RULING AND REIGNING WITH GOD
Part 25
January 22, 2021
We often associate authority with Royalty. Indeed, we ARE Royalty! Unfortunately, we’ve been programmed by our society, by our surroundings, by what we see and hear on television, radio and general advertising to see ourselves in an unfavorable light, and we fall into the trap of thinking of ourselves in the light of something considerably less than what God has designed us to be.
Consider again what Solomon wrote in the Proverbs.
Proverbs 23:7: As (he) a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
If we think less of ourselves than what God thinks of us, we will never measure up to the picture that John saw when he was transported into Heaven. Twice, he sees something that is absolutely stupendous.
Revelation 5:6-10: And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
You see it don’t you? Put yourself right in the middle of that event! The Lord Jesus Christ is standing up in the midst of the Throne Room. He has taken the book out of the hand of Father — a book that no one else had been able to open because of the seven seals that locked it up tight.
As
He does so, the four and twenty elders, along with the four beasts, fall to
their knees and begin to worship. As
they worship, a part of the song that they are singing is ”(Thou)
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation;
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
Jesus
has been referred to on several occasions in the Word as “The King of
Kings.” Excuse me? What kings?
”(He) hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
Unless I’ve missed it completely, WE are the kings the elders are singing about. WE are the Royalty of Heaven. WE have God’s authority functioning in us, through us, with us, around us — you’ve got the picture, I’m sure!
But this isn’t the only time John speaks of us in this manner. Listen to how he opens up this book of Revelation!
Revelation 1:3-6: Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
If Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords says it, that settles it! We are Kings and Priests unto Father God!
Before we move on to some examples of what it actually cost to take our rightful place on the Throne with the Lord Jesus Christ as joint-heirs and joint-rulers, let me take you to one more picture from the Revelation.
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Let’s take a look at this from the Amplified Bible:
And then I saw thrones, and sitting on them were those to whom judgment [that is, the authority to act as judges] was given. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had refused to worship the beast or his image, and had not accepted his mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
The rest of the dead [the non-believers] did not come to life again until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) and holy is the person who takes part in the first resurrection; over these the second death [which is eternal separation from God, the lake of fire] has no power or authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with Him a thousand years.
When you look at the Greek text and see the word “beheaded” this word has multiple connotations. The meaning most often comes from the word, pelekizo, which means, to chop or truncate. But it is drawn from its root word, plesso, which means: to smite, to pound, to inflict with calamity.
Why would God’s people be hammered or inflicted with calamity? The Scripture makes it very clear. It was because (they) had refused to worship the beast or his image, and had not accepted his mark on their forehead and on their hand.
Get it? They refused to think or reason like the beast, and they refused to conduct business in the way that the beast conducted business.
We have those two Hebrew metaphors present in this passage again. The mark in the forehead is to think — in this case — as the beast thinks.
We have a classic example of this in Ezekiel 9:4 where Ezekiel is instructed to send a runner throughout the city of Jerusalem “and set a mark in the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.”
In today’s way of thinking, we are talking about the global economic system, living in continual debt and servitude to a way of life that is the opposite of what the Lord freed us from with His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection.
The mark in the right hand, of course, is the metaphor for the way we conduct business. I know that there’s been a whole lot of talk lately about taking a chip in your forehead or your right hand, and I’ve listened to a talk from the scientist who invented that chip before realizing how it was going to be used against society. Bill Gates has been promoting this with the idea of injecting it with the coronavirus vaccine. However, I believe that if people do accept that chip, it will only be because they have already bought into the world system, the economic system of the world, hook, line and sinker.
Indeed, it could be very costly for us to reject the taking of that chip, but pay attention to the way that John sees it in Heaven!
He says, who had refused to worship the beast or his image, and had not accepted his mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
If
we get put to death for it, we are going to be brought back to life! The enemy does not have the power of death
over us anymore!
Let me ask you this question. You will probably hear me ask this again and again in the coming weeks, months or years.
ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY WHATEVER IT COSTS TO HAVE TOTAL ACCESS AND OPERATE IN THE FULL AUTHORITY THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS MADE AVAILABLE? Are you willing to undergo whatever processes are necessary in order to sit on the thrones of the Heavens with the Lord Jesus Christ?
Wow! It has taken me a lot longer to get to where I wanted to start today, but laying this foundation in our understanding is important! Getting to this place of ultimate authority is costly, and worth every minute of it in the long run! Let’s consider the shepherd boy, the nobody by the name of David, who was anointed and called to become the King of Israel, and whose responses to the Lord caused him to be spoken of as “David, a man after mine own heart!”
David refers to himself has having come into this world like this:
Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Some Hebrew scholars have said that David used this phraseology to state that he was born of an affair that his father had with some woman who was not his wife.
Whether in fact that is true, it is true that David was considered a “no account” by his family. He was relegated to the care of the family’s sheep while his older brothers went about the family business and were considered Jesse’s “responsible sons.”
When Samuel the prophet showed up on the scene and said to Jesse that he was there because God had chosen one of Jesse’s sons to become King in Israel, David was not even a consideration.
When each of David’s seven brothers passed by Samuel in the expectation that the Lord had chosen one of them, the Lord said to Samuel, “Nope. Not him! Not him! Not him!” Finally, each of them has passed by Samuel and he has had nothing in his spirit regarding any of them.
Now he is forced to ask Jesse, “Is this all of your sons? Don’t you have another son?”
Jesse is forced to answer, “Well, we do have another, but he is just taking care of the sheep.” In other words, “He isn’t really important!”
I Samuel 16:11b-13: And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to.
And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.
Now the stage is going to be set for David’s first trials and testing.
As soon as the Spirit of the Lord came upon David, and along with it, a subconscious knowing that real authority had been given to him, that same Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, who had been rejected from being the King of Israel by the Lord. At the same time, we are told that an “evil spirit from God” came upon Saul, and he was in constant torment.
Saul’s servants told him that he needed to find someone who could play the harp, and play well; that when he did, the music of the harpost would cause the evil spirit to leave.
Funny thing, David was the harpist chosen. When David played, he didn’t entertain: he worshiped. The enemy hates worship and cannot stay in the presence of real worship. Consequently, Saul experienced peace for a time.
Meanwhile, Israel was engaged in battle against the Philistines. Now Goliath shows up on the scene challenging Israel. The armies of Israel stood back, cowering in fear of the 11-foot giant.
David is at home tending the sheep and knows nothing about it. His three oldest brothers are in Saul’s army and Jesse decides to send them some goodies, along with some extras for the captain of the host. David, of course, is the likely choice to take those goodies. He arrives on the scene and sees all the commotion.
I Samuel 17:22-26: And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.
And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.
And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
It didn’t take long for Saul to hear about David, and he calls for a discussion with him. David tells Saul about his experiences in killing the lion and the bear and tells Saul that Goliath will be just like one of them. After a failed attempt to put Saul’s armor on David, he takes off toward Goliath clothed only in his sheepskin.
Goliath is insulted when he sees David and curses him out. David isn’t the least bit challenged and answers him like this:
I Samuel 17:46-47: This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.
And that’s precisely what happened. David’s victory over Goliath panicked the Philistines and they fled before Israel. The armies of Israel pursued the Philistines to a great slaughter. David earned himself a reputation as a great warrior, and that became a problem for him.
The women of Israel began to sing, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” When Saul heard this, his jealousy towards David exploded and he began to look for ways to get rid of David.
Things came to a head for David when he was called to come and play the harp for Saul because the evil spirits were tormenting him again. While David was playing, Saul grabbed his spear and hurled it at David. The spear missed, but David had to get out of there. He realized that Saul had it out for him and he could no longer be where Saul would have access.
We are told in I Samuel 18 that Saul was afraid of David and removed him from his senior military leadership, making him captain over only (!) a thousand. I Samuel 18:14-15 tells us:
And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him. Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him.
So Saul takes occasion to promise him Michal, his daughter, as David’s wife. David is suspicious, but Saul thinks to use this as a means to kill him by sending him out to get the foreskins of a hundred Philistines. So David brings him two hundred instead. From that point forward, the relationship between Saul and David became one of continual fear and enmity and anger with Saul looking for every opportunity to take his life.
Things now are only going to get worse. David is shortly going to have to be on the run for his life, avoiding Saul’s armies daily.
We’re just getting about to the halfway point in this story, so we will pick it up next week.
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Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76502
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