CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“CROWNED PRINCES,CROWNED PRINCESSES
SERVING THE KING OF KINGS”?
OUTSTANDING, MIND-ILLUMINATING, HEART-INSPIRING WORDS FROM PAUL IN HEBREWS 2:14-3:1-14 THAT ALL “CHURCH-FOLK”& “ALL OUTSIDE OF CHRIST” MUST HEAR!! PAUL SAID:
HEBREWS 2:14-18, “FORASMUCH THEN AS THE CHILDREN ARE PARTAKERS OF FLESH & BLOOD, CHRIST ALSO HIMSELF LIKEWISE TOOK PART OF THE SAME; THAT THROUGH DEATH HE MIGHT DESTROY HIM THAT HAD THE POWER OF DEATH,THAT IS,THE DEVIL; AND DELIVER THEM WHO THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH WERE ALL THEIR LIFETIME SUBJECT TO BONDAGE.
FOR VERILY HE TOOK PART NOT ON HIM THE NATURE OF ANGELS;BUT HE TOOK ON HIM THE SEED OF ABRAHAM. WHEREFORE IN ALL THINGS IT BEHOVED HIM TO BE MADE LIKE UNTO HIS BRETHREN, THAT HE MIGHT BE A MERCIFUL & FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THINGS PERTAINING TO GOD, TO MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE. FOR IN THAT HE HIMSELF SUFFERED BEING TEMPTED, “HE IS ABLE” TO SUCCOUR THEM THAT ARE TEMPTED. (SUCCOUR?IT’S A WORD DEFINED AS, “HELP,RELIEF,AID,ASSISTANCE”; THAT’S HOLY GOD ‘RUNNING’ TO HELP RAISE YOU OUT OF DEATH INTO “LIFE”, OUT OF BONDAGE INTO “ETERNAL FREEDOM”, OUT OF DEVILISH CHAINS “TO THE PROMISES OF YOUR LORD & SAVIOR OF GOD’S OVERCOMING STRENGTH”, OUT OF DEVILISH ACCUSATIONS “TO OUR LORD’S ABIDING TRUTHS”, OUT OF CONSTANT ACCUSATIONS BY DEVILISH DEMONS TO THE “LORD’S PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING”!). OH, NOW TO HEBREWS 3:1-14! WHEREFORE, HOLY BRETHREN, PARTAKERS OF THE HEAVENLY CALLING, CONSIDER THE APOSTLE & HIGH PRIEST OF OUR PROFESSION, CHRIST JESUS; WHO WAS FAITHFUL TO HIM THAT APPOINTED HIM, AS ALSO MOSES WAS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS HOUSE.
FOR THIS MAN (JESUS) WAS COUNTED WORTHY OF MORE GLORY THAN MOSES, INASMUCH AS HE WHO HAS BUILT THE HOUSE HAS MORE HONOR THAN THE HOUSE, FOR EVERY ‘HOUSE’ IS BUILT BY SOME MAN; BUT HE THAT BUILDS ALL THINGS IS GOD.
AND MOSES VERILY WAS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS HOUSE, AS A SERVANT,FOR A TESTIMONY OF THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE TO BE SPOKEN OF AFTER; BUT CHRIST AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE: WHOSE HOUSE ARE WE IF WE HOLD FAST THE CONFIDENCE & THE REJOICING OF THE HOPE FIRM UNTO THE END. WHEREFORE (AS THE HOLY SPIRIT SAYS), TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, AS IN THE PROVOCATION, IN THE DAY OF TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS: WHEN YOUR FATHERS TEMPTED ME (GOD, THE SPIRIT, JESUS, THE THREE IN ONE!),PROVED ME, & SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.
WHEREFORE I WAS GRIEVED WITH THAT GENERATION, & SAID, THEY DO ALWAYS ERR IN THEIR HEART; & THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN MY WAYS. SO I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER INTO MY REST “TAKE HEED, BRETHREN,LEST THERE BE IN ANY OF YOU AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF, IN DEPARTING FROM THE LIVING GOD.
BUT EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY, WHILE IT IS CALLED ‘TODAY’; LEST ANY OF YOU BE HARDENED THROUGH THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN. FOR WE ARE MADE “PARTAKERS OF CHRIST” “””IF”””!! WE HOLD THE BEGINNNG OF OUR CONFIDENCE STEDFAST (OR FIRM) UNTO THE END.” WOW!!
CHRIST JESUS “IS” KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS, & IF KING JESUS IS IN US, HE’S THERE NOT SIMPLY TO BE ‘PRESENT’ BUT TO ‘PRESIDE’; HE’S IN YOUR HEART NOT TO BE PROMINENT BUT PREEMINENT; “OBEDIENCE” IS NOT AN OPTION IN THE “AGE OF GRACE”!! GEORGE MACDONALD, IN HIS WRITING “MARQUIS OF LOSSIE” (CH.72) WROTE: “I FIND THE DOING OF THE WILL OF GOD,LEAVES ME NO TIME FOR DISPUTING ABOUT HIS PLANS.”
THERE’S AN OLD HYMN WRITTEN BY A LADY NAMED MARY BROWN THAT SAYS: “I’LL GO WHERE YOU WANT ME TO GO, DEAR LORD, O’ER MOUNTAIN OR PLAIN OR SEA; I’LL SAY WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SAY, DEAR LORD, I’LL BE WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE.”I ASK YOU!!!
ARE YOU (“IN CHRIST”) A “CROWNED PRINCE” OR A “CROWNED PRINCESS”? DO “YOU” LIVE IN OBEDIENCE TO KING JESUS?IN “ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”,(PUBLISHED BY FLEMING COM.,WESTWOOD,NJ),IS A COMMENT BY MICHAEL EYQUEM de MONTAIGNE: “THE FIRST LAW THAT EVER GOD GAVE TO MAN WAS A LAW OF OBEDIENCE; IT WAS A COMMANDMENT PURE & SIMPLE; WHEREIN MAN HAD NOTHING TO INQUIRE AFTER OR TO DISPUTE, FOR AS MUCH AS TO OBEY IS THE PROPER OFFICE OF A RATIONAL SOUL ACKNOWLEDGING A HEAVENLY SUPERIOR & BENEFACTOR. FROM OBEDIENCE & SUBMISSION SPRING ALL OTHER VIRTUES, AS ALL SIN DOES FROM SELF-OPINION & SELF-WILL.”
WHEN GOD SPEAKS, LIKE ADAM & EVE, MANY ‘PLAY’ BUT DON’T OBEY!! THEY STILL ‘SIN’ AS THEY ‘PLAY’ THE ‘RELIGIOUS GAME OF ‘PRETENSE’ HOPING OTHERS DON’T SEE THEIR SIN-NATURE IN OPEN DISPLAY AS THEY,YES, CHOOSE THEIR WAY RATHER THAN VICTORY OVER THEIR SIN & SIN-NATURE BY THE BLOOD SHED BY CHRIST ON THE CROSS, CARRYING HIMSELF &YOU TO CALVARY, TO THE GRAVE, BUT 3 DAYS LATER AROSE OUT OF PHYSICAL DEATH INTO SPIRITUAL VICTORY BECAUSE OF THE REVEALED WORD OF GOD! IT WAS JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER WHO WROTE YEARS AGO THESE WORDS: “IN SIMPLE TRUST LIKE THEIRS WHO HEARD BESIDE THE SYRIAN sea, LET US, LIKE THEM, WITHOUT A WORD, RISE UP & FOLLOW THEE.”
CHOSEN BY CHRIST! CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT! CHRIST KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR – IF “YOU” INVITE HIM IN, HE OFFERS YOU THE FREE GIFT OF EVERLASTING LIFE, & IT’S YOURS BY REPENTANCE BEFORE GOD & FAITH IN “CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK”! & THE RESULT? HOW ABOUT CROWNDED PRINCES & CROWNDED PRINCESSES?
CROWNED PRINCES –CROWNED PRINCESSES?IF I REFER TO THEM, NOT AS SOME NATION’S KIDS UNDER A GOVERNOR’S RULE, BUT AS CHOSEN SERVANTS OF THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS, DO YOU GET A CLEAR GLIMPSE AS TO WHERE I AM HEADED IN THIS PRECIOUS WORD & WILL OF GOD?
1 PETER 4:10-19 INFORMS US: “AS EVERY MAN HAS RECEIVED THE GIFT (A MAN, A WOMAN WHO HAS REPENTED & TRUSTED!),EVEN SO MINISTER THE SAME ONE TO ANOTHER, AS ‘GOOD STEWARDS’ OF THE MANIFOLD GRACE OF GOD. IF ANY MAN SPEAK, LET HIM SPEAK AS THE ORACLES OF GOD; IF ANY MAN MINISTER, LET HIM DO IT AS OF THE ABILITY WHICH “GOD GIVES”; THAT GOD IN ALL THINGS MAY BE GLORIFIED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, TO WHOM BE PRAISE & DOMINION FOREVER & EVER. AMEN (OR SO BE IT!).
BELOVED, THINK IT NOT STRANGE CONCERNING THE FIERY TRIAL “WHICH IS TO TRY YOU”(OH, BUT IN THE 21ST CENTURY, ‘WE WORRY ABOUT THAT? THESE ARE ‘SMOOTH’ DAYS; RIGHT?). WRONG? THE WORLD, THE OLD SIN NATURE, & SATAN & HIS DEMONS STILL STRUT IN PROUD ARROGANCE TO TAKE YOU AS A DISCIPLE OF JESUS DOWN – THEY WANT YOU MARRED,SCARRED, & HARDENED BY ‘DECEIT, PRIDE,& THE PULL OF THAT DECEITFUL NATURE OF SIN THAT STILL CAN DECEIVE!). PETER GOES ON,
VERSES 13-19 SAYS, “BUT REJOICE, INASMUCH AS YOU ARE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST’S SUFFERINGS; THAT, WHEN HIS GLORY SHALL BE REVEALED, YOU MAY BE GLAD ALSO WITH EXCEEDING JOY.
IF YOU BE REPROACHED FOR THE NAME OF CHRIST, HAPPY ARE YOU; FOR THE SPIRIT OF GLORY & OF GOD RESTS UPON YOU:ON THEIR PART JESUS IS EVIL SPOKEN OF, BUT ON YOUR PART JESUS IS GLORIFIED.BUT LET ONE OF YOU SUFFER AS A MURDERER, OR AS A THIEF, OR AS AN EVILDOER, OR AS A BUSYBODY IN OTHER MEN’S MATTERS.
BUT LET NONE OF YOU SUFFER AS A MURDERER, OR AS A THIEF, OR AS AN EVILDOER,OR AS A BUSYBODY IN OTHER MEN’S MATTERS. YET IF ANY MAN SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN,LET HIM NOT BE ASHAMED; BUT LET HIM GLORIFY GOD ON THIS BEHALF. FOR THE TIME HAS COME (IS THAT TIME COMING AROUND OUR WORLD TODAY?) THAT JUDGMENT MUST BEGIN AT THE HOUSE OF GOD:AND IF IT FIRST BEGINS WITH US, WHAT SHALL THE END BE OF THEM THAT OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL OF GOD?
AND IF THE RIGHTEOUS SCARCELY BE SAVED, WHERE SHALL THE UNGODLY & THE SINNER APPEAR? WHEREFORE LET THEM THAT SUFFER ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD COMMIT THE KEEPING OF THEIR SOULS TO “HIM” IN WELL-DOING, AS UNTO A FAITHFUL CREATOR.”
CROWNED PRINCES – CROWNED PRINCESSES SERVING THE KING OF KINGS? I WANT TO CLOSE THIS MESSAGE WITH THE HYMN ENTITLED “CROWN HIM WITH MANY CROWNS”. (THE AMERICAN HYMNAL, BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.1933).
“CROWN HIM WITH MANY CROWNS, THE LAMB UPON HIS THRONE; HARK! HOW THE HEAVENLY ANTHEM DROWNS ALL MUSIC BUT ITS OWN! AWAKE, MY SOUL, & SING OF HIM WHO DIED FOR THEE; AND HAIL HIM AS YOUR MATCHLESS KING THRO’ ALL ETERNITY.
CROWN HIM THE LORD OF LOVE! BEHOLD HIS HANDS & SIDE,- RICH WOUNDS,YET VISIBLE ABOVE, IN BEAUTY GLORIFIED: NO ANGEL IN THE SKY CAN FULLY BEAR THAT SIGHT, BUT DOWNWARD BENDS HIS WOND’RING EYE AT MYSTERIES SO BRIGHT.
CROWN HIM THE LORD OF LIFE! WHO TRIUMPHED O’ER THE GRAVE; WHO ROSE VICTORIOUS TO THE STRIFE FOR THOSE HE CAME TO SAVE: HIS GLORIES NOW WE SING, WHO DIED & ROSE ON HIGH; WHO DIED ETERNAL LIFE TO BRING, & LIVES THAT DEATH MAY DIE.
CROWN HIM THE LORD OF HEAVEN! ONE WITH THE FATHER KNOWN, ONE WITH THE SPIRIT THRO’ HIM GIVEN FROM YONDER GLORIOUS THRONE! TO YOU,LORD,BE ENDLESS PRAISE, FOR “YOU” FOR US DID DIE; BE THOU, O LORD, THRO’ ENDLESS DAYS ADORED & MAGNIFIED.”
WOULD “YOU” DARE SHOUT: “GLORY BE TO GOD ALMIGHTY FOR HIS GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE, SO PROVEN BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIS OWN SON THAT WE MIGHT BE RESTORED TO “HIS KINGDOM LIVING FOREVER & EVER”??!!
CROWNED PRINCES-CROWNED PRINCESSES? IN 2 PETER 1, VERSES 1-7, IS PETER’S INSPIRED WORD ON GOD’S GRACIOUSNESS & POWER THAT IS AVAILABLE TO ALL TRUE REPENTANT & FAITHFUL BELIEVERS! FOLLOWED IN VERSES 8-11,& VERSE 16, THEN I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE.
2 PETER 1:1-7 SAYS, SIMON PETER, A SERVANT & AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST, TO THEM THAT HAVE OBTAINED LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH WITH US THROUGH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD & OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST: GRACE & PEACE BE MULTIPLIED UNTO YOU THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, & OF JESUS OUR LORD,
ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN UNTO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE & GODLINESS,THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM THAT HAS CALLED US TO GLORY & VIRTUE: WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT & PRECIOUS: THAT BY THESE YOU MIGHT BE PARTAKERS OF THE “DIVINE NATURE”, HAVING ESCAPED THE CORRUPTION THAT IS IN THE WORLD THROUGH LUST. AND BESIDE THIS,GIVING ALL DILIGENCE,ADD TO YOUR FAITH VIRTUE; & TO VIRTUE KNOWLEDGE; & TO KNOWLEDGE TEMPERANCE; & TO TEMPERANCE PATIENCE; & TO PATIENCE GODLINESS; AND TO GODLINESS BROTHERLY KINDNESS; & TO BROTHERLY KINDNESS CHARITY.
THEN EXAMINE VERSES 8-11! FOR IF THESE THINGS BE IN YOU, &ABOUND, THEY MAKE YOU THAT YOU SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN NOR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. “BUT” HE THAT LACKS THESE THINGS IS BLIND, & HAS FORGOTTEN THAT HE WAS PURGED FROM HIS OLD SINS. WHEREFORE THE RATHER,BRETHREN, “GIVE” DILIGENCE, TO MAKE YOUR CALLING & ELECTION SURE;FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, YOU SHALL NEVER FALL; FOR SO AN ENTRANCE SHALL BE MINISTERED UNTO YOU ABUNDANTLY INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF OUR LORD & SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.” THEN, VERSE 16!! “FOR WE HAVE NOT FOLLOWED CUNNINGLY DEVISED FABLES, WHEN WE MADE KNOWN UNTO YOU THE POWER & COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BUT WERE EYEWITNESSES OF HIS MAJESTY.” GLORY!!
ARE “YOU” AN EYEWITNESS OF HIS MAJESTY? HE SAYS, AS HE KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR, “OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR MIND, HEART, & WILL, & I WILL COME IN! BY MY LOVE, GRACE, & MERCY, I’LL CROWN YOU AS “CROWNED PRINCES & CROWNED PRINCESSES” IN MY KINGDOM LIVING OF HEAVENLY GLORY, DIVINE LOVE & POWER,SONS OF ETERNAL FAITH! AMEN? & WE’RE CALLED TO BARE FRUIT