At The King’s Table

As I enter my 38th year of following our Lord Jesus, I can honestly say that I am more in awe of the grace of God today than ever before. How can we ever begin to comprehend the depths of His great love for us. God’s favor given to a world of sinners will never fully be grasped. I truly stand amazed at the overwhelming fullness of this grace that has taken us out of the Kingdom of Darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love! His amazing grace has taken horribly lost sinners and by the New Birth made them saints of the Most High! Sinners lost and headed for hell are now sons of God, destined for Heaven!

The story of Mephbosheth in 2 Samuel 9 portrays one of the greatest examples of God’s incredible grace to lost mankind. In this story David is seeking to fulfill covenant obligations that he had made with Jonathon many years earlier. They had promised each other to always show “haced” - steadfast, loyal and covenant love to each other’s families. Jonathon, along with Saul, David’s arch-enemy have been killed in battle. David is now king over all of Israel and remembers his covenant promise to provide “haced” to his friend Jonathon’s family. He makes a diligent search for any survivors of Saul’s family (done for Jonathon’s sake) and finds one - Mephbosheth, who as a child, suffered a horrible fall that left him crippled in both feet. David finds Mephbosheth in the house of Makir in the region of Lo-Debar. In Hebrew the word Makir means “to sell as if into slavery.” It can be said that the house of Makir symbolically is like a house of bondage. Lo-Debar means “dry and barren” or “pasture-less.” What an overwhelming clear picture of what it really is to be a sinner. Every one of us were completely crippled through the fall of our fore-father Adam. Not only are we spiritually crippled, but are also separated from God’s presence, where we battle deprivation and death on a daily basis.

But oh, the amazing grace of God! Even as David found Mephbosheth and invited him to come and eat continually at “the King’s Table, as one of the King’s sons,” so God, for Christ’s sake, has found a world of full of sinners and brought “many from the east and from the west to sit down” at the Table of the King to feast on the banquet table of “so great a salvation!” As a christian we have certain wonderful rights and blessings that now belong to us; the key being will we continue to abide always at “the Kings Table.”

This so beautifully illustrates God the Father’s great desire to show mercy to fallen man (Mephbosheth) God the Son’s covenant they cut together through the Blood of our Savior.

“Great grace upon you all…” Acts 4:33

This Jesus God Did Raise From The Dead

“And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it” The angel said “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” Matt 28:2-7

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Pet 1:3 “God has gone up with a shout, The LORD with the sound of a trumpet.” Psalm 47:5

Oh, how wonderful this first Easter morning message by the angel of God, heralding for the first time the greatest Good News of all time and eternity - “He is not here; for He is risen from the dead, and you will see Him. Let us never even begin to imagine what this world would be like without Easter Morn! Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, what hope would we have? What joy and assurance could we possibly have? Or what savior from our sins? From where would come our victory over our archenemy Satan, or freedom from the awful woes of this fallen world? Without Easter morning, how could any man ever become righteous again, and obtain access into God's presence? Death would forever reign supreme, and all mankind would for eternity upon eternity remain chained to the prison house of the grave.

But thanks be to God! There was Easter morning! Jesus rose on the third day with the keys of death and hell in His hands. How boldly then does the angel invite these faithful women, who had come to the tomb to minister to the dead body of their Master, to come and see the place where the Lord lay – where death had held captive for three days the Christ. But now the only remains in Death’s cold cell are the empty grave clothes of the risen Son of God, for it was not possible for death to hold the Prince of Life. It was not possible for death to keep in chains He Who is Himself the Resurrection and the Life! Christ is risen from the dead, and only an empty tomb remains.

What does this mean for us today? What can we learn from Christ's grave robbed of its prisoner? What facts of are inescapably clear for all God's children? What is the testimony of Christ's empty tomb? Let's take a look at five facts produced by the resurrection of Jesus and, consequently, His empty tomb.

First, Christ's empty tomb proves that Death have been eternally defeated. Romans 6:9-10 says "knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God." As Jesus rose from the dead, He had in His hand the keys of death and hell, forever setting redeemed man free from the power of death! With Easter morning came the greatest day in the history of the world - the day Death died! No longer does death have the final word; God does! And that Word is Jesus the Resurrection and the Life! Therefore, we should never have sorrow as others who have no hope. Now with the rising SON of Easter, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord! Death is defeated! “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:55,57)

Secondly, through he resurrection of Jesus Christ, the power of sin has been broken. 1Corinthians 15:17 says “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” Oh the joy of forgiveness! To know that we are no longer dead in trespasses and sins, and that the power of sin is broken over our lives, should fill our hearts with great peace and joy. Our faith isn't futile or vain. Jesus, as our High Priest, has carried His holy Blood to the Father, and sprinkle It upon the Heavenly Mercy Seat. The Blood of Christ speaks this Easter Morning Debt paid in full! It is finished! Forgiven!

Thirdly, the empty tomb proves that the Prince of Death is defeated! When Jesus rose from the dead, Hebrews 2:14-15 says that Jesus through death, defeated him who had the power of death. Satan must have thought he had delivered the final and decisive blow in this age-long battle between the Son of God and Himself. By murdering Jesus, he had ruined God's plan for redemption! But what looked like the greatest defeat, was Heaven's and our greatest victory! The Cross was God's mysterious and miraculous plan for redeeming man from Satan's power. The Cross was, in reality, the execution of Satan himself! Just as Jesus has been raised from the dead, we too have been delivered from the kingdom of Darkness and translated into the kingdom of Jesus Christ! The Prince of Darkness is has been vanquished! Jesus has spoiled principalities and powers and made an open spectacle of them. (Colossians 2:14-15).

Fourthly, we have been born again into a living hope by the resurrection of Christ Jesus. A living hope is a hope that I possess now, day by day. No matter how dark the skies, no matter how seemingly certain the power of death, we have the hope of Christ's resurrecting power changing whatever is death doomed in my life, into something glorious and incorruptible! Christ will see to it that all my mortality will put on immortality; and all my corruption will put on incorruption, and then will be brought to pass in my life, and not just in the Bible, the saying, Death is swallowed up in victory! Oh, dear Saints of God, let us forever rejoice for the great things God has done! Let us, like Jesus did on Easter morning, go up with a shout, with an emotional shriek of joy and victory, and the sound of the trumpet, proclaiming with joy inexpressible it is finished Jubilee is here! "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death." Rev 1:18

Fifthly, Christ's resurrection proves He is God's Son. Romans 1:4 says that Jesus is declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

Sixthly, Jubilee is now possible.

Let us quickly run, as Peter and John did, to Christ's tomb, and examine for ourselves the blessed reality that Jesus is not there! He is risen from the dead.

Awake To The Glory - Shaking Off Spiritual Sleep!

‘But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. (5) For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. (6) So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. (7) For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. (8)But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” 1Th 5:4-8

If there were ever a time for Christ’s Body to come forth out of sleep and lethargy and the shadows compromise it is now! The world, with its multitudes in the valley of decision, waiting for the verdict of their doom, are in such need of a Savior. And what an awesome Savior the world has; but the Savior, if He is to really save this world, needs of a Body to save through! Christ must have a Body if He is to save!

But so many in Church are asleep to the greatest hour in human history! They are not apprehending the hour in which they live! They can not see clearly, like those who struggle to see through a thick fog! These vision-clouded saints are tempted to say that their life really doesn’t matter, either in the Church or without in the world. They could not be further from the truth. What each Christian does with their life matters greatly, for God has given to each believer both the authority and power to change eternity!

So here we are in the most important time in human history many in the Church are spiritual asleep! They are heavy with sleep, like Peter, James and John on the mountain with Jesus. It was their destiny to see the transformation of Christ and the glory of God manifesting so powerfully in and through Christ! But Luke 9:29 tells us that they were heavy with sleep. Jesus’s three closest disciples were sleeping through their destiny to see the manifestation of the glory of God in and through Jesus.

Can you believe Peter, James and John were sleeping through their destiny! It was their destiny to see the glory of God; and even more, to also be transformed by that same glory! But they were heavy with sleep! This is where so many in the Church are today heavy with sleep! Encumbered and entangled with the world to where they are weighed down with sleep and the burdens of life! But this does not have to be our lifetime experience! If we will cry out to Jesus Christ to awake us, then the Holy Spirit will flood our being with His life and light! Luke 9:32 goes on to say “but when they became fully awake they saw his glory!” How awesome it is to see God’s glory! But we, like Peter, James and John must be FULLY AWAKE! Not a little awake, not a little in love with the King, not a little committed to the church! But fully wake! We are not as those who sleep in the night, but we are of the day! We are the Awake Ones, the Sober Ones; we are the Ones Fully Dressed In Christ’s Armor!

Today, let us procrastinate no longer, but arise from our spiritual slumber and sluggishness of faith and any tiredness of mind and body and let us press on to know the Lord in His glory and power and might! Like Paul shake off the bite of the viper and you will suffer no harm! Awake to Righteousness, to purpose and destiny! Awake with passion for your King! Awake unto the power of the Holy Ghost and the glory of God that raised Christ from the dead! Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. (2) Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Isa 52:1-2