First Resurrection

This morning as I was reading and studying the word of God, the "first resurrection" was very enlightening to me. I never really understood this phrase, though I heard about it now and then. The ministry of the word opened my eyes to see this important spiritual aspiration to pursue and love the Lord fervently and intimately. My spiritual goal must henceforth be, to be resurrected in the first resurrection as an overcomer. 

Revelation of John 20:4-6

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and of those who had not worshipped the beast nor his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. 

The ministry of the word has made known to me the mystery of this phrase. I learn from it and am blessed. I quote from the note in the Recovery Version on "first resurrection."

Or, best. The first resurrection is the best one. It is not only the resurrection of life (John 5:29; 1 Cor. 15:23b; 1 Thes. 4:16) but also the resurrection of reward (Luke 14:14), the out-resurrection, i.e., the outstanding resurrection, which the apostle Paul sought (Phil. 3:11), the resurrection of kingship as a reward to the overcomers, which enables them to reign as co-kings with Christ in the millennial kingdom (vv. 4, 6). Hence, blessed is he who has part in the first resurrection (v. 6).

Note on "priests of God" 

The overcomers will be priests, drawing near to God and Christ, and kings, reigning over the nations with Christ in the millennium (2:26-27; 12:5). As priests, they satisfy God and Christ, who enjoy their service, and as kings they reign for God and represent God, shepherding man for man’s enjoyment and satisfaction. This is a reward to the overcomers. The believers who are defeated in this age will forfeit this reward. However, after being dealt with by the Lord in the millennium, these defeated ones will participate in the blessing of this reward, which will be to serve God and represent God in the kingship in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (22:3, 5).

This colossal truth on the first resurrection impacted my inward being so much so that it changed by attitude towards my Christian life and my goal as a Christian. My aspiration in life is to be an overcomer and be resurrected in the first resurrection. 

Who are qualified to be in the first resurrection? The word of God says, "the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and of those who had not worshipped the beast nor his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." To be beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus is the highest form of martyrdom. Only those who are graced by the Lord will get to attain this. If the Lord so wills, it will be an honor to be awarded "the beheading" because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God. What a reward to be "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years." 

Lord, grace me the grace to live a life that will qualify me to be a part of the first resurrection.

Twenty Years and Above

Numbers 1:3From twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth for military service in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their companies.

The books of Numbers specifically mentioned the age of one's who are qualified to be numbered into the army of God. The age is twenty and above. This number is very significant. It implies the necessity of meeting a requirement who would be numbered and formed into an army, and not general for all. The spiritual implications are:

Strong 

The twenty years and above without any upper limit are of male. Meaning, the strong ones among the children of God. This qualification of being strong is needed for God's army.

Overcome the Evil One

1 John 2:13I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, young children, because you know the Father.

This group of people are those who overcomes the evil one. This needs the growth in the divine life. Only normal and daily spiritual growth can enable one to over the evil one. In fact, only Jesus Christ overcomes the evil one. When the believers grow in life, the life of Jesus in them and being lived out through them makes them an overcomer.

Abiding in the Word of God 

1 John 2:14I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. 

It is the word of God that makes the believes grow, and it is also the word of God that builds up the believers. This group of believers are the ones who loves the word of God, pursues, eats, enjoys the word of God, and are constituted with the word of God making them abide in the word of God. This is the secret to live an overcoming life and be qualified to be recruited into the army of God. 

Not Loving the World

1 John 2:15Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him;

This group of believers are those who overcomes the usurpation of Satan and the stupefying effect of the world with all its lust, glitter, and glamour. This also includes those who do not love the present age.

To be formed into the army of God to fight with God against His enemy for His interest on the earth, we must be twenty years and above. This urgently requires our prayer. We are not ignorant of the enemy's strength and strategy. In fact, we are surrounded by him. As the army of God we are protecting and maintaining the testimony of God and fighting against the rebellious forces of Satan. For this reason, we need to grow to be above twenty years of spiritual age.

Lord, cause the growth in me daily; may I grow in life beyond twenty years of age. 

Spiritual Lesson: Harmony

Today, the serving brothers in NCR came together for a time of fellowship with a mature and senior brother. The Lord loves us so much and He has been shepherding us through the members of His Body. In the northern part of India where the Lord has placed us, we have been receiving a lot of dealing yet with blessings. Through His continual visitation and supply, we can testify to some extent that we have been worked upon and come to some level of growth in life. The prayer we had before we began the meeting was one proof. It was no ordinary prayer. From the mouth of every brother who prayed, there was a strong indication of the Lord's hand upon each one. The prayers were not ordinary prayers but sober, sincere, serious, and full of weight. I myself felt the depth of each one's prayer. Later, the brothers also testified of the changes in our prayer, in content and in weight. Sure this is the Lord's doing.

The fellowship we enjoyed was on the oneness in the Body of Christ. The key Bible verses are:

Psalm 133
133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity!
133:2 It is like the fine oil upon the head that ran down upon the beard, upon Aaron’s beard, that ran down upon the hem of his garments;
133:3 Like the dew of Hermon that came down upon the mountains of Zion. For there Jehovah commanded the blessing: Life forever.

In our coordination and service, whether we have the blessing or not depends on how much we have been built up. The building up is the oneness, this oneness is the harmony, and this harmony commands the blessings of God. The verses in Psalms 133 began with "Behold!" Is there anything to behold in our coordination and service? If we are builded up, there is a beautiful sight to behold: The harmony among the brothers. That is the key to unlock all the blessings in the New Testament. Once we meet the condition of oneness, the commanded blessing is the result; we don't even have to seek or pray for it. Pray and seek for the oneness, then the blessing will follow, once we have the oneness in being built up in the Body.

Mathew 16:18  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The Lord's prophesy of building up the church, and the gates of Hades being not able to prevail against the built-up church has a condition. The condition is the building. But for the building, we have to arrive at the oneness. 

Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,

4:13 Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

How can such oneness be achieved? By becoming like little children; simple, single and pure in heart. All ambition, pride, self-glory, opinion, envy, jealousy, etc., have to be dealt with thoroughly. These cause the hindrances to the growth in life.   

Mathew 18:3 And said, Truly I say to you, Unless you turn and become like little children, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.

We must also learn not to be a stumbling block to anyone. The Lord cares for every member of the Body, and stumbling any member is serious in the eyes of God. 

Mathew 18:6 And whoever stumbles one of these little ones who believe into Me, it is more profitable for him that a great millstone be hung around his neck and he be drowned in the open sea.

We must also learn to forgive one another genuinely. There should be no offenses and unforgiveness within our being. We must learn to forgive.

Mathew 18:21  Then Peter came and said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?18:22  Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven. 

We must also learn to exercise to be lowly, meek, long-suffering, and bear one another in love with the humanity of Jesus. Of course, only the Lord Jesus can be such a person, therefore, we must learn from Him and take Him as our life and our living.

Ephesians 4:2   With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love, 4:3   Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.  

By this way, we can be practically in oneness with one another. The harmony among us will grant us the authority of the Head to execute the Lord's will on the earth. 

Mathew 18:19 Again, truly I say to you that if two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens.18:20  For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.

We must also continue to hold Christ as our Head in all things. Then, we all will be joined together and even be knit together, resulting in the growth of the Body unto the building up of the Body. 

 4:15   But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, 4:16   Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

This is what the Lord wants today. This is what commands the blessings of God! And this is also what we have been learning and experiencing these days. 

May the Lord grace all of us to learn this spiritual lesson of harmony and command the Lord's blessing! 

Gospel Friend: An Uncle

An engineer by profession, though retired now, is one of the most open contacts we have met during the propagation. In fact, he was met on the first day of the propagation. Since then, he has been in constant touch with home-meeting held in his home over five times in two week's time.

Every meeting with him was filled with joy and calling upon the name of the Lord. He wanted to learn more about the word of God and experience the Lord more. Out of his seeking heart, he had tried and tested different religions yet still not satisfied. That was the key point for him to come to the true and living God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

One evening we had a home meeting on baptism when we expounded the significances of baptism, he also came for a home meeting at a brother's home and joined the regular home meeting, and also attended the gospel meeting on the last day of the propagation. The Lord has been working in him, and in time, the Lord will fully gain him.

As an educated man with a graduate degree from the top technical university in India, IIT Delhi, his understanding of the word of God is comparatively good. When the truths were presented, he could understand it clearly with his sober mind. The word of God is full of meaning and indeed answers many of his queries. He even testified that he used to have many questions about life but was not satisfied with the religion he was born into. He also tried Bhudhism which did not answer his quests either. But with the word of God presented to him point by point, from God to His creation, man's fall to God's incarnation in Christ Jesus, Christ accomplished redemption at the cross, crucifixion, resurrection, and His becoming the life-giving Spirit, he could grasp them all. 

He has believed into the Lord Jesus Chits, call upon the Lord's name and started praying by himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a joy to witness sinners and seekers getting saved! Praise the Lord!

Gospel Friend: A Family

One day during the propagation period I took along with me three sisters who could neither speak English nor Hindi for gospel preaching. I took them in my team on purpose to encourage them to function and to enjoy the gospel preaching in India. As we started for the door knocking, the Lord led me to a particular street. Generally, we would start knocking from the first door on that street. But the innate leading of the Lord within me was to go further to the end of the street. As we did so, the last house on the street was the first door we knocked. 

An elderly man came out and questioned our intention. I gifted him a gospel tract and began to explain but he interrupted me. To my surprise, he invited all of us to sit on his garden lawn for more intimate discussion. Then he began to preach to us his beliefs and praised his religion. Then I jumped in to declare that there is only one God, that God has no religion, religion is only formed by man to quench his thirst for God, and that this one true and living Giod is Jesus Christ. I continued to preach the gospel, expounding the matter of man's fall. At this juncture, the old man was completely subdued. He confessed that man is full of sins and there is no solution to this problem of sins. Nevertheless, I explained that inspite of man's sins, God loves man, became a man in Christ Jesus to redeem man, save man, and make man the same as He is, in life and nature. Then God who is love can now impart His love to man, so that man can genuinely love God and his fellow human being with the love of God. This simple truth completely subdued and convinced him.

Later, his wife, out of curiosity joined us in the home meeting. I repeated the entire gospel as presented in The Mystery of Human Life and led both of them to call upon the name of the Lord and pray the sinner's prayer of confession, repentacnce, and believeing into the Lord Jesus Christ. A few minutes later, their daughter in law also joined us, and I had to again repeat the gospel, this time gifting her a New Testament Bible and requesting her to read John 3 from verse 15 onwards. She kept reading until the end of the chapter. Then she acknowledged that she like the word of God so much.

The home meeting was so enjoyable to all the sisters and also to the family. They invited us to enjoy authentic Indian masala tea. As we all drank the tea our relationship became much sweeter. The atmosphere was full of peace and joy. They then invited us to enjoy lunch with them as well. So we all ended up spending over two hours with the family. They again invited us for a special Indian lunch with their family the day after. We went to enjoy another lovefeast with the family with a time of home meeting. In addition to the family receiving the gospel, the sisters in the gospel team also enjoyed the new ones' hospitality with an authentic homemade Indian spicy food. The sisters also learned how to prepare an Indian meal. It was a wonderful and enjoyable time of gospel home meetingg.

May the Lord preserve the entire family for His testimony in Gurugram!

Gospel Friend: A Lady

It was on the first day of our propagation with the saints from Hsinchu, Taiwan, that the team assigned to me went to Sector 55. When at the site, we subdivided into three sub-teams, each knocking doors of three different streets, door by door. As we kept knocking, at least three homes were opened and we preached the gospel to each one of them. One particular door was reserved by the Lord for our home meeting that day itself.

It was a lady who opened her door on being knocked at. Initially, her tone was rough and not welcoming at all. But I was so burdened to preach the gospel, so I preached the gospel right away. Somehow the Lord led me to touch God's attribute of love, peace, and joy. She was so touched by the love of God. Perhaps, the religion she is in is driven by fear of "gods and goddesses." Then her visage changed into a smile, and her emotion very welcoming. As I kept preaching in front of her door, she invited us into her room. 

We all joyfully entered her room and her husband was with her too. She then requested all of us to be seated. By the way, there was no chair to sit on, and all the saints sat on the corner of the bed. She then said, "'Let's have a meeting in my room." 

As everyone was settled down, I stood and began to preach the gospel, succinctly expounded the plan of God in His creation of man, and how He became a man in Christ Jesus, accomplished redemption, resurrected, and is now ready as the Spirit to dispense His divine life into anyone who would call upon His name and believe into Him. After a brief gospel preaching, we led the couple to read and repeat read the following Bible verses:

Romans 10:13 For “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Mark 16:16 He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.
Acts 16:31  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.

As the lady and her husband enjoyed the gospel home meeting, their faces shone with smiles all over. She then declared that she was filled with such peace and joy like never before. To which we all with exultant joy declared, "Amen!" As much as the couple was filled with joy, so much the more, all of us who witnessed the Lord's saving grace and making Himself real to those who need Him as their love, joy, and peace!

Praise the Lord for this couple whom the Lord reserved for His testimony!

Gospel Friend: A Couple

It was three weeks ago when we were door knocking in DLF-3 that we were led to knock on the door of a couple who surprisingly welcomed us into their home. First, it was a lady who peeped out of the door and inquired why we knocked on her door. Wasting no time, I gave her gospel tract and preached the gospel right away. When she learned that we were preaching the gosple of Jesus Christ she immediately introduced herself as one who believed into the Lord Jesus Christ and welcomed us in. Then, the first home meeting with them began.

She introduced her husaband and herself to us, and began to narrate their story of when and how they came to know about the Lord Jesus Christ. They both belonged to a priestly caste, Brahmin. They both believed into the Lord Jesus Christ but were not yet baptised. They even used to go to church for a couple of years, but a few months ago they stopped completely. The reason for their discontinuation was due to their family background and the pracrtice of idolatry. As they began to believe into the Lord Jesus Christ, they both found a concflict withint heir being. Inwardly they believed into the Lord, yet at the same, they still practiced idolatry. In fact, at one point in time they even left idolatry but because of their family members' insistense and conflict in their religious beliefs, they went back to idolatry. For this very reason, they got backslidden and were without any proper fellowship and shepherding.

As we listened to them, the Lord's burden within me was to help them in the basic matter of faith. So I expounded the Bible and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in a fresh way using relevant Bible verses. In fact, with both of them and two other saints along with me, we had a home meeting right away on The Mystery of Human Life. I requested both of them to read in Hindi, after which I exercised my Hindi to explain the truth. Then I led both of them to call on the Lord and to pray the sinners' prayer of which they willingly did. After the prayer, they both felt very happy and joyful. We were also very joyful that the Lord blessed us with a family who would call upon Him and believe into Him. 

The following week on a Saturday morning I texted the husband, enquiring about their well being. He texted me back asking me to visit him ASAP(as soon as possible). That morning I already had my own plan and texted back that I would not be able to visit them but invited them to come for the meeting on the Lord's day instead. But as I was reading my Bible, the Lord spoke a clear word to me concerning how the apostle Paul saw a dream of a Macedonian calling him to visit them and help them, and how he obeyed the Lord's leading and went to Macedonia.

Acts16:9   And a vision appeared to Paul during the night: A certain man, a Macedonian, was standing and entreating him and saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.16:10  And when he had seen the vision, we immediately endeavored to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to announce the gospel to them.

Immediately I called the husband and told him that I would be visiting them within half an hour time.  A brother and I went to visit them. We had a very sweet and wonderful home meeting with prayer, singing of hymn, and study of the word. Our main burden was to help them in the basic truth concerning the experience of God's full salvation. We pray-read and memorized three Bible verses and released our burden on helping them experience the Lord by calling upon the name of the Lord and expounded the matter of baptism and its significances.

Acts 2:21 And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Romans 10:13 For “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Mark 16:16 He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.

Out of burden from the Lord, I gifted them a big Hindi full Bible, a set of Life Lessons(Vol. 1-4), and a New Believers' HWMR.

Praise the Lord for such a couple whom the Lord has been preserving to bear His testimony! May the Lord grace them to enjoy His full salvation.