Joseph Prince - Hope For The End Times
Authority is the word "Exousia" in the Greek. You know, Jesus, before he went back bodily to the Father after he rose from the dead... And how many is glad He's coming back the same way for all of us, amen? And the time is soon. Jesus, before He went back, on that mountain, He told His disciples, "All power..." Your King James says, "Power," but in the Greek it is, "All authority is given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore". And that's why He says, "In My name, they shall cast out demons. They shall lay hands on the sick and the sick shall recover". So authority is like the policeman who stands in himself. He might be a small, puny guy. He wears the uniform. He might even have glasses on, but he puts up his little hand, amen, and the huge truck has to stop. Why? Because of who he is, his own strength? No, it is exousia. It is authority. He represents authority.
And the truck represents power, but how many know that power always bows to authority? Because behind the policeman is the government of Singapore, and behind the government is the entire military force, the air force, the naval, all the land force. Everything is behind that one policeman, amen? And in fact, his mistake, his error will be not using the authority that is given to him. So likewise for us, you have a bad dream at night or you find that you are being afflicted, amen, you are being hurt, or you know, even the Chinese, they have this saying, you know, like you feel, like, rheumatism coming on.
What is interesting is that in the Bible, the word for evil spirit, or the word for spirit is the word, same word, "ruach" in Hebrew, which means wind. Spirit and wind is the same word in Greek as well as in Hebrew. In Greek, it is "pneuma," like you say pneumatic drill, all right, powered by wind, amen? Pneumatic, pneuma. "Pneuma" is also used for spirit. So they are not wrong. It's like that wind comes and you have that pain, right? Let me tell you what that wind is. It's evil spirit, amen. Evil spirit is what causes that pain, that disease. Now, not everything is caused by evil spirits. Sometimes it is just the wear and tear, amen, as you grow older. Sometimes it's your own fault, you hurt yourself, but sometimes it's an accident. It's not always evil spirit, but God has no disease to give. Every good and perfect gift is from above.
The example of Jesus tells us very clearly in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, everywhere He went, He went around what? Healing. He never goes to a person who is well and say, "Receive some leprosy," all right? The way Christians, some Christian religion, has painted God to be like sometimes He gives you sickness to teach you a lesson. Then how come there's not one example of that in the Bible? And we are talking about the Bible being our authority, amen? He always heals; He never gives diseases. He always supplies, amen; He doesn't take away your supply. And if at times He tells you to give something, as we all know, what you get in return is so much more than what you give. He illustrates this by all the propagation of all the fruit trees all over the world. We look at the abundance of the fruits. We enjoy the fruits around this world and all that but we forget it all starts with a seed. If there's no planting of the seed, there will be no tree.
Think about it, that huge tree comes from a seed. All the genetic makeup, if you would, everything is in that seed. You need to plant that seed. If we learn to give, so much more will come into our lives, amen? Church, we are living in the end times. And if you hear this pulpit these past few months, you've been hearing us talk about the end times again and again. Jesus talks about wars and rumors of wars before He comes back. He talks about great earthquakes in many places. He talks about pestilences or plagues. We're talking about on a global scale, not isolated to one area like an island or one peninsula or one continent. No, global. And now we are coming out, amen, we are still coming out of one plague that is global. But the Bible says in the end times before Jesus comes back, there'll be plagues, plural. There'll be wars and rumors of wars. We have gone through World War I, World War II, and then there are rumors of wars.
Now we are hearing it, wars and rumors of wars. The word "rumors" there doesn't mean it's not true. It means you will hear about it. You hear about it. We are that generation. Great earthquakes is beyond the 6.0 on the Richter scale, amen, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0. These are huge earthquakes. In our generation, we have more great earthquakes than any other generations put alive, all right, put together, that was alive during that time. In one particular century, they had lesser earthquakes than we have. We have great earthquakes in just ten years. In this past 20 years itself, we have more than the past century. So we are seeing more and more signs, and these signs are not from God. God does not send all these bad things, but there is a devil on earth and the story starts from the Garden of Eden, all the way. Because man sinned against God, now sin is in the blood of man. Everyone that's born into this world has sin in their blood, amen. And the Bible says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," amen?
See, everything starts in Garden of Eden. Even the computer starts in Garden of Eden, right? There was an apple. And but it has limited memory, only one bite, and then everything crashed, okay. But contrary to a lot of so-called experts and their opinion, the farther back you go, man did not live in caves. In fact, there are evidences that show great advancement, amen. Even when you look at the Egyptian civilization, you find that they had knowledge of surgery. Even the knowledge of mummification today is a lost art. No one knows how they do it. Think about it. There were surgeries, a brain surgery that they did. They have uncovered that.
So what happened was that there was a tragic, you know, all the accumulation of the, that civilization had, all the technology they had. Even planes, there are pictures of people flying, all right, in planes on the walls of caves and all. So what happened to the cave-dwellers? They came after, after there was a universal catastrophe. It must be of a universal scale for them to lose all the technology, to leave only a group of people behind, all right? And the Bible talks about that. The Bible talks about that. The Bible talks about a flood, a universal flood. And that's why people talk about, geologists tell us that you can find marine life, I mean, not life, their skeletons and what is left of their bodies, right, embedded in the rock in the high Himalayas, for example.
How in the world did marine life find their way all the way up there? There was a universal flood, amen. And for carbon dating to be accurate, all right, for carbon dating to be accurate, like they say, "36 million years ago". How do you know? How do you really know? How do you know it's not 35? And people speak with such certainty, you know, in such a dogmatic way, as if it is so. Let me tell you this. For carbon dating to be accurate, they assume that the whole earth atmosphere is constant back then as it is now, but it wasn't. Before the flood, there were no four seasons. There was only one season, or one season they call it. In fact, the whole earth was covered in something the Bible calls "raqia". God, this is chapter 1 of Genesis, the very first book of the Bible in the very first chapter. It says, "God made the firmament".
Now, in Hebrew it is "raqia". "Raqia" is the canopy around the earth, like a globe. And the canopy made the oxygen, kept the oxygen levels so intense that plants would grow big, huge. Everyone is healthy, strong, and they live long lives. That's why the Bible talks about Adam living 900 over years, you know? You have Seth living hundreds of years. You have Enoch living hundreds of years. You have, until Noah's time. Noah lived hundreds of years. Something happened during Noah's time. There was a flood and the canopy, that firmament, it's a canopy. It's a canopy enveloping the earth. The earth wasn't tilted. The earth was upright. If it's upright, if today the earth is tilt back upright, it'll be 360 days, not 365. But the earth was tilted, why? Because there was a flood and the flood happened. And why did the flood happen? The Bible says that man has corrupted their way through the earth. What happened is that Jesus said one of the signs before He comes back is that there'll be fearful sights in the heavens above.
Now, by the way, Jesus talked about wars and rumors of wars and all that. You know what He tells us to do? Don't be afraid. Do not be troubled. In fact, yesterday I was reading Isaiah, where Isaiah was rebuking the people of God, saying, "Don't be afraid like the Gentiles. They look at the heavens, and they are afraid. They look at the heavens, and they are afraid. Be not like them". In other words, we see all the signs happening. We are not people with no understanding. We have accurate understanding from God's Word. Heaven and earth will pass away, but His Words will never pass away, amen? We have accurate knowledge. We know that Jesus Christ is coming back, amen. And the Bible in the book of Revelation, the very last book of the Bible, tells us that the whole world will see something happen in Jerusalem, and then, wait, even Jerusalem itself ceased to exist. I mean, in a sense it's there, but it ceased to be inhabited since 2,000 years ago when the Romans came and destroyed the temple, amen.
Jesus prophesied that would happen. And that happened, amen, about 40 years after Jesus died, rose again, and went back to be with the Father. Jesus told the Jewish people, the Bible says, "He came unto His own and His own people, the Jewish people, received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become sons of God". And for all of us today who receive Him, He gives us power to become sons of God, amen? And then He says, and then the Romans came and destroyed that place, and that place was devastated for 2,000 years. Mark Twain, all right, the famous author, visited Israel in the early 19th century, and he says, "This is Israel? This is Jerusalem? It's malaria-infested, no one lives there. It's hard to believe it's one upon a time a land flowing with milk and honey". That's the judgment of God. It's a judgment. He's seeing the judgment of God.
But then God says in the end times, the book of Revelation, something will happen in Jerusalem, which means what? Jerusalem will be rebuilt. That means what? The Jews who were scattered to the four corners of the earth will come back to their land. That happened in 1948. Israel became Israel again. And the Bible says this generation will not pass away 'til all these things be fulfilled. We are in the end time, we are the end-time generation. And then something will happen in the book of Revelation. Something will take place in Jerusalem that the whole world will see what happened. Now, this Bible, when that was written, it was in the AD, book of Revelation would probably be after AD 70, probably after the Romans came in and all that, all right? We're talking about the 1st century Christians.
John wrote...John is just a secretary; Jesus dictate to him. He wrote down that something would happen; that the whole world can see something happen in a localized place. Can you imagine how that can happen? Can something happen today somewhere in Singapore or down here, you know, and the whole world can see me preach? Now we know the technology. We understand. So the Bible is more advanced for its day, all right? The people can laugh and say, "This is superstition. Something can happen in one place and the whole world, every tongue, every nation will see something happen". Back then when it was written, they would probably laugh at John. No one is laughing now because we know it's true. The Bible says in the book of Revelation, "Man will identify one another with numbers". Nowadays, they don't even call your name, you know? They don't say, "Acao, you're next," right? They call you number 23, amen. Your security is in your number, not in your name.
So we are in the end times. We are in the end times and something will happen. Jesus says, "As the days of Noah were". He specified the days of Noah. "As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be". There are two persons that Jesus says in the end times will be like the times of Noah and the times of Lot. Lot lived in Sodom, all right? As the days of Lot and as the days of Noah, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. In other words, the world will be like the conditions then. But today I'm not talking about Lot, I'm talking about Noah. Noah, what happened was that at this time, the Bible says there were angels, fallen angels, okay? By the way, angels can take on human form and look like you. Yes, there are Chinese angels. There are Indian angels, amen? There are American angels. If they want to take on human form, they can.
Remember in the book of Hebrews, it says, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for some have entertained angels unaware". That means they can take on human form for a purpose, amen, to deliver a message to protect you or whatever and then disappear, amen. I could describe to you in my own life one or two instances, amen, and in people's lives and all that, how at the right time, all right. Even recently my wife will tell you how we were stuck deep in a forest, quite deep in a forest, and out of nowhere someone came. We were stuck, surrounded by mad dogs, amen, and someone came in all the way to us and brought us out on a motorbike, a Chinese man. After that, you see him no more, all right? Chinese angel. Of course, every morning I wake up, I see an angel. Come on, amen. At least I think so, lah? You are an angel from above. All right, all right, praise God.
Anyway, what happened is that the Bible says that fallen angels took on the form of humans to cohabit with the women on earth, amen? In a way, they were also, in a sense, forced against their own will. You can say it's rape, all right? What the fallen angels did was something very evil that the Bible says today these fallen angels are kept in chains of everlasting darkness in a place in hell called Tartarus, a prison place in hell. These angels today are no longer around, okay? They are bound, so women, breathe. However, the days of Noah is upon us in that there are alien beings. They are actually fallen angels. Many of the demons, we talk about demons, they are actually fallen angels, amen? And they try to make it appear like they are beings from another planet. They are not. They are fallen angels. These angels that cohabit with the women, they produce giants. We have a verse here that says, "There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward".
So before the flood, in those days of the flood, "and also afterward," means after the flood there was another eruption, "when the sons of God..." Now, this word "sons of God" here, in the Hebrew, if you study it carefully it refers to angels. And fallen angels, not the good angels, amen. "They came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown". And next verse says they are very wicked. "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually".
So these angels cohabit with the women on earth and they produce giants, so that's why whenever you hear about giant skeletons and all that, this is real. There were giants on the earth, and that's where all the mythology, the Greek mythology of Cyclops and giants and all that came about. Usually truth becomes perverted down through the centuries, amen, and what you have is mythology, but it's based on truth. Even the epic of Gilgamesh, a very ancient, you know, writing talks about a universal flood. Even in the annals of Chinese history talks about universal flood. Amen. And it's very clear that something happened, that God's heart was grieved. Human beings were not complete human beings anymore. There was one family, it was so corrupted, the eruption was so widespread that flesh has corrupted its way all through the earth, that finally only one stock of human race was left: Noah; Mrs. Noah; his three sons: Shem, Ham, Japheth; and their wives. Eight people in a boat.
That's why the ancient Chinese character for "boat" has eight strokes, you look carefully, or dots, whatever you wanna call it. Eight in a ship, and the news spread all over the earth, 'cause once upon a time there was one language, and it's Chinese. No, it's not, it's not. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. All right, the Chinese language came out of it of course. But there were eight people. And that's why, listen carefully, God preserved Noah, not because he's especially holy, all right. The rest all corrupted. This is a pure human stock. And God put him in the earth because God wanted to depopulate the earth, but God destroyed the entire, these hybrid creatures, and nephilim, and all that, all right, by a flood, by a universal flood. Do you understand that? But God preserved the human race, praise God, amen. What the devil was out to do was to destroy the seed that was promised. When the devil tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, all right, and Eve fell, Adam fell also. Adam ate the fruit and all disobeyed God. And the devil heard the promise of God, the very first prophecy of the Bible. God says, "From the woman's seed".
Now, woman don't have seed. Man has the seed, but it's a prophecy of the virgin birth. "From the woman's seed will come a Champion and He will crush your head. Out of the woman's seed, the woman's seed will crush your head," God told Satan. So from then on, he was, he didn't know. The devil is not all-knowing. Our God is. The One who dwells in you, the Holy Spirit, He's all-knowing. The devil is not, but he has been around for a long time. He understands human nature. He knows how to get you. The devil hates you, my friend, because you are made in the image of God. Don't think for one moment he offer you something without snapping down the trap, and he has you where he wants you to be. He hates you. He comes to steal. Jesus says he comes to steal from you, steal your health, steal your relationship, steal your peace of mind. He comes to kill and then he comes to destroy. Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly". Amen, church?
So what happened? God flooded the earth and God... I have a sermon called, "Noah: The Real Story". It's a good sermon for you to get if you wanna find out more about this, that people think that, you know, Noah brought in all the big animals because of space in Noah's ark. No, my friend. All the animals came in young, male and female. All of them came in young. And you know, the dogs, not every species of dogs, because all the species of dogs can be proven to come from one pair of dogs. Within their genes are all the different Dalmatians, and you know, you have the different types of dogs and all that. All that comes from one pair, amen. So God brought them in. Oh, but the largest animals, even the dinosaurs, right? If dinosaurs were destroyed in the flood, many of them were destroyed in the flood, but if there were dinosaurs after the flood, they would come in small, amen. I personally believe they were destroyed outside Noah's ark. Pastor, what about the largest animal? What largest animal? The whale. That's a problem.
How can Noah bring the whale in the ark? They swam outside, bro. All the marine animals, all the fishes were outside. It was their happy hour, all right? It wasn't judgment on them, amen? So, and then God promised, when Noah came out of the ark... by the way, animals, some people say, "Wah, that whole Noah's ark thing must stink badly, man". No, you see, listen, friend, it's only one pair of each, and not only that, animals can hibernate. They can hibernate for months. They don't have to eat much. And especially when there's danger, they can make themself hibernate. They don't need to move much. They don't have to eat much. Are you following what I'm saying so far? And Noah was in the ark only four months, amen. And then from this, right, when they came out of the ark, Noah and his family populated the entire earth once again. But the Bible says what? "There were..." verse 4, "There were giants in those days, and also afterwards". "Afterwards" means what? There was another eruption. They're not supposed to, the fallen angels not supposed to, all right, but there was another eruption.
So these two group of angels now, they are no more on earth. They are now chained in darkness, but until another eruption after the flood. And this eruption, God promised He would never flood the earth again, right? So how? God promised Noah He would never again flood the earth. I think the devil was jumping and said, "Let's cause the fallen angels to cause another outbreak, a hybrid of giants, half-human, half..." And this time, God says He will never flood the earth again, but then God raised Israel. And through Joshua and especially David, He destroyed all the Amalekites and Anakims and all that. These are actually hybrids. And that explains...people don't understand why the violence, why God commanded David to destroy this entire village, for example. They were not complete humans. There was a hybrid. They live, Goliath is a good example. Goliath was so tall, so huge. Some of them have twelve, like, extra fingers, extra toes. Remember that?
"Og, King of Bashan, they're all descendants of the giants". And who was called? God cannot flood the earth again, but God raised David to destroy them, hence the story of David and Goliath. But are they still around, "Pastor Prince? Don't look around. Some people are just tall, amen"? But I'll tell you this. "As the days of Noah are, so the days of the coming of the Son of Man". So in other words, we look at the skies and people will, the Bible says Jesus says they will see things in heaven, fearful sights in heaven, and they cannot explain. Now they are trying to explain by calling it unidentified flying objects, okay? They are nothing more than demons in the sky, demons trying to tell you that there's another world, and there are other galaxies, and there are other beings, aliens living in all these planets. And Hollywood, instead of Holy Word... You must get your truth from the Holy Word, amen? Hollywood will bombard you with all kinds of alien shows and all that so that even the Rapture is explained away. They've got a movie last time called "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers".
So when we disappear, the Bible says it will happen so fast in an atomic second. No one will see us go. It's not like, "Hey, bro," amen? When I get raptured, I'll grab a few sinners. One hand here, one hand here, pull them up halfway and then says, "Will you accept Jesus or I let go"? It won't happen like that. It will happen so fast. Before you know it, your body is changed. You'll feel so alive and you will never grow old again, never have any sickness again, never feel bored again, never feel depressed again in that body. You cannot feel those things because you are now in that brand-new body, forever young, forever healthy, amen. We are waiting for that to happen. That's call the Rapture of the church. Jesus is coming back, and the only thing left for us that He bought for us at the cross is a brand-new body. Is a brand-new body.
Smile at your neighbor and say, "There's hope for you, bro". There's hope for you, amen? Turn to another neighbor beside you and say, "There's hope for your face". I'm just kidding, okay? If I have...I say I don't have the power of healing. If I have the power of healing, would I look like this? I'd lay my hand on my face. Don't laugh so loud. I'll lay my hand on your face also maybe, amen? So the power is not resident, it's not at our will, amen. We cannot will healing. Only God can heal, but we can represent Him, and that's why we use the name of Jesus. When Jesus spoke to the Gadarene demoniac, he was so possessed with evil spirits, demons spoke out of him. Jesus only had to speak one Word, "Go"! and all the demons left. You and I have to add. We gotta say, "Go in Jesus's name". And the authority of Jesus's name is what makes the whole thing work, amen?
Now, if I write a check to you and I put down there, "One million dollars," in my bank account right, and Joseph Prince, amen, you take that money and you rejoice. Don't rejoice, my friend. It will bounce. Why? Even though my name is there, it's not a matter of my name. It's a matter of what? How much money I have behind this name. Am I right? Am I right? Now, supposing the richest man, all right, in Singapore would write you a check and you know his name, amen? You can rejoice. It's not just the name. It is what's behind the name. Jesus says, "All authority in heaven and on earth is given unto Me. Go ye therefore. Therefore. Use My name," because all authority is behind the name of Jesus. If Jesus has all authority, Satan has how much? Zero, amen? Are you learning, church?
So what happened is, until the flood happened, there was no rain. There was no rain on the earth, all right? Today generation, you ask them, I mean, back then you ask them, "You know what's rain"? They don't know what's rain. Rain never fell until the flood, amen. Today's generation don't know what's rain. They think rain is a person, a dancer, you know? But back then, they don't know what's rain. God says, "I'll rain upon the earth". But where will the rain come? From the canopy, the firmament, the Bible says, right? The firmament were broken and waters came in. And that's why before the flood they would live hundreds of years. Adam lived to 900 over years, and Seth, hundreds of years, Noah even hundreds of years. But when the canopy, it was a canopy protecting the earth from all the harmful rays of the sun and all that.
That was broken and the Bible says water fell in, all right, into the earth. And from the depths of the earth, water gushed out, and that's where the floodwaters get its waters from. That for it to be removed, condensation alone is not enough. God has to tilt the earth, and that's why the earth is tilted, giving us 365 1/2, or a bit more, days. If the earth is upright, it's exactly 360 days. That's why the Jewish people, until today, their calendar is 360 days. It's based on the original calendar. Ours is tilted. The earth is tilted to congeal, "congeal" means to ice up, all the excess water, North Pole and South Pole. Do you know, for the first time, because it's tilted, the distance from the sun, you have four seasons. If you tilt the earth back, the whole earth will flood again. But God promised the earth will never flood again, amen? The earth is exactly where it's supposed to be.
Scientists tell us, not thousands of miles, okay, not even hundreds of miles, just a few miles nearer to the sun, we will burn. Just a few miles away from the sun, we will freeze. We are exactly where we are supposed to be. You tell me there's no God? The Bible says, "The fool has said in his heart there is no God". So all men sin, and God was preserving the line for His Son to come through, the promised Champion, the Crusher of the serpent's head. And finally, Jesus died on the cross. Jesus came and the devil lost, amen. Praise the Lord. Jesus came to die. He is the only one who came to die. He died for our sins, amen. On that cross, God took your sins. Jesus had no sins of His own. He never knew any sin. He never did any sin. In Him is no sin, amen.
And the Bible says that the life of the flesh is in the blood, written, listen, written 3,500 years ago when Moses was a secretary and God wrote through him the book of Leviticus. And the book of Leviticus says the life of the flesh, the life of the human body is in the blood. That means if you lose your blood, you lose your life. And that's how George Washington died, because in those days, and he's the first President of US, they believe in bloodletting. Whatever disease you have. You even have sore throat. He had actually a throat condition, but they believed that you let go your blood, all right, you let go the disease. Unfortunately, you let go too much, you die. In the same room, there was a Bible where he died. The Bible says in the book of Leviticus, "The life of the flesh is in the blood," amen?
One of the oldest books of the Bible, before Jesus came in human form, all right, Isaiah talk about the circle of the earth long before man knew earth was round. In fact, even until as recently as a few centuries ago, amen, man thought that you go by ship far enough you will drop, so no one dared venture further, amen. But the Bible is more advanced than all of them put together from the time of Prophet Isaiah. More than 2,000 years ago, the Bible says, "The circle of the earth". Job, the oldest book in the Bible, says, "God hangs the earth upon nothing". They used to think Atlas carries, a man called Atlas, a giant, carries the whole thing on his back. Another group believes a turtle carry the whole thing on its back. Bible says, "He hangs the earth upon nothing".
The oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, tell us that. Tells us that man will identify each other by their hands, their fingerprints, long before fingerprints were detected as a means of identification because it's unique. No one will ever have your set of fingerprints ever. You are unique. God made you special. Don't let anyone make you a face in a crowd. You are not. God sees you individually. He numbers the hairs of your head individually. No hair also, he knows the number zero. God knows you personally. Can I have a good amen? Okay, I wanna share with you real quick a principle of studying the Bible before we close, okay? Are you with me so far?
All right, let's look at the principle of Bible names, all right. Names in the Bible carry meanings. Now, after this service, all right, please don't go and change your name. You don't have to change your name. In the Bible days, God even changed people's name because there is a meaning for their life, for their purpose, but if you wanna study and find more truth in the Bible, sometimes it is not out there on the surface. You can't see the truth. But if you study the names, it can yield rich profits for you as you study God's Word. So one of the principles, and I find, I was quite astounded by the fact that many people who teach the study of the Bible, they don't teach the significance of names in the Bible, okay? There's one chapter I'm gonna show you, a case in point.
And you know, God showed this to me in the early 1990s. I wasn't even married yet at that time. And since then, this has gone far and wide, but let me just share with you real quick, okay? There's a chapter, for example, there's no redundant chapter or verse in the Bible. Everything is there for a purpose. Like if you read Genesis chapter 5, the first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 5, you'll find this. It tells us, the first man, "All the days that Adam lived was nine hundred and thirty years; and Adam died. Seth, Adam's son, lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred seven years, and had sons and daughters," and then he died. And then Seth brought forth some more, all right? Kenan and all the rest, and Mahalalel, and followed on all the way (this is chapter 5 alone) all the way to Noah. And Noah it stopped. Because why? At Noah's time was when the flood came. Amen?
And after Noah's generation, by the way, there's also a man called Peleg. His name is called Peleg because in his day, the continents were divided. His name means division. And you look carefully at South America, you look at Africa, you can join them together, even the top also, which means once upon a time the whole earth was one land mass. So earth, the bottom was, during the flood and all that, it broke apart, releasing poisonous gas. The firmament, the "raqia" in Hebrew, was broken. The canopy that protected man from the harmful rays of the sun was broken. And that's why after the flood, instead of hundreds of years, man's life became halved, and then another halved, all the way until what God said to Noah, "Man's days will be 120 years". And then in our day and age it's come all the way to you live 70, 80, it's pretty good already.
But you know the Bible says that those people who are under God's wrath in Psalms 90, those who are under God's wrath, the people who are in the wilderness, and the word "wrath" is used more than one time, so specifically it's for the people who are under God's wrath, they live 70 years, and by reason of strength, 80 years. But we are not under God's wrath. We are under God's grace. Through Jesus Christ, we are under God's favor, under God's grace. We'll never be under God's wrath. Are you hearing? We don't live in Psalms 90. We live in Psalms 91, and Psalms 91 says, "With long life I will satisfy you". You're not satisfied at 80 years old, tell the Lord, "I'm not satisfied," go on to 90, and 90 to 100 if you want, amen. The criteria is your satisfaction. God says, "With long life I will satisfy him," amen? Not excited? Angels taking down notes, you know? Those who say amen, God take down notes, you know? "With long life will I satisfy him". Praise God, amen?
So everything goes back to the original plan, back to Eden. You wanna learn God's plan, it's always good, amen, to follow God's plan. For example, if you make a car, you manufacture a car and all that, and you try to put orange juice into the place where you're supposed to put petrol or fuel, right, it won't work. Put any other liquid, it won't work. You can argue it's not politically correct, it's more correct to put orange juice, I don't care how you argue it. The way it's functioned must go back to the manufacturer's handbook. He knows how it functions best. You wanna learn what man, woman is all like...are to be like, go back to Garden of Eden. God made man and woman, male and female. There's no confusion.
Can I speak a word to the men? To be a male is a matter of birth. To be a man is a matter of choice. In these last days, don't let anyone rob you of your masculinity. Be a man and don't be ashamed. Be a man. Take responsibility. Protect your woman. Protect your children, amen. Be responsible, amen. Don't cower, amen. Even if you are afraid, amen, do it. Do it afraid. Protect your family, amen. If your wife needs to win the argument, let her win. Be a man. Be a man. Don't be ashamed to be a man, amen. Teach our children to be a man. Teach them, the moment they come to puberty, teach them how to care for the opposite sex, care for them. And women, you don't lose. Your femininity becomes maximized when you allow the man to become man. And all women want their man to be man. And God made them male and female. God wasn't confused, amen? Amen! Amen. God bless you, bro.
Like Eve, one time she was confused. She asked Adam, "Do you love me"? Adam looked at her, "Who else"? That night he woke up. He felt something hitting his chest. It was just Eve counting the ribs. You will get it tonight. You'll get it. You'll get it. To count, lah, any more missing once or not. So the whole chapter, I keep forget. The whole chapter is about names. So when you read it, you say, "What is God trying to say? What is the revelation here"? But once you see the names and the meanings, it's so beautiful. So the names start with Adam, the first man, all the way down to Noah when the flood came. But look at the names, okay? I save you the entire reading of chapter 5. Adam, his name means "man," all right? Adam brought forth Seth. Seth brought forth Enosh. Enosh brought forth Kenan. Kenan brought forth Mahalalel. Mahalalel, you can see God's name there, right? "El," God's name, you see that. Jared, he brought Jared. Jared brought for Enoch. Enoch brought forth Methuselah, all right? Methuselah. From Methuselah came Lamech. Lamech, Noah. We end with Noah.
So this whole chapter 5 is just so-and-so, Adam lived hundreds of years. By the way, Adam lived to a very, I mean, 900 over years, but do you know the oldest man that ever lived, I mean, recorded in the Bible? The oldest man that ever lived is Methuselah. And you know what his name means? When he dies, it will happen. When he dies, it will come. What will come? The flood, the judgment. God said, "When this boy dies..." when Methuselah came forth, all right, notice that he came forth from Enoch. No wonder, "Enoch walked with God and Enoch was not". He had a personal rapture because he had a revelation of his son's name. God said, "Call your son Methuselah," which means, "When he dies, then the judgment will come".
And you know what? You know what? Every time this boy coughed, he fell sick, the whole place is like, "Whoa". I mean, they're... all right? When he entered his teen years, every time he hurt himself, "Don't die, don't die, don't die," because when he dies, the judgment will come, all right? Do you know he's the longest living man, 969 years I think it is, 969 years. He lived longer than Adam. What does that tell you about God? God, even though God has to execute justice, His heart is love. You know, if God doesn't execute justice, if there's no justice, civilization will fall apart, amen. The nation will be destroyed, all right? The fabric of our society is law and order. Evildoers must be punished, amen, so that it's not propagated, amen. So God has to execute justice on sin, but God's heart is love. And God says, "When this boy dies, the judgment will come," and God made him live so long.
What does that tell you about God? He is very patient. He's not willing that any should perish, amen. I can just see the angels asking, "Is it time yet, God, to send the judgment? Is it time yet"? God says, "Wait, I believe they'll turn around. Wait". God always waits. He believe the best of man. Only when finally all the resources are exhausted, then the judgment comes and this boy became the longest living man. Don't you know, my friend, the goodness of God leads you to repentance, amen? Okay, then we have, look at all the names again, Noah. Okay, so Adam, let's look at the meaning of the names. Adam means "Man". Seth means "Appointed". Enosh means "Frail" or "Mortal". Kenan means "Sorrow".
I told you just now, Mahalalel has the name of God, "El," like Joel, right? Mahalalel means "The Blessed God". Jared, or Yared, Jared means "Shall come down". By the way, the River Jordan in Israel, Jordan come from this word, "Jared," Yarden, Yared. Yared means "The descending river," all right? The River Jordan starts from the highest peak, the highest mountain of Israel, Mount Herman, and goes down right into the Dead Sea, the lowest place on planet Earth. It's a picture of descending, amen? So here it says Jared shall come down. That's the idea. Enoch means "Teaching". Methuselah, his name means "His death shall bring". Lamech means "Powerful". Noah's name means "Rest".
Now, look at this. Is there a message? People, is there a message? Yes, it's the gospel, the love story of God written in blood for you and I. Look at this. Man is appointed what? Mortal sorrow. Every time, ever since man sinned, man is appointed mortal sorrow, but the Blessed God shall come down, teaching. Who is that? Jesus, very good. He shall come down teaching. His death will bring powerful rest. Hallelujah! That's the message. Man is appointed mortal sorrow, but the Blessed God shall come down teaching, His death shall bring powerful rest. Can you believe that every one of these names is in one chapter? Chapter 5, starting from Adam all the way to Noah. So God hides meaning in names.
Many years ago, I was fascinated by the story. And again, in the '90s. This was in the '90s. I remember my wife and I, we just got married. We had a one bedroom, one hall. Didn't have much at that time. And didn't have a table for me to study at, so I had throw cushions, and I'd sit on the floor, and that's where I did my studies, my Bible all around me. At that time, God spoke to me what I'm about to share with you. I asked God for a secret. By the way, the theme of this year is what? Rest and acceleration. And I was asking God about David bringing the ark, because God said this to me down there. God said to me, "Will you bring Jesus back to the church"?
I really thought that if I preached Jesus-centered sermons, I'll lose the church, you know, I'll only have a few people. Because back then, I didn't know how to preach Christ-centered sermons. A lot of sermons were not based on Christ. God says, "Bring Jesus back to the church," and I said yes to Him, amen. The rest is history, amen. So one of the things I was intrigued by is the story of David. I've always been interested by the story of David, and David brought back the Ark. Remember the Ark of the Covenant is a picture of Jesus Christ? I won't go into that. It's a picture of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. And he wanted to bring Jesus back to the city of David, the church, okay?
So the first time he brought it back, amen, he did it wrongly, all right? He did it in a way that's unscriptural. He did it the way the Gentiles did it. The Philistines, when they captured the Ark, and that's another message altogether. No one can capture the Ark, right? And the next day, all their idols fell before the Ark. It's a picture of when the true Ark was captured in the Garden of Gethsemane, all of them fell down when He says, "I Am". Okay, so the enemies were afflicted with plague after plague after plague. Then finally they said, "I think it's got to do with the Ark". Intelligence. And then they said, "We'll send it back to Israel". So when they sent it back to Israel, they sent it on a bullock cart, which is not the way the Ark is supposed to carry. And God allowed it because they didn't know any better. They were Philistines. They didn't have the Bible that you and I have. But David has no excuse. He has the Bible. And this is what happens when you miss reading your Bible, you start doing things the way the world does it.
So he saw that the Ark came back on a bullock cart, so he also decided to put the Ark on the bullock cart to bring it back to the City of David. The question is what? How to bring Jesus back to the church, right? And he put it on a bullock cart, and guess what? The oxen stumbled, a man called Uzzah steadied the Ark, and he died. Now, "Uzzah" means what? Man's strength. Man's strength. And let me tell you this, God doesn't want man's strength. If you have some strength, to the extent you have that strength, amen, you have 15% strength, God can only have what? Eighty-five percent strength released in your life. His strength, amen? Half your strength, only half His. No strength, He becomes all your strength. You cannot get saved by your own works. You get saved by the blood of Jesus. Can I have a good amen?
The blood of Jesus is the only way, amen, that you can enter heaven. Without a shedding of blood, the Bible says there's no forgiveness of sins. So I was studying this, and Uzzah died. By the way, his name "Uzzah" means "his strength". Uzz is strength, like that Israeli invented the machine gun, Uzi. It means strength. "Uzzah" means "his strength". So the idea of strength dying, God doesn't want strength in His ministry. He wants you to be at rest. He wants all the glory to be His, His strength working. But Pastor, aren't you putting strength preaching right now? No, no, it's His strength flowing in and through me. If it's my strength, you don't wanna hear me, amen. It's His strength I depend on. Okay, so Uzzah died, so David was afraid to bring the Ark to the City of David, so he put it in the house of a man called Obed-Edom, and this is what happened, the Bible says. "So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him to the City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom". Say "Obed-Edom". "The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household".
Now, I'll close with this. Doesn't tell us how God blessed Obed-Edom, we just know that the Ark was in the house of this man called Obed-Edom. Just remember his name, "Obed-Edom," okay? Obed-Edom. And the Ark was in his house for three months, nobody died. By the way, when the Ark of the Covenant was carried in the wilderness, nobody died, 40 years. When David did it wrong, just a few feet, Uzzah died. Forty years, no one stumbled and died. When you do things God's way, you get God's kind of results. You do things man's way, you get man kind of results, which is usually death. Joseph Prince - The Secret Of Obed-Edom's Blessings]So how did God bless Obed-Edom[/url]? Now, it was obvious that his blessing was visible. His blessing was palpable. Why? The next verse says, "It was told King David, saying, 'The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him,'" his wife, his children, his dog, his cat, his flock, everything.
By the way, Josephus, not me, Josephus, this is Joseph. That one is the first. He came before me. Josephus, the historian, the Jewish historian said the way God blessed Obed-Edom is that when the Ark first came to his house, he was a very poor man, but in three months he became a very wealthy man. But it's obvious it's not just wealth. Obviously, "All that belongs to him" means his wife, his children. They all became brighter, smarter, sharper, more beautiful, healthier, strong. In fact, they are so strong, the Bible says that all his sons serve in the tabernacle later on, and it says God has blessed him, okay? So it was so visible, so palpable that David became jealous. He said that, "No, I don't want this blessing to be confined to one man's house. I want it to come to the City of David so that everyone in Israel can experience it". Got it? Amen?
So this time, he did it right. He put it on the shoulders, which means during this three months, David was studying the Bible. Are you studying the Word of God? So he realized the Ark must be carried on the shoulders of the Levites, amen? So I said, "What was the key of Obed-Edom's blessings"? So I looked at the verse before that. Doesn't say what he did that brought the blessing. Doesn't say, right? So I'm left with the name, Obed-Edom. So what is "Obed"? "Obed" in Hebrew means "servant". What is "Edom"? Edom is a person's name, descendent of Esau. "Edom" means "red man," like Adam. See, the word "dam" is there. But you go deeper through the etymology of the name "Edom," you will find the word "blood". Like in Jewish people they say "Adam," blood is "dam," all right? It is not like Adam is dumb. Here, all right, take this fruit. "Okay, lor". It's not that he is dumb. "Adam" means "red blood man," red-blooded man, amen. The word "dam" in Hebrew.
So you have Edom. Edom means what? Blood, servant of the blood. Like a flash, I saw it. God blessed him because he knew the value of the blood of Jesus. He knew that it is not by human effort, it is by the blood. And not only his name confirms that, the surrounding other, David came back the second time to take the Ark to the City of David. This time, the first time, you don't have this sacrificing of animals where blood is shed, but this time, every sixth pace, they stop and sacrifice animals. Picture of the blood. The Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Every sixth pace, they sacrifice blood. So that confirmed to me that the secret of the blessing of Obed-Edom is his valuation and appreciation of the blood of Jesus Christ, amen. If you value the blood of Jesus, you know that without the shedding of His blood, there is no forgiveness.
But you know what? The blood has been shed and we are forgiven of all our sins. We have access into the Holiest that the priests don't even have access to. And only the high priest once a year. Once a year, once in the year, right, on a special day, which just passed a few days ago, Yom Kippur. Jewish people celebrate it, Yom Kippur. And during the Bible times, it was only that day the high priest goes in with the blood of animals. We, better sacrifice, better blood. For them, the blood of animals covered their sin from year to year. Jesus's blood removed our sins once and for all. Amen, church? Are you blessed? So I found the secret. Where? In the name, amen? And then not only in the name, but also in what David did. Every sixth pace, he sacrifice blood. Praise the name of Jesus. And all the people said amen.
So when you apply the blood of Jesus in your life, when I board the plane wherever I go, and you know you're all gonna go for holidays, right? All right, it's called revenge holiday, amen? We're all going for holidays. Every time I board a plane, you know what I do? You'll see me touching the plane, amen? You know what I do? I say, "I cover this plane with the blood of Jesus". That's why I don't believe Christians who say that, "It's your time to go, it's your time to go. Your time to die, you die". I don't believe that. The Bible says there are things that you do can shorten your life. There are things that you don't do or do that can prolong your life. Sin, for example, shortens your life. I really believe that.
The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death". In other words, every time you sin, a few more years taken off, a few months taken off. We do not know. That's why we pray. We come take Communion to restore the life so that it's extended, so that with long life, with long life God satisfies you, amen? Every time you come to church, you live, you know? 'Cause it's a new and living way, amen. So I'll plead the blood of Jesus every time I board a plane, amen? So people say, "It's your time to go, your time to go". I don't believe that. What if you fly in a plane and it is the pilot's time to go? It's not your time, but it's the pilot's time. Sorry, bro, you are going. All right, doesn't make sense, right? But I know because I put the blood of Jesus on the plane, that plane is safe. Not because of me, but because of the blood, amen.
Now, it's your time to go, but you won't go because I'm on board. It's not because of me, the blood of Jesus, amen, that I put my trust in. I've seen this again and again. I used to live in a rented place one time and there were bees at night attacking that place. My daughter was very small at that time, and just rented it for just a short stint. I didn't know it was, like, a lot of bees in that area and all that. The bees came in, so she would complain she can hear buzzing. And we heard ourselves, so I walked the floor and I put the anointing oil at the window, and I said, "I draw a blood line of Jesus across my daughter's bed," the bed area. There's a small balcony there where the bees come in. The next day after I did that, my wife is there, we all saw this, bees dead along the line. Many bees dead. They cannot cross in. And I'll tell you this, the blood of Jesus, amen. The blood of Jesus. All that came in through the fall, the blood of Jesus has reversed, amen? Our sins are forgiven not according to how good we are. We can never be that good, amen. Not according to how much works we have done. It's forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ. And all the people said amen. I'm gonna let you go right now. Praise the Lord. Are you blessed?
Okay, every head bowed, every eye closed. Sometimes I feel like saying, "Every eye bowed and every head closed". That's not good, isn't it? Okay, every head bowed, every eye closed. Just a moment, if you've never received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, I believe you have heard the good news, how much God loves you. And God sent His Son to die for your sins, amen, and Jesus has done just that. On that cross, He became sin with your sins that you might become the righteousness of God in Him. So if that is you wherever you are right now, pray this prayer with me, amen. You can start a brand-new life, a life living in His forgiveness, in His grace, in His love from now on, amen? Looking to the future with hope, amen? Not with pessimism, not with depression, but with hope. If that is you wherever you are, you wanna put your faith in Jesus Christ, I wanna help you. Pray this prayer with me right now. Say:
Heavenly Father, I confess Jesus Christ died on that cross for all my sins. He bore my judgment and His precious blood has washed me from all my sins past, present, and future. Completely washed by the blood of Jesus. And on the third day, You raised Him from the dead. He's alive today. His victory over death is my victory. Thank You, Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord now and forever. In Jesus' name, amen.
Praise the Lord, child of God. And that is what you are right now, child of God. If you prayed that prayer, old things in your life have passed away. You're a brand-new creation now, amen? Stand to your feet. And that's why we call our church New Creation Church, amen? I'm gonna release you to jump on the bouncy castles, okay? Praise the Lord. Lift your hands all across this place.
This coming week, the Lord bless you and your families. The blood of Jesus covers you and your families. The Lord keep you and your loved ones through His blood from every sickness, from accidents, harm, danger, from all the powers of darkness, and from the power of the evil one. The Lord make His face to shine on you, be favorable to you. He lift up His face, smile on you throughout this week, and grant to you and your loved ones His shalom peace, health, and wholeness, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all the people said amen.