Believe
and Embrace
Part 7 – Prophetic Fulfillments
Gtcotr/ws090518
We have previously discussed how Each
Prophecy is fulfilled in three ways:
·
The specific fulfillment – It will
happen to a specific person at a specific time to clearly fulfill the Word of
the Lord. Such is the case of Isaiah 43:2 which was specifically fulfilled in
Daniel 3:25&27.
·
The general fulfillment – Every
Believer can look to, profess, and have confidence in each and every Word of
God. It gives hope to all and for many it releases the anointing and manifests
the eternal will of God in this temporal life.
·
The eternal fulfillment – One day,
when eternity begins with the new heaven and the new earth, every prophecy will
have its ultimate fulfillment as it applies to the eternal will and purpose of
God for His children. God has always been building an eternity …
Mark 16
15 And He said to them, “Go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 “He who believes and is
baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
17 “And these signs shall
follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak
with new tongues;
18 “they will take up
serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them;
they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
1.
Cast out
demons
Jesus’ great commission includes Him giving
every Believer the power and the authority to cast out demons. Our current
study of the phrase in verse 17 concerning casting out demons is not meant to
be a spiritual guide on demonology or deliverance. Much has been written by many
scholars on this subject leading us to firmly conclude that we have authority
over the devil and all of his demons in the Name of Jesus. And, we should
exercise our authority by commanding demons to leave us, our bodies and our
families alone’ and to leave our thoughts and let go of our finances and such
like. We have a voice of command and the results are up to God.
Mark 16:17
“And these signs shall follow those who believe: In My name they will
cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues.”
2.
Speak with
new tongues
a.
Speak: The use
of words and sounds to communicate or disclose one’s mind and declare one’s
thoughts.
b.
New: Unprecedented,
uncommon, unheard of, unusual and new
c.
Tongues: A language
or dialect specific to and distinct from those languages spoken by other
nations
Acts 2 NKJV
1 ¶ When the Day of Pentecost
had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a
sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house
where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them
divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance.
An almost word for word translation of this
verse from the original Greek would read like this:
… and began to make sounds and form words
different from their own language as the Spirit gave them the pronunciation.
Tongues are often controversial utterances
among the religious, while at the same time they are a sign to unbelievers. (1
Corinthians 14:22) But, it was not just a miracle of speech, it was also a
miracle of hearing …
Acts 2
5 ¶ And there were dwelling
in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
6 And when this sound
occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone
heard them speak in his own language.
7 Then they were all amazed
and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak
Galileans?
8 “And how is it that
we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
Without regard as to how
God chose to do it, this event was definitely a specific fulfillment of the
prophecy given by the Holy Spirit in Joel 2 as testified to by the Apostle
Peter on that day. As well, there are several other recorded instances where
people were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in this heavenly language.
§ Acts 10:44-48
§ Acts 19:1-6
§ 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
§ 1 Corinthians 13:1
§ 1 Corinthians 14:2
§ 1 Corinthians 14:14
1 Corinthians 14
18 I thank my God I speak
with tongues more than you all;
19 yet in the church I would
rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also,
than ten thousand words in a tongue.
1 Corinthians 14:39
Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to
speak with tongues.
1 Corinthians 14
2 For he who speaks in a
tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him;
however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
4 He who speaks in a tongue
edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church
Mark 16:18 Continued …
3.
Take up
serpents
The specific fulfillment of this prophetic word came to the Apostle Paul as
recorded in:
Acts 28
3 But when Paul had gathered
a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because
of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
4 So when the natives saw the
creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is
a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to
live.”
5 But he shook off the
creature into the fire and suffered no harm.
6 However, they were
expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had
looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds
and said that he was a god.
The general Word gives each
Believer hope that if spiritual or natural serpents attach themselves to us
that we will be victorious and that they cannot harm us. We can hold to this
Word of God to know His will and therefore never doubt God’s ability to save
and deliver us from evil.
If we were to consider the wording in the
translation of Mark 16:17 of the phrase, “will take up”, we would find
the Greek word used herein is also translated: take off; take away; remove;
carry off; carry away; take from among; and cause to cease. This shows a
clear intent to reveal the power and the authority we have over serpents
whether natural or spiritual. In other words … nothing shall by any means hurt
you … and this is for today!
Luke 10
19 “Behold, I give you the
authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
20 “Nevertheless do not
rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice
because your names are written in heaven.”
There are … nonetheless, greater concerns and greater miracles and greater priorities for
the Believer.
As well, the eternal fulfillment of this Word
from Jesus will be seen in the ultimate binding of the original serpent which
deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden … One day we will witness the physical
binding and removal of this sneaky snake from our midst forever and ever!
I do not believe nor do we teach that anyone
should ever put themselves in the path of a poisonous snake or any other danger
on purpose trying to prove faith or spirituality … one might as well step in
front of a moving train and trust God to be delivered. It’s not a consideration
of faith … that would be more akin to testing God from the standpoint of
stupidity … forgive me for using the S word.
4.
If they
drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them
Just like the practice of handling snakes, we
should not drink any deadly thing on purpose either. Jesus encourages us with a
strong admonition to not tempt God.
Matthew 4
5 Then the devil took Him up
into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and said to Him, “If You
are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His
angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “It is
written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ”
However, if anything does try and harm us,
thank God we have an advocate with the Father and a reason to hope and pray
that no deadly thing will hurt us. But, if we tempt God, we may find ourselves
discussing this doctrine in person with St Peter.
5.
Lay hands
on the sick and they will recover
James 5
14 Is anyone among you sick?
Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith
will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed
sins, he will be forgiven.
I cannot tell you why we don’t see every
person instantly healed from every sickness and disease when we pray. I can
tell you that it does happen and that our faith has a huge part to play in
moving the hand of God however, even the greatest faith a man or woman could
possess will not and should not override the purpose-filled plan and will of
God.
We are told to not worry about anything but
instead, pray about everything; tell God what we want and then thank Him for
everything He does. (Philippians 4:6 NLT)
I believe that there is more work to be done
in heaven than there is on the earth. I also believe that the work which is
being done in heaven is very important. Jesus said that He was more needed in
heaven and that it would be better for us if He went there and worked from
here. I believe that Jesus did His job on earth and He is doing more for us
from there than He could do from here. It was the will of God to limit the span
of lives on earth and to take the limits off of life beyond death for the
Believer.
We pray to keep the ball in God’s court … And
to help keep our heart and will in agreement with His. Prayer always gives us
the victory … and we often see victory in the situation before we see victory
over the situation.
When discussing the plight of Shadrach,
Meshech and Abednego, we confirmed that:
1.
We know what God is able to do
2.
We do not know what God will do
3.
We do know what we will do
4.
We will trust God, put our hope in Him, and pray the Word.
Mark 16
19 ¶ So then, after the Lord
had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right
hand of God.
20 And they went out and
preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word
through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Notice: He sat down and they went out …
·
The work of the Kingdom of God has now become
the responsibility of man.
·
Each person who gets saved as a result of us
going and preaching the Gospel to every creature gets to go to heaven.
·
Every worker/disciple of Christ will be eternally
rewarded/paid according to the work they have done for Christ on planet earth.
·
We have been given power and authority to go
in His name.
