Rev. Jusak Widjaja Hendra - WR Supratman 4 Sby
We will still be learning the epistle of Jude, which is in Tabernacle structure referred to the covering of badger skins / the covering of judgment. The term “covering” shows the protection and attention of God towards the true church as well as the separation from the false one, as if wheat were separated from tares. The tares did look faster and greater in growth, but they would be cast into the fire and the wheat gathered into the barn (kingdom of heaven).
One of the false churches is named fleshly church, starting vs. 8 and now we
come to Jude 1:13b
13 … wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
forever.
Thus, the fleshly church is the falling stars. A star refers to a pastor (the
angel of the church) in particular and a minister (priest and king) in general.
1 Peter 2:9-10
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Who are actually the stars?
Exodus 19:6
6 ‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.?These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
They were actually made only of the chosen people of God, that is, the children of Israel and their descendants, primarily of the tribe of Levi. (“These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel”). In such a manner, the gentiles by no means could become priests and kings. But thanks be to God who by His mercy has given the Gentiles an opportunity to become priests and kings.
1 Peter 2:10
10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
How much does the mercy of God cost?
Revelation 1:5-6
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
It costs as much as the precious Blood of Jesus / the Sacrifice of Christ. The greatness of God’s mercy has made the Gentiles priests and kings. Therefore, we must respect it. If we are not serious about the ministry, even forsake it, it is as though we trampled and looked down on the Blood of Jesus. There is only perdition and no remission of this sin.
After being made stars of heaven, we must take heed to ourselves not to become a falling star for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.Here are the three things that get the stars down:
- a mighty wind
Revelation 6:13
13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.
The tree has yielded fruits already but they are late, meaning God has already used them but they cannot stand because of a mighty wind until they fall down. For example, Judas was trusted by Jesus as the treasurer, meaning he yielded fruits) but he was bound by the lust of money and became a thief (he fell because of mighty wind). We have to take heed to this matter lest we become the thief of God’s possession, i.e. tithe and special offering because of the lust of money, but we have to be honest. - Wormwood, meaning bitterness (including envy, hatred, and revenge)
Revelation 8:10-11
10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
At the age of Father God, wormwood had appeared when Cain killed Abel (killing = hatred – 1 John 3). Cain saw Abel his brother gain success and became angry and discontented. Beginning with saying negative words until envying and he fell down although he was the firstborn (a big star). Flowing from that, do not wait the dislike turns to envy but put it up through apologizing to the person or else it will become wormwood causing the fall of the star.
At the age of the Son, wormwood appeared in the vineyard concerning wages. Either the first, who had worked since morning, or the last, who started working about the eleventh hour, received the same wages: a denarius. Because of this, the first envied the last. Then, the landowner said, “Is your eye evil because I am good to the last?”
The vineyard symbolizes the Bride Tidings. Many Christians who have been taught by the Bride Tidings become envious because of a denarius. Actually we all receive the same wages, a denarius, but many convert it into dollar, so that none can stop envy coming up among them.
What worth is a denarius? Only a denarius will settle the black horse (Revelation 6; a quart of wheat for a denarius). Yes, it is only a denarius, not a thousand or a million dollars. Unfortunately, many Christians in the Bride Tidings like to convert denarius into dollar; it is thus no wonder they become envious about wages/blessings. That will make the first stumble and become the last.
Matthew 20:15-16
15 ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?
16 "So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."
Why do people become envious? Because they do not respect the mercy, the goodness, the blessing, and the trust of God. The first will be the last; meaning they fall down. Bitterness means dryness. One may preaches a sermon or ministers but it has become dry because of bitterness. The bitterness as well as envy, hatred and envy will continue until become the rage of the dragon (antichrist).
Revelation 12:17
17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
The offspring refers to the Christians left on the earth in the days of antichrist to become the target of antichrist’s persecution. Therefore, we should settle the wormwood; otherwise, it will get bigger to the wrath of antichrist and we will be persecuted and killed by antichrist, or be made the soldiers of antichrist and destroyed for good.
No matter what happens, the wormwood may not stay at home, in shepherding, and inter-shepherdings/among pastors. If a pastor preaches the word in bitterness, the congregation will spiritually suffer and die (Revelation 8:11 – soon after the star fell on the water, many died from the water). If the heart is wormwood, the sermon becomes wormwood too, so that everyone who listens to the sermon will spiritually dry and die. Seeing that, we must throw away the wormwood (discontent, envy, anger without a cause). - dragon’s tail
Revelation 12:3-4a
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.
The dragon’s tail will draw a third of the stars of heaven and throw them to the lower parts of the earth/the Hades.
What does the dragon’s tail mean?
Isaiah 9:15
15 The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
The dragon’s tail is the prophet who teaches lies and heresies to draw and drown a third of the stars of heaven into the lake of fire.
Below are the forms of heresies:
- gentile godliness / false godliness
Deuteronomy 12:29-30
29 "When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land,
30 "take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.
God strictly forbid them to ask/compare and learn about the gentiles’ serving their gods, lest they desired to gain knowledge of the gods of the gentiles. Fit into the present days, we may neither want to know nor want to do the services as the gentiles do (for instance, at the time of birth, wedding, death or building a house), for it is an abomination to God and perdition to us. - false prophets
Deuteronomy 13:1-5
1 "If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,
2 "and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods?––which you have not known––‘and let us serve them,
3 "you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 "You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
5 "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
False prophets show great physical signs and wonders to persuade us to follow other gods and other doctrines. If we think to get recovered from illness only by drinking a glass of water, which we actually do not know what it is, we should think it twice because we will probably be trapped into other doctrines and follow other gods. - family’s or friend’s persuasion
Deuteronomy 13:6-11
6 "If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers,
7 "of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth,
8 "you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him;
9 "but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.
10 "And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
11 "So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.
Satan uses our family as the key to draw us away from the faith and lead us to another god. We can see this in daily life in many cases. For example, many turn from faith to the Lord because of the manner of wedding ceremony. Let us not have the fleshly sight. - corrupt men
Deuteronomy 13:12-15
12 "If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, saying,
13 ‘Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods"?––which you have not known––
14 "then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you,
15 "you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword––utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock, with the edge of the sword.
Corrupt men are those who have gone out from among us or rejected the true doctrine/the hard saying, which sanctifies the whole life.
John 6:60-61, 66
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
Big troubles come not caused by money or temptations only, but the worst one is because many people cannot endure hearing the hard saying/the word which is sharper than any two-edged sword.
At the beginning, they were from among us, but this sharp word gets harder in sanctification and they could not stand anymore. That’s why, they have rejected it and gone out from us. So we now can conclude that corrupt men are the hard-heartened people.
In Matthew 24 is written about the sign of Jesus’ second coming, i.e., there will be many deceptions and many will be deceived. Many, many, and many. Thus, only few will stay and they will be regarded as an exclusive group or whatever the term is. We have to always remember as we read in the Bible, from the book of Genesis to Revelation, that many tend to walk for the negatives, as it is said: Many are called but few are chosen.
After releasing the true doctrine, which was at the beginning accepted and confessed as an amazing thing, they still have a form of godliness but they follow other gods. They are a great multitude of people, but they do not follow Jesus anymore. And the worse thing, these corrupt men do not want to stay alone; they persuade the others to forsake the true doctrine and give themselves for other doctrines. The corrupt men cannot receive the true teaching word because they have hard heart and reject the sanctification. Keeping sins, the teaching word will become hard rebuke to pierce the proper part until we confess our sins. On the contrary, one who is pierced by the teaching word and reject it will go out as the corrupt men because they cannot stand hearing the word.
1 Timothy 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
Some will depart from the faith / from the true doctrine / from the true service.
We by the Holy Spirit have to reject with boldness the other doctrines/gods
because every strange doctrine has a mark (vs. 2). Once we let our ears hear
it, our conscience will be seared with the mark, which Apostle Paul termed hot
iron, and we can hardly return to the true doctrine. That is why, it is implied
in verse 1 that we must be bold; do not ever try or ask anything about other
doctrines!
I have a testimony about my attitude, which was not bold when I had been a football
player before I became the servant of God. At the time my club would play, all
players had to put the shoes upon burning incense. My heart warned me that such
conduct was dangerous so I pretended doing that. The lord reminded me that I
had no boldness. Nevertheless, He still helped me. If I had put my shoes upon
the incense and got an accident in the game, I would have died because I the
worship to other god.
In order not to be carried about with the dragon’s tail, we must focus our attention fully on God.
1 Corinthians 7:29-32
29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none,
30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess,
31 and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.
32 But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord––how he may please the Lord.
- those who have wives should be as though they had none; meaning men have to pay attention to God more than to their wives.
- those who weep as though they did not weep; meaning we may not focus on our sufferings. The common big mistake is people cannot go to church because they are having a big trouble.
- those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice; meaning we cannot forget God when we are up.
- those who use this world as not misusing it; meaning we cannot rely on the world.
In order that we, the stars, are not carried away, we must focus our attention
on God and His matters – even though we are always busy pursuing education
or earning money.
What are the matters of God that we must focus on?
- the prophetic word
2 Peter 1:19
19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
The prophetic word is the word disclosed its mystery to reveal what will happen next in the world until Jesus comes back the second time in glory. This word is also named the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ is commonly called the teaching word or the Bride Tidings, or in a simple term, the revelation of the word.
It is said, “You do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” Thus, we pay attention to the prophetic word as we heed a light shining in a dark place. The only thing that we need in a dark place is a light. Thus, we should heed the word as a need and not a habit, so that we do not only take a note of the sermon, but much more than that, we listen carefully, understand, believe, and practice it. The light of the gospel we heed will give light to our dark heart. The more we heed it, the more it gives light until the morning star rises in our hearts; meaning we will not become the falling stars.
Lucifer was previously son of the morning, but he then fell down and was replaced by Jesus, the Root of David, the Bright and Morning Star. If Jesus, who is also the heavenly Groom stays at our hearts, we will be able to shine the light of holiness/the light of glory/the light of the morning star and we will never fall down. As long as a star keeps on shining, it will never be carried away by the dragon’s tail and fall down.
Thus, we do have to heed the prophetic word until we can enjoy hearing because we need it, just like when we are hungry and need some food. If we are hungry, any kind of food will look delicious. That is the way we should desire the prophetic word until the day dawns (Jesus comes back the second time) and we will be transformed as glorious as Christ is to become His Bride. We will be lifted up and not going down, being with Him evermore. - ministry
Colossians 4:17
17 And say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it."
To fulfill means doing faithfully and wisely (Luke 12).
Approaching Jesus’ second coming, we may not be lacking attention.
Luke 12:35-37, 41-42
35 "Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;
36 "and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.
37 "Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.
41 Then Peter said to Him, "Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?"
42 And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?
steward = oikonomos = shepherds, evangelists, ministers.
Being wise is to know what is proper and improper to say and to be obedient (“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”)
What will we get by being faithful and wise?- Care and blessing
Luke 12:37
37 "Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.
You may have a salary, shop, or company, but by this verse, we know that if we serve God faithfully and wisely, God will also serve us. In addition, this also may take effect to pastors. A pastor lives not by the congregation, but by his faithful and wise ministry. - We will keep on shining and not falling down.
Daniel 12:3
3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
Students of Lempin-El, the shining stars will turn many to righteousness. You need not seek churchgoers. As long as you have light, many will come. Do not want to become great instantly because it is not in line with heavenly kingdom, which teaches us from ‘nothing’ becomes ‘something’ as well as little thing becomes great thing.
- Care and blessing
- Mercy of God
Psalms 107:43
43 Whoever is wise will observe these things, And they will understand the lovingkindness (Indonesian Bible: kemurahan mercy) of the LORD.
The Gentiles could not become stars by descendant, but by the mercy of God. It is a real pity that many of the Gentiles have forgotten the mercy of God and become proud of themselves. They think that they are great and wise by the Bride Tidings they have held, but they actually could not become stars without the mercy of God, not to mention to become the shining stars. Therefore, we as the gentiles must confess ourselves nothing without God’s mercy.
What is God’s mercy for?
- To deal with any life test, or which is usually called the sprinkling of
blood or suffering because of committing no sin.
Joseph, for example, was made suffered by:- being cast into a dry pit; symbolizing the world and its matters. That is to say, Joseph was being tested about the worldly matters.
- being enticed by Potiphar’s wife (Joseph was being tested about holiness).
- being defamed and put into the prison. Many have become stars, but
they still have to suffer wrongfully by other’s evil speaking.
Resisting means failing the test but being quiet means we prevail and the mercy of God lifts us up in glory from now in the world until we become the Bride of God. Being in the sprinkling of blood, we have to take heed to the mercy of God because it is the way to be glorified until the glory of the Bride of God becomes ours.
- To deal with failure; when we fall, we are still given a chance.
King David was an incredible star, but he fell into adultery with Bathsheba.
Psalms 51:1, 17-18
1 <<To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.>> Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart––These, O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
No matter what we are undergoing, whether being tested like Joseph or falling into sin and failure, we must go back to the mercy of God with a broken heart and confess our conditions honestly. His mercy will do all goodness; we are rebuilt and given a new strength (“Build the walls of Jerusalem”), so that we can only feel His goodness for all of our life as David did. Here is the Holy Communion, the source of His mercy. No matter how bad we are today, we want to return to His mercy right now.
God bless you!
1