consequently, we will enter the darkest dark up to perdition forever.

There are two kinds of witness and testimony as follows.
  1. The false witness in verse 59-63a, or lying witness.
  2. The true witness in verse 63b-66.
The meaning of the false witness is as follows.
Ad. 2. TRUE WITNESS
Matthew 26:63b-66
26:63b And the high priest answered and said to Him, "I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!"
26:64 Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."
26:65 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!
26:66 "What do you think?" They answered and said, "He is deserving of death."


Jesus is the example of the true witness.
He kept bearing witness that He was Christ, the Son of Living God, although He had to face persecution, suffering, and death.
Jesus kept bearing witness about the truth, not covering it to avoid the flesh suffering.
As a result, there is God’s glory behind the true testimony although we have to suffer.

Likewise, all of us, the sons of God and the servants of God, must become true witness.
We must bear witness about the truth, namely the truth of the Word, the truth in marriage and study or our manner in driving our car, et cetera, whatever risk we have to face.
There must be the glory of God nothing may defeat behind the true testimony.

We also have to bear witness that Jesus is Christ, the Son of Living God.
The practice is as follows.
  1. Bearing witness that Jesus is the Son of Living God, referring to righteousness and holiness = We have to live in righteousness and holiness.

  2. Bearing witness that Jesus is Christ, the anointed.
    There are three offices that must be anointed as follows.
    • King; Jesus is a King.
      Matthew 1:1
      1:1.The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

      Genesis 23:6
      23:6 "Hear us, my lord: You are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead."

      Jesus is Christ, meaning He is the Great King.
      The greatness of Jesus is when He prayed on the cross to His Father that Father might forgive the sins of the people who crucified Him.

      As for us, the practice of having great heart is as follows.

      1. Forgiving the sins of other people and forget them.
      2. Confessing our own sins and leaving them, we do not repeat them. It begins from not lying.

    • High Priest and the priests; Jesus is the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
      Hebrews 7:23-24
      7:23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing.
      7:24 But He, because
      He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.

      Hebrews 5:8-10
      5:8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedienceby the things which He suffered.
      5:9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
      5:10 called by God as High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek,"


      Jesus is the faithful and obedient High Priest.
      As for us, the fact found in being the anointed priest is being obedient and fervent in spirit in the true ministry until the end, there is no retirement, even forever.

      Not being obedient or not being faithful, none will dismiss him but God Himself will divert the ministry to other person. It has happened to Judas Iscariot.

      Being intelligent or not is not important in our ministry to the Lord because obedience and faithfulness are the factors determining the success of the ministry of the servant of God. The obedient and faithful will be employed by God forever.

    • Prophet; Jesus is the Mediator between God and men.
      I Timothy 2:5-6
      2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
      2:6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,


      He must be willing to suffer and die on the cross in order to be able to become the Mediator between God and men.

      The task of a prophet is to preach the Word of God, rebuke, and advise in order to make the congregation return to God.
      Jesus, as a prophet, preached the Word although the risk was He must be despised, tormented, and considered as false witness, even crucified.

      As for us, the practice of bearing witness that Jesus is Prophet is we must be willing to suffer, standing between God and men, between the member of congregation and other member, to deliver the Word, rebuke, and advise, to bring reconciliation.
Jesus, as the Son of God, King, servant (High Priest), and human (prophet), can be described as four points which are connected as a cross.

Son of God
|
King ------------------- Servant
|
|
|
Human

Thus, bearing witness about Jesus, the Christ or the Son of Living God, equals to bearing witness about the cross or Jesus’ sacrifice.
Remember! There is God’s glory (Shekinah Glory) behind the cross although we have to suffer.

The practice of bearing witness about the cross of Jesus or His sacrifice is as follows.
  1. Holding fast the cross of Jesus.
    Exodus 14:5-7, 16
    14:5 Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"
    14:6 So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him.
    14:7 Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them.
    14:16 "But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

    It equals to Moses’ lifting up the rod, especially in facing hard pressure or impossible problem or temptationor a condition we cannot move anywhere.

    If the rod of Moses, referring to the cross, is not hold anymore, it will become a serpent chasing him.
    Meaning if we seek our own way that is not the way of God or His Word, Satan will chase and perdition will come.

    Exodus 14:14
    14:14 "The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."

    The practice of holding the cross of Jesus is BEING SILENT AND QUIET.

    Isaiah 30:15
    30:15 For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." But you would not,

    • Being silent means we make introspection for ourselves.
      If we find mistake, we have to confess it and leave it; we must repent.

    • Being quiet means we control ourselves without any hope in other people but only pray and worship God.

    Being silent and quiet is not a foolish way but we are giving chance to the mighty hand of God to work for us.
    Our own strength is very limited!

    The result will be real as follows.

    Exodus 14:21
    14:21. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.

    The hand of God is as the east wind or the power of Holy Spirit.
    • God settles all our problems, even the impossible one.
      The way God makes cannot be understood by the mind of human. Facing the Red Sea, the hand of God is able to divide it to make dry land.

    • The house of Israel could walk to go to Canaan.
      Meaning God wants to employ the one who is silent and quiet in the revival of building Christ’s perfect body or the revival of Holy Spirit at the Last Rain.

  2. Lifting up the cross of Jesus.
    Numbers 21:4-8
    21:4. Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.
    21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread."
    21:6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
    21:7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
    21:8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live."


    John 3:14
    3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

    Lifting up and seeing the fiery serpent equal to lifting up and seeing the sacrifice of Jesus, especially to face the influence of the wilderness of the worldas follows.
    • Activities and business in the world.
    • Difficulties and sorrows.
    • Disasters.
    • Amenities, and sins up to the peak.

    Satan creates the wilderness ambience to make the son of God loath manna.

    Psalm 78:23-24
    78:23 Yet He had commanded the clouds above, And opened the doors of heaven,
    78:24 Had rained down manna on them to eat, And given them of the bread of heaven.
    78:25 Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to the full.


    Manna was rained down continually and routinely by God from heaven. It refers to Shepherding Word.
    Manna is angels’ food. The angel refers to the pastor in Book Revelation.

    Manna is the Shepherding Word or the revelation of the Word God trusts to a pastor to preach to the congregation faithfully and continually as the spiritual food to grow their spirituality to reach perfection.

    Loathing manna, one has already been bitten by serpent and the poison has already entered him.
    The poison of serpent refers to false teachings and sins.
    Consequently, he becomes dry spiritually until there is spiritual death and forever perdition.

    I 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.


    Exalting the cross means HAVING THE MIND OF THE CROSS.
    (Seeing that the highest part of our body is the head or the mind.)
    The practice is as follows.
    • Stopping sinningor we stop doing the command of Satan.
    • Doing the command of Godor we obey the Shepherding Word.

    I Peter 1:22
    1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

    By the obedience to the Word,we are sanctified.
    The more we are sanctified, the more God employs us and we can love one another sincerely.

    John 12:32
    12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."

    As a result, we can bring many people to come to Jesus and God pours out His blessings.

  3. Walking on the way of cross.
    I Peter 2:21-25
    2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
    2:22 "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth";
    2:23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
    2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness––by whose stripes you were healed.
    2:25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.


    The way of cross is THE WAY OF DEATH AND RESURRECTION:

    • The way of death means we die to sin; there is no lie; we do not repay evil for evil but we can repay good for evil.

      Repaying good for evil, one becomes as God.
      On the contrary, repaying evil for good, one becomes as Satan!

    • The way of resurrection means we live for righteousness.
      Say "no" to anything or anybody that is not righteous!

      Soon after we make use of the truth, the torment indeed comes, but there is God’s glory behind it.

    The cross way is the way of death and resurrection or the SHEPHERDING way; we become a branch that abides in the one true Vine, namely the true teaching Word.

    As a result, we feel the guidance of the hand of the mercy and kindness of God (Psalm 23:6) to go to the last shepherding in New Jerusalem where there is no more tear.

    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."

    Psalm 136:1-2, 4
    136:1. Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
    136:2 Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever.
    136:4 To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever;


    The hand of God’s mercy and kindness leads us with the steps of miracle.
    The biggest miracle is especially life renewal, from carnal man to spiritual man deserving to enter New Jerusalem.

    Revelation 21:27
    21:27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

    The more we are renewed, the more tears are wiped away.
    Afterward, the physical miracles must happen too.

    It continues to the last step that we are perfect as Jesus is and we enter the marriage supper of the Lamb of God, the kingdom of peace a thousand years or paradise in the world, up to New Jerusalem or eternal heavenly kingdom.
God blesses you.