“Thus says the Lord, ‘In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee.'” Isaiah 49:8
Dear Ones:
The Lord Jesus distinguished Himself among men in many ways. One of these was by the exercise of perfect faith. He lived, without “gaps” or “pauses” in faith, always in the perspective of receiving constantly from His Father all that He needed to honor and glorify Him. He also lived “believing” in the active power of the Father, as the truth of the Gospel was preached and taught. The heralding of the truth was for Him the tangible expression of faith, faith in the Father’s power by the Spirit, to save the sinner, delivering him from the prison of sin and death, liberating him from the clutches and control of the enemy, to live by a new power, the Spirit of God. Christ’s preaching and teaching, indeed all that He did, as the servant of God, was IN FAITH in the imminent, and consistent work of the Father according to the truth taught and grasped. In Isaiah 55:11-12, we find a perfect example of this: “So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall NOT return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” The Lord Jesus, in a perfect way, lived and preached in this perspective, that the Father would work according to the word that He would preach. Nothing would deter Him in this ministry of life.
Every true preacher and teacher of the word of God, indeed, every believer who communicates to others the living word of God, lives in the perspective of Christ, that God WILL and DOES work then and there, and in the future, with respect to the word preached or taught. Another example of this is the prophet Jonah, who KNEW God would give to the Ninevites salvation, according to the word that God gave him to preach. Of His own words, the Lord Jesus would say: “…the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (Jn. 6:63) This is what makes the difference between words that are spoken by men, and those spoken by God. The words of natural man are NOT spirit, and certainly not Life. When God speaks it is with power, a power that accompanies the word, whether by teaching or preaching. Because of this, the one speaking by the Spirit, is to live in the perspective of God working then, there, and thereafter. His word shall NOT return to Him void or without effect.
What then should the effect of the living word of God be, when it is taught by the Spirit? And when should that effect occur? After Jesus had been crucified, and He had been resurrected from the dead, but before His ascension into heaven, He came alongside two disciples walking from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus. After He spoke to them concerning Himself, using the Old Testament Scriptures, Jesus “… vanished out of their sight.” They then said one to another: “Did not our heart BURN within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:27,32) The effect of the word upon these disciples was immediate, in that it caused their hearts to burn with conviction, certain that what Jesus was saying was eternally true. Throughout the gospels, we see an immediate effect of the word upon those who are sick and lost, those who are hungering after God. He speaks and Life is given. Is it not still so today?
In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he quotes a passage in Isaiah, and then adds to it a complimentary phrase: “I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation, have I helped thee: behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation.” (6:2) Paul is believing God for the imminent work of God by His Spirit.
Dear Father, give us grace to believe You for the present, powerful work, by the Spirit, to be done in and through us for Your glory. We praise and thank Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad