Your Miracle Is In Your Mouth (5 page)

Today, if you have financial needs, what do you say? Do you agree with your bank statement and confess your lack? No, you agree with God and confess your abundance in Christ! You say, “My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory!” (Philippians 4:19)

If you feel unrighteous because you have just smoked another cigarette, what do you say? Do you confess your unrighteousness and sin? No, be consistent! You should agree with God and say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:21) Because of Jesus’ blood, all my sins have been forgiven!” (Colossians 2:13) Receive the abundant grace of God, move on and reign over that sin!

One of my worship leaders, Ronnie, used to be a chain smoker. He started smoking when he was a young teenager.

When he began attending our church in April 2001, he was still bound to the habit. One Sunday, when he heard me preach, “You are a temple of God”, he suddenly realised how righteous and clean Jesus had made him. And he told himself, “If I am so clean, why am I doing this to myself?”

So he started his own “quit smoking campaign”. He cut down on the amount of cigarettes he bought, but somehow, his colleagues would make up for the difference by offering him more cigarettes. Then, he started buying cigarettes with a lower nicotine level, but he ended up buying more to meet his nicotine need!

His campaign did not go well and he could not kick the habit. But instead of believing that he was unrighteous and confessing his sin, he still believed and confessed that he was the temple of God and the righteousness of God in Christ.

A few weeks later, during a service, I preached about the grace of God. I said, “When you cannot, that is when God can!” So after the service, this young man went home and while smoking a cigarette, he prayed and told God, “Lord, I can’t stop myself from smoking, but I know You can.”

The next day, he bought a pack of cigarettes. He took out one stick and sniffed it to enjoy the smell of a fresh stick of cigarette. Then, he lit it. But when he took a puff, he went, “Urgh… yuck!”

The cigarette which he once craved became the worst thing he had ever tasted! He threw the cigarette on the ground and snuffed it out. He also crushed the pack of cigarettes and threw it into a garbage bin.

After he did that, he felt a deep sense of renewal — as if he had never smoked a cigarette before in his life! And immediately, he realised that it was God’s supernatural work in him.

This man experienced inward transformation, not by confessing his unrighteousness and sin to God, and begging for His forgiveness, but by confessing his righteousness in Christ, and receiving God’s abundant grace and gift of no condemnation. In other words, he did not strike the Rock, but he spoke to the Rock and received his blessing.

Beloved, speak to your Rock, the High Priest of your confession (Hebrews 3:1), and the waters will flow. Your miracle is in your mouth!

A Picture Of The Exalted Christ

Some of you may be wondering what the story in Numbers 20 has to do with you speaking to Jesus today. How does this passage of scripture point to the church and the ascended Christ? Well, Numbers 20 shows us the second beautiful picture of our Lord that I want you to see. But instead of a crucified Christ, you are going to see the present-day exalted Christ and His church!

Picture of Christ as the exalted Rock
. The Hebrew word for the first rock mentioned in Exodus 17 is different from the Hebrew word for the second rock mentioned in Numbers 20. The first rock is
tsur
, which means a huge boulder. The second rock is
sela
, which means a lofty or high, exalted rock, similar to a cliff.

Some of you may have visited Petra in Jordan and seen the high rocks there. The name Petra is Greek for “rock”. In the Bible, the place is called Sela, which is the same Hebrew word for “exalted rock”.

Now, why is all this significant? Well, the first rock
(tsur)
speaks of Jesus dying on the cross. He came down to where we were and was smitten for our sins. That is why Moses was told to hit this rock.

The second rock
(sela)
speaks of Jesus as the resurrected and exalted one at the Father’s right hand. That is why, on the second occasion, Moses was told to speak to this rock, not hit it.

Today, Jesus is the exalted Rock. He is no longer on the cross or in the grave, but at the Father’s right hand. We only have to speak to Him and the waters will flow. We don’t have to hit Him again for the blessings to flow in our lives.

Picture of the church speaking to the exalted Christ
. The smiting of the first rock was done before the elders of Israel to show us that Jesus’ crucifixion took place in the presence of the representatives of Israel. But in the smiting of the second rock, the act was performed before the congregation.

The Lord said to Moses,
“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the
congregation
together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the
congregation
and their animals.”
(Numbers 20:8)

Now, what is the congregation a picture of? It is a picture of the church, of course. The people gathered by God’s leaders before the exalted Rock is a picture of the church. So church, in the same manner that was commanded of Moses, simply speak to the exalted Rock for the waters you need. There is no need to hit the Rock again.

Picture of Jesus as our High Priest
. In the first smiting of the rock, Aaron is not mentioned. But in the second smiting of the rock, he is mentioned. Why is that? When Jesus was on the cross (the first rock,
tsur
), He had not yet become our High Priest, so Aaron is not mentioned in the first smiting of the rock. Jesus became our High Priest (the second rock,
sela
) only after His resurrection. That is why Aaron, the high priest, is mentioned in the second smiting of the rock. It points us to the high-priestly ministry of the present-day Jesus!

Jesus went back to the Father to become our High Priest. He Himself sprinkled His own blood. (Hebrews 9:11–12) He is the High Priest of His own sacrifice. What better High Priest to represent us than Jesus Himself! What better offering for sin than Christ’s own blood!

In the Old Testament, the problem was not the people’s sins. The problem was either a blemished offering or a high priest who was not up to the mark. If the offering was good, but the high priest was deficient or lousy, the whole nation remained unforgiven before God. If the high priest was good, but the offering was bad, again the people remained unforgiven.

Thank God for Jesus, the perfect High Priest and the perfect sacrifice!

Picture of the resurrection life of Jesus
. Moses
“took the rod from before the Lord”
. (Numbers 20:9) This was not his rod of judgment which he had previously used to strike the rock, but Aaron’s rod which had miraculously budded, blossomed and produced almonds overnight. (Numbers 17:8–11)

Earlier in Numbers 16, the children of Israel had rebelled against the leadership of Aaron. So in Numbers 17, God performed the miracle on Aaron’s rod to prove to the people that He had indeed appointed Aaron.

What is this miracle a picture of? It is a picture of resurrection life! A rod is a branch cut from a tree, which then dies because it can no longer feed off the tree. The fact that there were leaves, flowers and fruit on Aaron’s rod meant that life was produced out of death. It is a picture of Jesus’ death and “overnight” resurrection.

God wants you to know that your grumbling is forgiven and that He will meet your need.

Jesus died for our sins, but He was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:25) His death brought us life. Likewise, Aaron’s “resurrection” rod is a rod of grace because it points to the way in which God “cut off” Jesus so that we can have abundant life.

By the way, in Israel, the almond is the first fruit to appear after winter. Now, winter is a picture of death, which again demonstrates to us this amazing picture of life being produced out of death, of fruitfulness at the end of a time of famine or barrenness.

The High Priest Always Represents Grace

Here is another aspect of Aaron in this same picture: Aaron was the high priest and the high priest is always a representation of grace because he is always a mediator or representative of the people. The high priest represents the people to God (in the same way that prophets represent God to the people). Here again, we see that Aaron’s rod represents grace.

Having said all that, we can now better understand why God wanted Moses to bring out Aaron’s rod and speak to the rock before the people. God wanted to show the people grace. He wanted them to know that their grumbling was forgiven and that He would meet their need.

Friends, God wants to deal with us based on His grace. He wants to work miracles among us based on His grace. That is good news because it means that we don’t have to beg or work for His blessings! It’s simply based on His grace!

chapter
4

Receive Your Blessings By The Grace Of God

chapter 4

Receive Your Blessings By The Grace Of God

A Covenant Based On Grace

W
e read in Exodus 17 that the children of Israel complained against Moses and tempted God at Rephidim. Now, notice that God didn’t destroy them. He didn’t say, “Step aside Moses, I am going to fry them!”

Despite all their complaining, God responded in an amazing way by giving them water to drink out of a smitten rock. In other words, not only did they not get the punishment they deserved, they got a blessing they didn’t deserve! Why was God so gracious to them? The reason for God’s gracious response is found in Psalm 105:41–42:

⁴¹
He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it ran in the dry places like a river.
⁴²
For He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant
.

This passage tells us that God opened the rock and water gushed out. I love the way it says the water “gushed out”! It certainly wasn’t a trickle! The Israelites didn’t have to queue up in a long line to fill their coffee mugs from a trickle of water. They probably had to wade into the water! And notice that Psalm 105:41 says that
“it ran in the dry places like a river”
. This was a river in the desert!

Why did God do this for the children of Israel? He did it because
“He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant”
. This
“holy promise”
is God’s covenant with Abraham. (Genesis 15:9–18) It is an unconditional covenant based on His grace.

What Is A Covenant?

But before I explain why this covenant is grace-based, I want you to first understand what a covenant is. Some people have this idea that a covenant is like a contract. It is not. A contract is a lot less binding. A contract between two persons may be easily terminated when certain conditions are met or not met. But a covenant is forever! In fact, the only way out of a covenant is death!

The Hebrew word for “covenant” is
beriyth
, which means to cut in two. So if I wanted to cut a covenant with you, I would bring an animal with me, usually a ram or a goat, and I would kill it by cutting it in two, from the tip of its nose all the way down. Of course, there would be blood everywhere. Then, you and I would pass each other as we walk between the two pieces of the animal.

This all sounds very bloodthirsty! But there is a significant reason for the use of animal pieces in a covenant. You see, if you break the covenant, that is, if you fail to keep your part of the covenant, the implication is may God do to you what has been done to the animal! Now, you can see why a covenant is so much more binding than a contract! Death is the consequence of breaking the covenant!

Now, let’s look at what theologians call the “Abrahamic covenant”. Why is God’s covenant with Abraham based on His grace? Well, when God was about to cut the covenant with Abraham, Abraham fell asleep. In actual fact, God put Abraham to sleep and cut the covenant with Jesus instead. Jesus appeared as the pillar of fire and cut the covenant with God the Father who appeared as the pillar of cloud. (Genesis 15:17)

If God the Son cut the covenant with God the Father, then the blessings are guaranteed because the covenant does not depend on man’s performance!

In other words, Jesus took Abraham’s place in this covenant. Jesus was representing man when He crossed the animal pieces with His Father. If Abraham had crossed those animal pieces with God, he would have been held liable if he ever broke the covenant. And we know that no man — other than Jesus — is perfect. So Abraham’s chances of breaking the covenant were very high. And the result of eventually breaking the covenant was certain death! But while man will fail, God cannot fail. And because Jesus cannot fail, God had Jesus stand in Abraham’s place. That’s why the Son of Man cut the covenant with God Almighty.