Speaker: Pastor K. Dipalo
Series: March 2015
Scripture: Genesis 13:14
In introductory remarks, the visiting minister, Pastor K Dipalo, said as Abraham was commanded to separated from Lot, we also need to separate from a lot of things in our lives before we can get the inheritance of God’s promises in our lives. Abraham was told that all the land from East to West, North to South was his inheritance. In mentioning the 4 directions of the compass as the demarcations of his inheritance, God was actually showing Abraham the very cross of Calvary where the Lord Jesus Christ would die. (North-South as the upright pole holding Christ from head to foot and East-West as the horizontal arm on which his hands were tied).
The Prophet says when sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden through the Fall, it was like a black blanket had fallen upon humanity. Since man was now naked, God covered his nakedness with animal skin. Thereafter, God instituted animal sacrifices to restore fellowship with man. The procedure was for man to put their hand on the lamb or animal being killed. By making contact with the animal, the sinner would feel the bleating, muscular twitching and spasms of the dying animal as it gave up its life on behalf of the sinner. Then the sinner would be conscious of the fact that the animal is dying in their place.
However, the life of the innocent animal could not come back upon the sinner. Therefore year after year, the sinner would come again with the animal sacrifices for the same sin. That is why God brought the Lord Jesus Christ to die once and for all to take away the very desire of sin from the roots.
The Lord Jesus Christ made two cries while he hung on the cross. The first cry was recorded as Eli Eli Lama Sabachtani meaning My God, My God, why have you forsaken me. The reason why Christ felt forsaken is because He felt His own life leave Him. As it left Him, that Life came upon us the sinners.
The second cry, as recorded in Matthew 27, is a resurrection cry. The Bible does not give a meaning as to what the cry meant. It just says he cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. But that cry is the same one He made at Lazarus’ grave. With that cry, all the Old Testament saints rose up from the dead. The resurrected saints went into the city of Jerusalem and appeared to many people. They joined Christ in his rapture. Christ is part of the six raptures that are recorded in the Bible beginning with Enoch, followed by Elijah, (Christ’s – at the borderline of Old and New Testament), then the Bride and lastly Moses and Elijah among the Jews in Israel.
Joseph in Egypt also cried twice like the Lord Jesus Christ. When his brothers came to Egypt seeking corn, he cried when he saw them. And at the second cry he actually reveals himself to them.
God clothed Adam with a rob made from animal skin. And, as recorded in the chronicles and the book of Joshua, there are also historical facts written in the book of Jasher. And the prophet Jasher records that when Adam died, he gave the garment to Enoch. From Enoch, the robe went to Methuselah, who lived the longest of all Old Testament patriarchs, (969 years, just 31 years short of the millenium). Methuselah later handed the same garment to Noah after the flood. This is the same garment which Ham stole from Noah and gave to his son Cush, who is the father of Nimrod. Now we see that although Nimrod had the garment, which was right in itself, he personally was not right. That is the case with the right Garment and the wrong vessel or man. This reminds us of Balaam, who had the right prophecy but was of the wrong seed himself. The donkey was much better than him, because at least it was an original donkey, that is why it was able to speak. The prophet Balaam himself was a hybrid.
We can have the right desire but we must make sure the devil does not hijack the programme. We see Abraham desiring children from God. The Prophet says the desire was noble. Then he asks how God is going to prove that He would give him a son. God asks Abraham to bring 5 animals for sacrifice. The animals are a ram, a heifer and she-goat, then a pigeon and turtledove. Then Abraham gets into a trance through which he goes through death and hell, which is the very destiny of a sinner. A sinner before God is as dead as the animals that had been slain. But God then sends the Pillar of Fire which comes with a light, restoring man again. We need to notice that the animals were split into 2. This cutting into 2 reminds us of the two parties to the contact, namely God and Abraham.
In ancient Eastern tradition, a covenant or agreement was made by the two parties tearing apart a piece of object. One party took the half and the other took the remainder. These two pieces had to dovetail when brought together in future. In Africa, on the other hand, the village rulers had a way of getting into contracts with the foreign missionaries. They would request, for example, David Livingstone’s coat and give him their royal and sacred spear in return. So if David Livingstone wanted permission to preach in the village, he would go with the king’s sacred spear. The natives (village people) would not kill him when they saw the king’s spear. This is a perfect type of us today.
Abraham was given the entire land of Palestine except just a small portion belonging to the Philistines. The Middle East conflict today is just a classic case of David fighting Goliath again. The so-called Palestinians are not heirs to the land, according to divine promise, and therefore the allegations of apartheid cannot stand against Israel.
God wants us to climb up Jacob’s ladder where angels ascend to heaven and descend to earth. The Prophet says God wants to anchor that ladder in us. We can climb up into God through that ladder of prayer, which is what the Prophet calls kneeology.
And in the Old Testament, there were specific times for prayer. The Prophet says we must pray at 9, 12 and 3pm. All other religions have their specific praying times which they observe. As Christians, we stand back and laugh at others who stick to their prayer times. We are to blame for the weakness of our faith.
The praying times of 9, 12 and 3 instructed by the Prophet actually show us the cross. We must remember that Christ was crucified on the 3rd hour. And we are told that between the 6th and 9th hours there was gross darkness on the land. However, we must note that the hours are different from our own times. The Bible is an Eastern Book and uses standard Eastern time. So our 12th hour is the Eastern’s 6th hour, our third hour is the Eastern’s 9th hour and so on.
Prayer changes things, and when made at these memorial times, it availeth much. Peter prays at the 6th hour and falls into a trance. In the book of Acts, Peter and John go to the temple at the 9th hour, which is the time for prayer. In Acts 10:24, the Angel of God visits Cornelius at the 9th hour while he is busy praying. And Daniel prayed 3 times a day, strictly observing prayer times.
When darkness comes upon the earth from 6th hour to the 9th hour, that is a type of the tribulation. That same darkness is a characteristic feature of God’s dealing with the Jews. He redeems them in darkness. He put darkness in Egypt and delivered the children of Israel in the process. At the cross we see the same darkness covering the earth, meaning that Christ has a double ministry, to redeem both Jew and Gentile. The cross is Christ’s own Kadesh Barnea, which is a judgement seat. And Christ crossed the land of the mortal and went into the Promised Land of immortal Life and brought back resurrection as the fruit of the land. He was crossing into the Promised Land. He was completing the exodus.
