True eligibility to rejoice in the Lord does not come until by the word of the Lord you are qualified to rejoice. Otherwise, your rejoicing like everything else, that is not by the word of the Lord is in vain and has no lasting value at all.
That is why the celebrations of the world, the rejoicing you see of a football win or an athletic winning, gives you temporary rejoicing like a temporary reprieve from the reality of the hardness of life. Likewise, in the world of the Christians, there is little true rejoicing – religious holidays like Easter and Christmas offer at best a temporary relief, like a cloud’s shade on a hot day. Even your attendance at religious services offers only a temporary reprieve. It is a common experience that even those who are born again feel the uplift of fellowship, only to have it drained very quickly with the reality of the world. And in truth, there is very little rejoicing in the Kingdom of Heaven, only apologies and fear of disappointment.
This lack of rejoicing is again due to the fact that we have not been taught to listen to Jesus and to practise His word. When Jesus said – “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward…” (Mt 5:12) and “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy…” (Lk 6:23)
He said to them in the context of Mt 5:11-12 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
And again in Lk 6:22-23 He said - Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
Unless you are insulted, persecuted, hated, excluded and have false things spoken of about you because of the Son of Man, Jesus says – there is no reason to rejoice, but rejoice when for His sake, you are insulted, persecuted, hated, excluded and have false things spoken of about you.
The church that fears rejection by the world and clamours for acceptability by the world will never know the true meaning of ‘rejoice’. For God’s perspective, it will experience transient remnants of ‘joy’, ‘revival’ and of ‘awesome moments in God’. But as to rejoicing the way God rejoices, they will not know it, because the rejoicing that Jesus speaks of comes only to the church that is insulted, persecuted, excluded, rejected and falsely spoken of.
The early apostles knew of this rejoicing, in Acts 5:41 (The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.) They had been arrested the day before and was set free by angels that night, so that they continued to preach. And they so inflamed the Sanhedrin that they wanted them put to death, except for Gamaliel’s persuasion in Acts 5:34 (But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while.) (Gamaliel was Paul’s teacher) Instead the apostles were flogged and ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus.
Acts 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
And who was the Name? He who taught them to eat His flesh and drink His blood to have Life. He whose teaching was a complete affront to the Pharisees who professed to love the law of God, when in truth they loved the praise of men and money more.
And the church continued to grow…
Now compare this, with Acts 21 and 22, when another apostle was arrested and brought before the Romans. There was no rejoicing on that day amongst the church in Jerusalem. Indeed the church of Jerusalem is no longer mentioned after Acts 21, because in Acts 21, they had advised the apostle to compromised his stand in Christ, for the sake of those who have believed and are jealous for the law. Not realizing that to believe in Jesus and practise His word is to have oneself cut off by the Law through our eating and drinking of His flesh and blood.
When James the younger and the elders persuaded Paul to join in and pay for the purification rites in Acts 21:24 (Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.), they had done so to avoid insults and exclusion, but rather, to gain acceptance and a peace based on compromise. The apostle was also arrested, but there was no rejoicing recorded for the church. Indeed there is no letter from Jesus to the church in Jerusalem, by the time the Revelation was given to John, because the church in Jerusalem had already scattered and its lampstand removed. Why? Because the elders by Acts 21 was prepared to compromise on the words of Jesus for the sake of acceptance, so as not to be insulted, persecuted, hated and have false things spoken of them. They wanted to be praised and loved and left secure in their place. And as such, rejoicing was gone and religion took over. There is very little rejoicing in religion, only moments of distraction from life’s unrelenting march towards death.
That is why Jesus said to the disciples in Lk 10:20 do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. True rejoicing can only come with the suffering and rejection of which must accompany the true adherence. The plumb line adherence to the word of the Lord. We are not to seek insults, hatred, rejection, persecution or be spoken falsely of, rather we are to seek a constant uncompromising adherence to the spoken words of Jesus that the Holy Spirit has made known to us. And unfortunately, such a stance will inevitably herald the insults, persecution, rejection, hatred and lies spoken of you. Potential correctness is getting into bed with the Herodians. We are not called to be silent witnesses, but active and vocal witnesses, testifying to what we have seen, heard and know of Jesus constantly as they did in Acts 5:41, and the rejoicing comes when the persecution, insults, hatred, lies and the exclusion comes. For as Paul wrote in Ro 5:2-4 …And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And what hope is that? It is – And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Our ignorance of the Word of God has left in a state where we fear the persecution, hatred, fake insults, exclusions and false testimonies about us, because we have no knowledge of the glory of God. But we have the knowledge of the glory of God which being our rear guard will change persecution to comfort, hatred to love, insults to praise, exclusions to inclusion and lies to truth about us, and all of it from God.
For when we are persecuted by the world, we are comforted by God; when we are insulted by the world, we are praised by God; when we are hated by the world, we are loved by God; when we are excluded by the world, we are included by God; and when the world lies about us, God speaks the truth about us and we are set free. That is why Jesus said – Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! And Paul said in Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
But what do we rejoice in or rejoice about? We rejoice like Abraham who John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.
Abraham did not rejoice over his wealth, his status nor his conquests that God gave him. Indeed it is not written that Abraham rejoiced in the book of Exodus. For indeed he had been called out by God to walk the land of Canaan, called our to leaven his home, to wander as a nomad, subject to the dangers of the land. He was blessed by God but Abraham did not rejoice, not even over Isaac, but he rejoiced at the thought of seeing the day of the Lord.
Likewise, Abraham is the standard for our faith. We are to rejoice at the thought of seeing this day of the Lord. The day when He will appear over Jerusalem on clouds of glory. Or one day when we will be called away to join Him in glory. Our thoughts must be fixed firmly on the day of the Lord and rejoice in it.
For everything offered by this world is temporary and passes away, but that offered by God is eternal and cannot pass away. Our rejoicing can only begin when we fix our thoughts, of our mind and hearts, on what is to come in Jesus. If you let your thoughts fixated on the frustration or rather days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world (Mk 13:19). You will melt in fear and want to escape the tribulation in the rapture, as those who are fearful amongst us do. Now while there is time to prepare, now is the time to practise, fixing our thoughts on seeing the day of our Lord like Abraham did, who rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day, as the Lord said. Abraham rejoiced in thinking about what would come. He did not rejoice when he saw it. he rejoiced when he thought about it, and when he saw it, he was glad.
Rejoicing should come at the thought of the good things that are to come in Jesus. Gladness comes when we have received the good things that is promised.
Jn 16:20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
Right now the time of rejoicing has started for us. For we have fixed our thoughts on what is to come. And our firm adherence to the word of the Lord will herald forth the time of rejection, persecution, insult, hatred and lies will be spoken of us. First from the church and then the world. But just as the apostles rejoiced in the presence of Jesus when He walked with them and ate with them, performing signs and wonders amongst them. There will come a time when we will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.
Rev 11:10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
That will be our time, short time, to weep and mourn before we see the day of our Lord appearing in clouds of glory over Jerusalem.
That is why I rejoice when people accuse me of running a cult. For I know that is a falsehood, for the sake of Jesus. So you too must learn what is true rejoicing. The temporary acceptance that the world will show us when we are healing the sick will quickly turn to persecution, hatred, insult and exclusion. When the Lord changes His commands to us and instead of healing the sick, raising the dead and cleansing those with leprosy, we have to shut up the sky so that it will not rain … turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as we want (Rev 11:6) During this time of graciousness, with healing, deliverance and miracles, many who are not sincere will join them (Dan 11:34) and being insincere, will betray the Lord and those of us who are in the Lord.
It is during this time when the true disciples will be the ones who are able to love one another as Christ has loved us, and we will know each other for the love that are shown each other through Christ. That is why we are to practice and prepare before the time comes, so that we are ready and those who have infiltrate our ranks will not persuade us, as Paul was persuaded when he had to stand alone.
We will rejoice and all the more, for it is time to avenge. Avenge our Lord and our God and the blood of all the saints and apostles and prophets (Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.) And it is we who have been given this taste, so rejoice all the more. What a privilege we have. A privilege given only to those who will boldly approach the throne of Grace.
Heb 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
But now, we who are to do the greater things must boldly approach the throne of Grace with confidence, so that we may, having received mercy and found grace, help our Lord in His time of need. A time when He needs His disciples to remain awake with Him for an hour more. (Jesus would not have asked the early apostles to remain awake had He not needed them)
So lets ask before we are asked, and boldly approach with a boldness that comes only from those who know they are the coheirs of Christ, who can boldly look into the face of He who could destroy them in an instant, body and soul, and say “I am the coheir of Your Son Jesus Christ”. And lay hold of that which they are coheir of and take it like the prodigal son took his share of the inheritance. But not for the self gratification and wild loving, but for the glorification of the father and brother who is the true heir of God, Jesus Christ. We take first that which is passing away and use it as something that is passing away and soon to be discarded, to establish that which is eternal and will never pass away.
That New Creation, those sons of God, that creation has been growing, waiting to be revealed, are the sons of God who know they are coheirs, whose hearts are ready to respond to the Father’s desire to avenge and glorify His Son, His First Born Son Jesus Christ.
Moses said in Dt 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
The Law of Sonship has been revealed by the Spirit of Sonship.
Ro 8:14 those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God
Ro 8:17 …we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
So rejoice, again I say rejoice, for it is time to avenge our Brother and glorify our God, and all who are led by the Holy Spirit will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. (Jn 16:14-15)
Many have prophesied of the final battles of the final days before our Lord’s return. And according to the rules of the war, the peace offering is now being made. With the manifestation of healing, deliverance and salvation and a repentance to come back to listen to Jesus. When the time of the peace offering is over, the tribulation will come, but this time, it will be a tribulation not of men’s making nor of the devil’s, but of God’s, as the vengeance if displayed in signs and wonders and miracles that will make the plagues of Egypt seem like a respite.
So those who are faint hearted, they should go before their hearts melt in fear. But those whose hearts are melted by the love of their God, they will be the coheirs who know their Father’s will to glorify His First Born. And they will do it with no desire to be praised for success or fear to be held accountable for failure. This is the rejoicing that belongs to those who has made the I am that I am, the coheir, their life.
