Praise be to the most precious and the only exalted Name of our heavenly Father, Saviour and soon coming King of kings, Lord Jesus Christ. By the abundant and amazing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have entered into the fifth month of this calendar year 2020. Though the world is in much perplexity and chaos, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, redeemed by His precious blood is alive and well. Many say that the Church has been locked down. There is absolutely no truth to it. Only the assembling of the saints congregating in physical locations has been hindered for a while. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ can never be locked down. Because our Lord Jesus Christ declares:
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”. – Mat 16:18,19
The true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is victorious. To each one of the seven messengers of the seven Churches, our Lord Jesus Christ declares, “He that overcometh…” as we read in the book of Revelation chapters two and three. God wants His Church to be a victorious Church. And that victory is in par with the same victory of Jesus Christ as Rev 3:21, declares, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”. No situation or setbacks can cancel or alter this truth of God’s unchanging word.
That is why, when Peter, the apostle received the revelation and declared who Christ Jesus is, He answered and said, upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail. Why do the gates of hell have no power over the blood bought Church? It is because of what Christ Jesus did. We know He died on the cross and rose again on the third day. But it is particularly important to know what He did in between His death and His resurrection.
Hundreds of years before the death and resurrection of our Saviour Lord Jesus Christ, David as a prophet wrote in Psa 16:10, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”. The Holy One in this Scripture points to our Lord Jesus Christ and it says that His soul would not be left in hell. When did His soul go to hell? It happened in between His death and resurrection on this earth.
Yes, He not only died as our substitute but also as our substitute visited hell for a while, so that we will escape going there. Bro. Peter, when he preached on the day of Pentecost spoke the words written in Acts 2:27-31. It declares, “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.”.
Scriptures very clearly declares He went to hell but came back to resurrect on the third day (John 10:17,18). He made such a visit not just as a substitute for us but also to do something incredibly significant. When the body of our precious Lord Jesus was buried in the tomb, everybody thought He is dead, and everything is over. But the Scripture says His soul went to hell and took the keys of death and hell as Rev 1:18, declares, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”. Praise the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hell is the place of devil’s habitation, which also is the headquarters of his own kingdom. Christ Jesus sealed that all up. He declares that He has in His possession the keys of hell and death.
When will someone take the key? Not before locking the gates. Yes, the gates of hell were locked up and its keys are in the possession of our dear Lord Jesus. Yes, the devil is so miserable that he does not have the keys of his own house. And He also took the keys of death so that the soul of the redeemed cannot be dragged into death.
That is why Christ Jesus says, upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail. When He said that He knew soon there is a day coming that the gates of hell would be locked up and its keys would be in His possession. That was what exactly happened. Even the devil was ignorant of this whole matter as 1 Cor 2:8 declares, “Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”.
Because of this reason, there is no need for the redeemed of the Lord Jesus Christ to partake in the perplexity and chaos of this world. The forces of darkness might prevail in this world but not against His Church. It is because we are in Him and we possess the power and authority that Christ Jesus has given.
It is true that we are living in the end of this age. The signs of the time are fulfilling the prophecies of His soon appearing in the clouds of glory to take His bride that are ready and waiting (Matt 25:1-10). Until that moment of the twinkling of an eye, our Lord admonished us to watch and pray as Luke 21:36 declares, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”.
Only God knows why He allowed covid 19. It may be to align certain things that will lead this world to eschaton. He will do what He wants to do in the way He wants to do. It is awful to see death and destruction of so many people. But this has created an opportunity for many people to come to our Saviour. It is also a trigger to shake up those that are spiritually insensitive and callous in the body of Christ. If this does not shake up, I cannot think of anything that will.
It is particularly important for the believers to see things as God almighty sees it. That is why we always need to have an awareness within ourselves that though we are in the world, we are not of the world (John 15:19; 17:14). God almighty has ordained His redeemed to walk in faith and the authority of His word. When we do that there is no place for perplexity and fear. At this time, it’s just not enough to pray only for our protection. The Church must make use of the authority that God almighty has given. Our Lord Jesus declares in Luk 10:19, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”. All the powers of the enemy include covid 19 too.
The redeemed must not only perceive covid 19 just as a virus, as the medical science has perceived. Rather it’s very important and much essential to perceive it as a spirit that is unleashed from the pit of hell. Only then can it be slain, bound and cast back to, from where it came. Remember the word of God says, the gates of hell shall never prevail against His Church. Following that in Matthew 16:19 our precious Redeemer declares, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”. Let us not forget the power and the authority He has given us.
covid 19 is working in this world as an invisible virus. That is how it has manifested. But we need to understand that there cannot be a fruit without a root. The Church is not called to fight with the evil forces on a surface level. Rather the Church is called to fight with the root of all evil. Like the root of every tree is on an unseen level, so is the root of every evil, an unseen spiritual force of darkness.
Even the medical science tries to see this unseen virus in their laboratories and let the medicines fight with it. But we have the power to fight with the unseen spiritual force that is acting as a root of all this mess. To slay this unseen spiritual root, God almighty has given us an unseen spiritual weapon. The Scripture calls it the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Only that weapon is fuelled with the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, that has already shattered all the spiritual forces of darkness. (Isa 34:6; Eph 6:17). In Rev 12:11 the Scripture declares, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”. If those chosen ones during the time of tribulation can overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, why can’t we at this present day and time over this virus.
One of the things the medical science say is that if they can come up with a vaccine, it will give a solution to this pandemic. Vaccine cannot uproot this virus. Only it might give protection to individuals to a certain degree. Let’s remember that all therapeutics, antibiotics and vaccines can fight only with flesh and blood. The redeemed must never wait and watch for them to come up with a medical solution. The believers that belong to the Church of Jesus Christ must fight with principalities and powers that are much deeper than the medical battle with flesh and blood (Eph 6:12). When we slay, bind and cast the spiritual forces of darkness from where it came, everything will become a debacle. The enemy will not be able to fulfil what he had intended to do. There is a time the devil will be totally bound and incapacitated. That’s what the back of our Holy Book in Rev 20:2 says as, “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,”. But right now, he is partially bound which has made him to be totally incapacitated against His Church in this world.
Yes, in the end times what must happen will happen. Whether anyone likes it or not, prophecies foretold in the Scriptures will be fulfilled. Yes, before God almighty comes back to this earth to fully take the reigns, things will become chaotic. But at the same time until His chosen ones for this age are gathered up, things will not get out of control.
If a virus, leaked and circulating in the nature can make a global impact, how much more of a global impact it would make, when the redeemed all over the globe both living and resting are caught up in the twinkling of an eye by the supernatural power of our Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Cor 15:52, the Scripture declares, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”. Also in 1 Thess 4:16,17, the Scripture declares, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”. Absolutely unimaginable and it is imminent to happen anytime. No power could stop it from happening. The kingdoms of the world are trying to control this pandemic. But the catching away of the saints of God cannot be controlled by any kingdom or power in this world. Things would have happened, before anyone can realise what has happened, how it happened, when it happened and why it happened.
Let us not be slack concerning the promise of God. 2 Peter 3:9 declares, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”. This is the repentance of God’s chosen people from all their lukewarmness and slackness as we read in Rev 3:18,19 which declares, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”.
This repentance of every individual in God’s fold is the true end time revival. Old testament shadow is a reflection of new testament reality. In other words God almighty had the reality of the new covenant in His mind, when He allowed things to pan out in the old testament (Heb 10:1). We read in the Scriptures, the glory of the latter house which was rebuilt, was greater than the former house that Solomon built in the old testament (Haggai 2:9). Same way Christ Jesus who built His new covenant Church two thousand years before, will restore the same back to a greater glory (Matt 16:18; Eph 5:26,27). As the elect of God came from babylon to Zion in order to restore the disfigured temple of God in the old testament, the elect of God today will totally separate themselves from all the worldly influence and return to mount Zion, to the original foundation, by heeding only to what the Spirit says through His eternal Word that never changes. (Ezra 1:1-3; Heb 12:22-29; Rev 3:22). This is the great revival and restoration of the new covenant Church. This will have a profound effect that the world will witness. No doubt that this will be a mark, that will bring this present dispensation to a grand close.
There is a set time for everything to happen in God’s calendar. God almighty will never allow the devil to back pedal or manipulate neither His timeline nor His agenda as 2 Thess 2:6 declares, “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.”.
No matter wherever we are, let us put on the whole armour of God and stand as warriors in the battlefield representing the Kingdom of the almighty God. The bride of Jesus Christ is still representing Him on this earth. As we live our lives in the power and the authority that God has given according to His will, let us also remember the blessed hope we have to look up, and lift up our heads; for our redemption draweth nigh. This might be an awful time for the world but a great time for God’s people.
May you have a blessed May 2020 and beyond until our precious bridegroom Lord Jesus Christ appear in the clouds of glory to take His bride away.
In Christ,
Bro. Jamey F. Davis
5th May 2020
Contact:
Immanuel Prayer House,
93-A, Sadras Road | Tirukalikundram – 603109 | Chengalpattu District, TN, India.
E Mail : jfdavis@live.com | WhatsApp Messages: +91-9840073774 |t: @jafdavis
Web : www.davisiph.net
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