“The Gospel of Dominion”
May 29, 2014
THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD AND
SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST
Acts 1: 1 – 11/ Psalm 47/Ephesians 1: 15 –
23/Mark 16: 9 – 20
His Excellency
The Most Reverend Ariel Cornelio P.
Santos D.D.
of the
Archdiocese of Manila
the
National Church in the Philippines
and the
Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the
Charismatic Episcopal Church
Last
night, Fr. Gary talked about the spiritual things that spiritually the human
mind cannot understand. You have to have the mind of Christ to understand
the things of Christ. Imagine yourself where you are and where the
disciples were. It is sad that what Jesus have been telling His disciples
for three years really did not sink in them. Jesus had told them several
times, “They will see the Son of Man, insulted, beaten up, crucified, buried
and on the third day will rise up again.” They did not understand it;
they did not get it.
Peter
even said, “Nobody will do that to You, Lord!” Not until this point, just
before the Ascension of Christ, His disciples still did not understand what the
kingdom of God is all about. They were thinking, “Jesus is alive again!
Hallelujah! Now we can overthrow the Roman government!” This is what they
were thinking. If you were thinking the same way Peter and the disciples
were thinking and saying, “It is time for the revolution to topple the Roman
government!” then, all of a sudden, the leader of the revolution would say,
“Wait a minute, who is going lead us? Where are you going?” Imagine
a captain of the army who says, “Charge!” and then two angels lifts him up and
takes him to heaven. Talk about quenching your zeal!
The
disciples did not understand. They gazed up to heaven and some angel had
to tell them, “Hey, He is gone. He ascended on high and is seated at the
right hand of God, the Father.” Christ took His rest, sitting down and
waiting for the enemies to be put under His feet. Imagine yourself in
that position if you are thinking only with the human understanding.
Jesus said, “It is better for you that I go away. For your sake, this is
what I am going to do." They blankly, cluelessly gazed up to heaven
as Jesus was taken up to the heavens until He could not be seen. They sat
there, craning their necks, mouths opened, unaware of the consequences, the
ramifications and the benefits of the Ascension – until the Ascension and even
after the Ascension.
St.
Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17-19, "I
pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to
you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray
that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is
the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in
the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who
believe.” There are three items in this prayer that the eyes of
your heart may be enlightened to: one, that you may know what is the hope
of His calling; two, that you may know what are the riches of the glory of His
inheritance; three, to know the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who
believe. In this world, we seek for riches. In the Ascension, the
riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints, which, one day, we will
realize fully is far more valuable than the things we see here on earth.
This is why St. Paul prays that the eyes of your heart may be opened and understand
the hope of his calling. He also says to understand the surpassing
greatness of God's power toward us who believe.
In
Mark 16:17, Jesus said, "These are the signs that will accompany those who
believe. If you believe, you will cast out demons, speak with new
tongues, and pick up serpents, drink any deadly poison and not hurt you, and
lay your hands on the sick and they will recover.” These are pictures
only. They are not particularly limited. These are pictures of what the
Ascension has accomplished for us. Ascension took place far above all
these things that we fear, that we are concerned about, that we worry;
and we bow down to it.
Ephesians
1:19, “These are in
accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about
in Christ.” God,
being the soil and the sun, nourishes us through Jesus, the Vine. The
soil’s nutrients and the water go to the soil and passes to the branches,
through the vine. Jesus uses this so that we would understand that we
only bear fruit through Him. All of these things, the inheritance, the
power working in us, God brought about in Christ Jesus. “When He raised Him from the dead, and
seated Him at the right hand of God the Father in the heavenly places, far
above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.”
This
happened when Jesus was raised from the dead and when Jesus ascended.
This is why I believe the Feast of Ascension is a major feast. We
don’t understand it. We belittle it. The benefits of Ascension is
according with the working of God, brought about by Christ when He resurrected
and when He ascended unto heaven on high and seated far above all these things not only in this
age but also in this age to come. This is forever. These things are under
Him – all rulers and authority and power and principalities. Jesus
is above all these.
Ephesians
2:6 says, "God raised
us up with Christ.” When
Christ ascended on high, we were raised with Him. Not physically but in the
spiritual realm so that we can operate where we are physically
spiritually. Spiritually, our position is far above all rule and
authority and dominion so that wherever we are, physically, our flesh, we also
walk in dominion and authority over all these things.
When
Jesus was walking in the water, that to me is a preview of what the
Ascension would bring about. It is us walking over and above whatever we
think is threatening our peace. We don’t realize this, but St. Paul
further says we would have the knowledge of these things, but we don’t have to
bow down to them. We don’t have to because we have been seated with Christ in
the heavenly places. When He ascended, He took us with Him.
Ephesians
4:8 says, “When He ascended
on high, He led captive a host of captives and He gave gifts to men.” What are the gifts? It is
the power, the riches of His inheritance in the saints and the hope of His
calling. We don't understand this. We celebrate Easter and say,
“Hallelujah! Christ is risen.” When He is seated at the right hand of God, when
He ascended on high, He led a host of captives and He freed them from all these
principalities and led them on high by putting them far above all these
things. Which is why, right now, Christ is seated at the right hand
waiting for His enemies to be put under His feet so that we would act out, live
out the reality of our position which is far above all these things.
Death already has been conquered, but how many of you would rather just sit in
the classroom and talk about truth and philosophy? How would you like to
prove it? It won’t benefit you if you just discuss it. It is like a
diploma that you earned, but you are not finished. You are just
starting. You used what you have accomplished through your parents paying
the tuition, and you take what you have accomplished and bear fruit making
money using that.
This
is what the Ascension is all about. We are to put Christ's enemies under
His feet because we are His body, His hands and His feet. The
reality needs to be lived out. Ephesians 2:6-7 says, “He raised us up with Him, and seated
us with Him in the heavenly place, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages
to come He might who the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us
in Christ Jesus.” This
is so that it can be proven as we live out this power, this inheritance that
the Ascension has brought about for our benefit.
Ephesians
3:10, “In order that the
manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church.” We are His showplace. All
the world knows, all of creation knows, the whole universe knows the manifold
wisdom of God, but that doesn't stop us to willingly display His manifold
wisdom in us. Because of the Ascension, we have the ability to do so.
We
must always understand and acknowledge that Jesus is the Vine, we are the
branches. It is all God’s doing and we are only His instruments. As
instruments, we need not be arrogant, and we need to cooperate. Allow
ourselves, yield ourselves to be used by Him so that His manifold wisdom might
be displayed. St. Paul prays that the eyes of our heart be enlightened so
that we will understand this and so that we would not continue to walk around
and complain about things we have the ability to address, to face, and to
conquer. Anything that you think is a challenge, you can conquer.
The
late great George Mcfly said, “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish
anything.” With Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, God gave us unlimited
ability to conquer what is in front of us because we are seated with Him, at
the right hand of God, above all these things that we fear. When He
ascended, He brought us with Him. Understand that these things, we
spiritually appraised when our hearts are enlightened that we are above all
these things and we don’t magnify and exaggerate or fear anything – rulers,
dominion, principalities, money problems, relationship problems, Physics,
Chemistry, English… We need not fear anything. We are far above all
things. This is for all us, as in Ephesians 4 says, to attain to the
perfection of the stature of Christ. This is why St. Paul tells us to
keep seeking, to look at the things above where Jesus is, where He is reigning.
We are to be reigning and ruling with Him because we are seated with Him.
Look up! Focus on high not because we long to be there but because we
realize we are there. We don't look to be raptured so that where
Jesus is, so there we would be also. Where Jesus is, there already we
are. It is being fulfilled to what He said, “Where I am, there you will be
also.”
This
is the Ascension. We are with Jesus. I am not saying that you don’t have
hope for future glory. I am saying that there is a reality that we are
missing out right now. Right now, already. Jesus said, “In My Father’s
house, there are many mansions. I am going away but I will prepare you a
habitation so that where I am, there you will be also.” One day,
physically, our soul and our body will follow where our spirits are already is.
Don’t misunderstand that: we already are where He is. I want to say
partly, but not really. The fullness of it, we can live out right
here, right now. Where He is physically in the flesh, we can also be with
Him. It has already been fulfilled. Where He is, there we are.
Another
promise is fulfilled: He and the Father will make their abode in us. We
dwell with Them already – far above all rule and authority. That
translates to what you are worrying about a couple of days ago, yesterday,
today, and what hopefully you will not worry about tomorrow and the next few
days because we are seated at the right hand of God with Christ. We don’t
need to be under these things again. We have been freed from these things and
we are placed high above all, but we need to live out that which He has
accomplished for us because this is the way it is in the kingdom of our God.
“The Gospel of Glory”
June 1, 2014
7th Sunday of the Great
Christian Passover
Acts 1: 8 –
14/Psalm 47/1 Peter 4: 12 – 19/John 17: 1 – 11
His Excellency
The Most Reverend Ariel Cornelio P.
Santos D.D.
of the
Archdiocese of Manila
the
National Church in the Philippines
and the
Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the
Charismatic Episcopal Church
This is the seventh and last Sunday of Easter. Next Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of
Pentecost. We do not forget the power of the Resurrection of our Lord and
it is at work in us. The same power that raised Him from the dead is at
work in our lives, in our mortal bodies giving us life and immortality.
In John 17, Jesus prays for us, His disciples. He said, "The
hour has come. Behold, now is the time. Glorify Thy Son that He might glorify
Thee, even as Thou gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom Thou has
given Him, He may give eternal life. And this is eternal life, that
they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou did sent. I
glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou has given
Me to do.” The following verses tell us that now, it is our
turn. “The hour has come for us.” Jesus’ task is now our task;
hence, His prayer for us is that we may accomplish that which He had
accomplished.
This is also why we have been given authority to reign over all
and to be His witnesses including the authority and the power to make Him
known. By definition, eternal life is knowing God. As Jesus was given
authority to give eternal life to all whom He chooses and to whom God has given
Him, so we have been given power and authority to give eternal life to people.
That is, to make Him known because eternal life is knowing God. When we
make God known, we are making available eternal life to the people to whom we
make Him known.
Knowing God is eternal life. When we make Him known through
our witness, then, we make eternal life available to those whom we witness to.
Scriptures says that Christ is the Firstborn of many brethren; and we are the
many brethren so that what He had accomplished before, we also are to
accomplish. We make Him known just as He made the Father known. St.
John’s epistle says, “As He is, so are we in this world.” It
doesn’t mean that we are both in the world, but as He is – His character, His
nature – so are we. We have been put in the world to be Him in the world.
As we are supposed to be as Christ is, what is He? He is the
visible manifestation or witness of the unseen God. He bears witness to
what the unseen God is. As He is the visible manifestation of the unseen
God, so we are the visible manifestation of the ascended, unseen Christ. The Psalms
says we are Jesus with skin on. The world cannot see Him physically
today. He has ascended and He seats physically, flesh and blood, in the
heavens at the right hand of God the Father. As He manifested the unseen
God, so we manifest Him, the ascended Christ.
Christ was the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. What
are we? We are His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
As He is the fullness of the Godhead, so we His Body are the fullness of
Him. Not that we could potentially be Him, not ideally should be Him, not
hopefully would be Him, but we already are the fullness of Christ!
What is fullness? We say that we are far from that. No, we
aren’t! We cannot argue with the Bible. The Bible says that we are
the fullness of Him because we are His body. Ephesians 1:22 says that God gave Him as Head to
the Church, making us His Body and His fullness, and He gave us power to be His
witnesses because we are His Body and we bear the fullness of Him. What should
be is that we are walking in the fullness of what we already are.
We do not pretend. It is what God has done. It is not our doing,
but God’s doing. It may be marvelous in our eyes, but it is nonetheless
the truth. You cannot take away from that. Looking at the people
around you, they are the Body of Christ. They are the fullness of Him.
See in them Christ. No longer regard anyone according to the flesh, but see in
them God's doing, not their doing. Many times, what we see is man’s
doing. We keep a list of what man does especially to us when they offend
us. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous because many times, it is
unbelievable. Sin in them is no more because Christ lives in them.
They are His Body, the fullness of Him.
How is that possible? With God, all things are possible, so
what should be is we being and walking in what we already are. We have
the nature of Christ in us; we need to just walk according to the fullness of
that truth which God has made. Don’t oppose it. We are partakers of
the divine nature of Christ because God made it so. When we walk in that
fullness, we make Him known. Whom people do not see, we manifest and bear
witness of. This is why we have been given power because we are to be
witnesses.
When we make Him known and seen, hopefully one day, we can
confidently and fully say, “He who has seen us, His Body, has seen Him who is
in the heavens and is not visible on earth.” Thus, we glorify God when we
accomplish this work that is given to us. This is the reason for Jesus’
incarnation. The root word for incarnation is “carne” which is flesh.
Christ became flesh, not to be eaten, but to be seen. God is the Spirit.
He doesn’t have flesh and blood. God is Spirit and fallen people whose
relationship with God have ceased had to see Him again revealed and manifested.
In the wisdom of God, it is in the flesh to reconcile all things back to
Him. He had to reveal Himself and He did it through the incarnation of
Christ.
Now, we are that incarnation. One day, the Church will reach
the fullness of who and what she is. One day, we will see Christ; and when we
see Him, we will know Him because we will be just like Him. It already is
and God is just waiting for us to first, realize and understand this; and
second, to get started in walking in our nature and who He made us to be.
2Thessalonians 1:10 says, “When He comes to be
glorified (in the persons) in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at
among all who have believed.” People will marvel through Christ’s
Body, who are the believers, in the persons of His saints and He will be
glorified.
The hour has come for us to understand our task now; and I thought
of four prerequisites for this fullness to come: one, we are to have
eternal life and we are to be walking in it. Two, we are to stay in
Jerusalem. Three; we have to have one mind. Four, we are to be
continually devoted to worshipping Him.
First, we need to be walking in eternal life.
Again, eternal life is knowing God. We must make true and alive in our
own lives this knowledge, this intimacy with God. We are to be walking in it
first. We are first to use our product because we sell it to others.
In this age of endorsements, celebrities with immaculate white skin would
endorse a cheap product maybe made in China and say, “I owe my beauty to this
“Chinese sounding cream.” We know it is not true, and this should not be
in Christianity. We are first to have this eternal life – this
knowledge, this intimacy, this fellowship, and this relationship with
God. Then, we preach that eternal life.
John said, "That whom we have fellowship with, whom we touch,
whom we walk with, whom we have a relationship with, that is what we preach so
that you may also have fellowship with us and with Him.” The more
you know someone and have interaction with them and have interpersonal
relationship with them, the more you look like them. The more you sound
like them and the more you become like them. How many times have we said
of couples, “More and more, you look like each other,” physically and
characteristically.
I had this classmate in college and we have formed this Christian
group and we asked him to pray. He prayed exactly like his evangelist
pastor. All expressions, all gestures and tremor in the voice is very
same as his pastor because he knew him. When we abide in Christ, we become more
like Him. Moses’ face was shining when he spent time with God in intimate
fellowship. This is what knowing God or knowing someone does for us.
Second prerequisite is: we are to stay in Jerusalem.
In Acts 1:4, Jesus commanded the disciples not to leave Jerusalem but to wait
for what the Father has promised. What is Jerusalem? What does
Jerusalem represent? Jerusalem is the place God designated for us to
worship Him. It is the place He tells you to go so that you could meet
Him. This is the Church! Do not leave Jerusalem! Wait for
what the Father had promised. Stay and wait! God is going to do
something great! It is His promise and His promise and His Word does not
come back to Him without first accomplishing that for which it was sent.
It is not like a check that bounces. When God says something, it won’t
come back to Him until it first accomplishes the purpose for which the Word or
the promise was sent.
Jesus also said, “Stay. Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for what
the Father had promised for the promise will come not many days from
now.” It will be soon! Just as the Father has promised, He will be
faithful to fulfill it. You have proven this, haven’t you? Has He
promised something to you before? Many times He did. Has He
fulfilled it? Has He failed so far? It doesn’t mean though that
when the Father comes, now, we can leave. No, because we are to dwell in
the house of the Lord forever. God is saying, “Don’t be impatient. The
promise will come.” The Word will come as God promised!
The third prerequisite: we have to have one mind. The
Trinity is in unity; so we also are to be in unity. Trinity in unity;
unity in Trinity. We are to display and walk in unity in the
Body. Jesus prayed, "That we, His Body, may be one, just as He, the
Father, and the Holy Spirit are one." We are to demonstrate the
unity of the Godhead because we are one Body. I know that we have many
denominations in the world. We are one Body. Jesus Christ is not
coming to a group of Christians bearing a certain name. He is coming to a
Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. This goes beyond names,
labels, identification, and denomination.
We are one Body and when we live out that oneness, then there is
ability, strength, benefit, blessing, abundance, fulfillment, joy, and peace
multiplied. When you only just combine the abilities of two people, those
two can accomplish much. As an example, two ten-year old lanky boys are
given a fifty-pound cement bags. They would have trouble if you give them each
a fifty-pound cement bag to take from one place to another. But if you
give them something to put the two bags on like a stretcher, they can each take
the handle and can easily do the task than if they each carry one bag. In
fact, you may put a third bag in there and they can probably do it. They
are stronger when they combine their strength, their abilities because they
become one unit instead of two separate ones.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Like in
Voltes V, they always win when they bolt in together because individually, they
are limited in their ability. Together as one whole unit, they were
greater than the sum of each part. In 1Timothy 2:8, “Therefore, I
want all men to pray in every place without wrath or dissension.” In
other words, in unity because when we do pray in unity, then, we will
accomplish much. The “therefore” is an urgency, a requirement to
fulfill God’s desire for all men to be saved and as it says in 1Timothry 2:4,
“to come to the knowledge of the truth.” When we exchange peace with each
other, it is not just something that we go through, something perfunctory, rote
or because it is written in the customary. It is so that we can come to
the Table, to pray and to worship God without dissension, without hatred and in
unity.
The fourth prerequisite: we are to have continual
devotion to prayer, meaning “the prayers” – the liturgy, the
worship. We are to continue to devote ourselves in our worship
time. That is, at least every Sunday. We are told not to forsake
our assembling together and all the more as we see the day of God’s promise
coming. As we stay and wait, we are not to forsake the assembling
together because we assemble together as we see the day of fulfillment coming
to us. We say, “The promise that was in Acts was the Holy
Spirit.” Yes and the promise to Israel in the Old Testament was a piece
of land called Canaan. Now, God also gave us a promise, which is just one
part of His many promises.
I have always said: do not lose focus. There is a purpose in
the promise of God. The purpose is not so that the Church staff can have
comfortable offices; not so that we can get rid of landlords; not so that we
can have a comfortable place that we can worship God in. Those things are
not bad; those things are just a part of the purpose. They are not the
main purpose. Our focus should be on the main purpose of the promise. The
purpose is: so that through us, as empowered witnesses, the kingdom of God can
come as we pray and His glory can cover the whole earth so that all flesh can
see it and bow their knee and be saved and have a relationship with God to know
Him and have a knowledge of the truth.
God’s will is to reconcile the whole world (cosmos) to Himself not
counting sin against man. Sin was the thing which separated the world
from God. In Acts 3:21, it says that His will is for the
restoration of all things. In Acts 2:25, part of God’s promise and His will was
that in the seed of Abraham, which is us, all families of the earth shall be
blessed. How are the families of the earth going to blessed? It is
in and through us, the seed of Abraham. His will is for all families of the
earth to be blessed. 1Timothy 2:1 says, “Pray for all men
that they may be saved and know God.” This is God’s will – for all men to
be reconciled to Him.
Jesus was given authority that He may give eternal life to all
flesh; all men, which is why we have been given power to be
witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the remotest parts of the
earth. You are made witnesses in your neighborhood, in your school, in
your workplace, in your community and wherever you are.
1Timothy 4:10 says that God is the Savior of allmen, especiallyof
believers. This is His desire for all men to come to the knowledge
of the truth and be saved.
Salvation is not making it to heaven especially of believers
because they have a head start in eternal life, of knowing God. Believers
know God so they live eternal life. Those who don't believe yet, those who have
not heard yet, they have not been experiencing yet what eternal life is all
about, which is having a relationship with Him- a relationship with Him
restored.
1John 2:2 says, "He is the propitiation of our sins; and
not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” So much for
our exclusivity as the Church. We are not the only chosen people.
At this point, we are thankful that we have been found by God, but it is for a
purpose so that we could also be witnesses to all men, to the remotest part of
the earth. Our motivation, our prayer is for God’s will to be done on earth as
it is in heaven. In heaven, everybody knows Him and everybody lives eternal
life. Our prayer and our motivation is that kingdom will come on earth
and be done on earth.
This is the Gospel of Glory and that is the way it is in the
kingdom of our God.
LET US CONTINUE OUR
REFLECTION
WITH
CARDINAL OF
HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
AND
VENERABLE PRIMATE
OF
THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGH
THE WORD EXPOSED
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