Joseph Prince - Kickstart the New Year, Get Back Your Wasted Years (01/26/2026)
Jesus is bodily in heaven at the Father's right hand, yet through the Holy Spirit He's present with us just as powerfully today—no loss in value or power, like changing form from coins to a note. He demonstrated lordship over time (turning water to instant best wine) and space (healing remotely), and as our mercy seat, His blood fully covers our sins, giving us perfect standing before God for answered prayers and miracles that restore wasted years.
Jesus Bodily in Heaven Yet Fully Present Today
You know, the Lord is able, even today He's in heaven. A location, there is a specific place where bodily Jesus is. When He rose from the dead, He didn't rise like a spirit. He rose bodily with a body that is glorified. And the Bible says that one day when the Lord returns for us, your bodies and my bodies will be transformed. This vile body to be transformed to like His glorious body. Philippians tells us that. And we want to be like Him.
So bodily, He's in heaven at the Father's right hand. But in terms of what He can do and accomplish for us, there is no difference. As if He's beside you right now, as He was when He walked by the shores of Galilee 2,000 years ago. When He touched the leper and cleansed him just by the hillside, not far away from the lake of Galilee. Just as when He turned the water into wine. He's the same today.
Because I'm telling you, if I give you two coins of a dollar each, what value do you have now? $2, right? But let's say you return me, you give back to me a paper note of $2. Have I lost the value? I have not. In a different form. One is metal, the other one is paper, right? So when the Lord Jesus says, it's expedient for you that I go away. But when I go away, I will send the Holy Spirit to you. I just want you to know that the Holy Spirit is just like Jesus. He's the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And today, He's resident on earth. He is in you and I.
The only difference is the form. And the form is this. Jesus bodily is at the Father's right hand. And one day, He's going to return for us. But the Holy Spirit is now in us. And He's present with us and active on the earth. Amen? The only thing is that the value is not lost. Because the two coins and the paper note is the same value. But now, Jesus is no more localized like He was when He was in Israel. When He was in Galilee, He can be at one place at one time. Am I right? Right? But the Holy Spirit is everywhere. Amen? And it's the same power of Jesus. He cleansed the leper on the hillside over there. Now He can cleanse lepers everywhere. Amen? And if someone would just reach out, touch Him, believe. Amen? And He's going to do it. Praise the Lord.
Jesus' Lordship Over Time and Space
Even when Jesus was on earth, He demonstrated Himself to be the Lord of time and space. There is no distance. There's no barrier. If you believe the Word of the Lord, even though He's in heaven, alright, at the Father's right hand, today He's with us by His Holy Spirit. Amen? And one day, He will return for us bodily.
Now, how many of you know that when we look at our children, the love we feel for our children, multiply that a hundred times, a thousand times over. We have this love because we were made in His image. Amen? We are but His offspring. So it gives you an idea of what God has for you. Now, if you love someone very much, if you love a spouse or your girlfriend or boyfriend, or you love your child, what is that feature in that person that you love the most? Amen? The cuteness, the lovableness, the charming ways the person does something. Whatever it is, think of this. All beauty comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just like the source is always, the created cannot be greater than the creator. You look at puppies, you look at all the beautiful flowers and all that. These are created. Even our children, they are created. We love them. And multiply that beauty that you see in your loved one a thousand times, 10,000 times over. And that can still not fully describe the beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you got to know that we don't realize how beautiful He is. Can I have a good amen?
And it's always good to invite Him from the beginning of the year into your life. Amen? To walk you through the entire year. Because He has gone ahead. You know, when you invite Jesus to your occasion, whatever it is, there was once in the Bible, in Cana of Galilee, a couple invited Jesus and His disciples to the wedding. And it was a wedding of a wealthy man. We know He's a wealthy man because of the way He lavished His spending on the wedding. In Jewish culture, the father of the bride pays for everything. So obviously, He was a wealthy man, but the wine ran out. It's the most embarrassing thing to have happen when the wine that you are boasting about runs out. And wine is one of the features of celebration in Jewish weddings. Okay?
The Miracle at Cana – Lord of Time in the Best Wine
And the mother of Jesus was there and she went to Jesus and said, they have no wine. And listen, there were six water pots there, right? What were they made of? Yeah, a lot of people say clay. It's not correct. It's six water pots of stone. Jesus said, fill the water pots with water. He was demonstrating something. The six water pots were filled to the brim with water. That's the water that God gave Israel, the nation of Israel, which is a microcosm of all mankind. God gave man the law and man cannot keep the law. So the law was written on stones. This water, like a picture of the law, was put in stone. So that's man. Man cannot keep the law. Amen? And water is not for celebration. In this occasion, it was the wine that ran out.
But Jesus says, show it to the governor of the feast. As the water pots pass by the Lord Jesus, they must have, the water must have blushed in the presence of his master. And by the time he reached the governor of the feast, the one who runs the entire wedding, he realized that after he partook of, he tasted some of it, he says that, whoa! He had to call for the father of the bride, call the bride, call the groom, and said, look, you guys are amazing. Most people will give the guests good wine first. Right? Why? Because when they start drinking and they start getting intoxicated and all that, you can give them anything, they'll drink later on. Because they can't tell the quality anymore, right? Am I right? Yeah, because they are drunk.
But you, you've kept the best wine until now. So not only Jesus turned the water into wine, He turned it into best wine. Now, for you to get wine, you've got to have grapes, right? Grapes come from vine, I don't want to say vine trees, they're not actually trees. In fact, the vineyard is made of clinging vines. And the vine don't exactly have a trunk like a tree. It clings. And the trellis, you can see pictures of this, or you go to, when you travel in Australia or some places, you go to the vineyard, you'll find trellis. And they are shaped like a cross. Usually in the shape of a T. Hallelujah.
And the cross, Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. And you plant your vine tree, and your vine will start growing, your vineyard will start producing grapes, right? But it's not quality grapes, the first few years. For quality grapes, you've got to wait for three, four years. And even then, after three, four years, you don't get good wine. You have to prepare for a few more years for good wine. And then after that, amen, when you have your wine, but to have very good wine, as some of you will know, wine connoisseurs and all that, those who are going to preach your wine, they say that the longer the wine is stored, the better it is. So if a wine is at 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, the value increases.
But then Jesus demonstrated in this wedding that what He did was this. To get good wine, four or five years, then you squish the grapes, you go through the process of fermentation and all that, you get good wine. But even then, really good wine, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years. Very expensive wine now. What Jesus gave to them was, He gave the very, very good wine. In one instance. He compressed time, demonstrating that He is the Lord of time. Amen?
Remote Healing – Lord of Space in the Nobleman's Son
I just want you to know that the Lord said this one time, the second miracle actually, the first miracle of His ministry was turning the water into wine. The second one was actually the healing of the noble man's son. A noble man, the Bible says, came to Jesus, went again in Cana of Galilee. And the Bible says, He said He had a son that was very sick. He wanted Jesus to go with Him to lay hands on His son. Just like many of us say, Lord, if only You would come down, come down to, like when You did by the shores of Galilee, when You cleansed the lepers, will You just come to me and touch me, Lord?
But the Lord said to the man, Go your way, your son lives. And the man is many miles away, you know, where he came from. He had to spend the night there and then proceed to go back home the next day. When he reached home, they shouted to him, the servants shouted, that his son is healed. And the son came out and all that. And he asked when his son was healed. Exactly the same time when Jesus told him the night, the day before, Go your way, your son lives. And he believed. This time, just like the first miracle demonstrates He's the Lord of time, this demonstrates that He's the Lord of space. Alright? The Lord does not need to be physically present with you to touch you or to heal you. Amen?
Justified Freely – The Mercy Seat and the Blood of Jesus
Alright? Romans 3 tells us very clearly, being justified freely. How many of you know that you are justified? Justified is like a play on the words. Just if I'd never sinned. How many of you like to come to God and God treats you like, not that you don't sin, but just as if you have never sinned. Well, justified has the idea you are acquitted. And not only that, there's no reason for God to do that. Alright? But based on the work of Jesus Christ. So for you, it's freely. You don't have to earn it. It's freely. You are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation, big word, I'm going to come to it, by His blood, through faith.
Now what is this propitiation? Propitiation is a word that we don't talk about nowadays, but it is literally in the Greek, which the New Testament is written in. In the Greek, it is the word mercy seat. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat is called hilasterion. Here, it is hilasterion, the Greek word for mercy seat.
Now let me share with you what's a mercy seat. Alright? You can take this, keep it with you, it's going to bless you. You have the confidence that God hears your prayer. Can I have a good amen? Now let's look at the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant, this is how it looks like. Amen? It is made of an oblong wooden chest, if you would. Alright? And the wood is a special wood. It's incorruptible wood. It is a wood that's very sturdy and strong. And it's incorruptible because it is almost immune to every other disease. And God used that kind of wood, acacia wood, to demonstrate the physical humanity of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that is incorruptible.
And then, they're overlaid with gold. You know what? Let me demonstrate to you, okay? There's a video here I want to show you. First of all, the wood. The full humanity of Jesus Christ. The Christmas story. He came as man. Overlaid with gold. Deity. Outside, without, and within. Also inside, overlaid with gold. These are the staves, wood, and overlaid with gold as well. And then, what covers it? The mercy seat. It's made from one slab of gold. The whole thing is chiseled, or beaten rather, into one slab of gold. That's the mercy seat. The mercy seat covers the ark.
If you lift it up, it's an empty box. But there's ingredients, I mean, there are things inside. And predominantly, three things. But for our focus today, because of time, I'm just going to tell you, the main thing it housed is the two stones of the Ten Commandments. The tablets of the Ten Commandments. That's why the ark of the covenant is also known as the ark of the law. The ark of the covenant because of the two tablets of stone that has the finger of God's handwriting, the Ten Commandments.
The Blood on the Mercy Seat – Perfect Covering
And in Exodus 25, it says this, the cherubim shall stretch out their wings, drop down. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark. So, here is the box. It houses the Ten Commandments. Don't forget, this box in the Old Testament is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a visual aid for the children of Israel to understand. He's fully human, wood. He's fully divine, God. As far as you and I are concerned, God says, build a mercy seat and put it right over the ark. Notice the four sides of the mercy seat fully covers the ark that house the Ten Commandments. And God says, never let the Ten Commandments come out. The mercy seat must cover it.
And that's why propitiation is the word mercy seat. In Hebrew, kaporet, which means covering from the word kafar. Actually, it is the third form, third voice, the intense form of the Hebrew kafar. It's not just cover. It's the intensive form of the word, which means fully cover, fully expiate, eternally cover, eternally remove our sins. Because on the mercy seat is where the blood is sprinkled. So the high priest, once a year, on Yom Kippur, day of atonement, he comes in.
He comes in the holy of holies, the very extremely holy place, holy of holies. And he comes before the cherubim and he sprinkles blood on the mercy seat. As long as the blood is on the mercy seat. Amen. So the Ark of the Covenant is also a picture of God's throne, okay? You can come freely. So once a year, to sort of like, reenact this, the high priest goes into the holy of holies. Amen. And he sprinkles blood once on the mercy seat. Once is all that's needed for God. The death of Jesus once and for all, he shed his blood. Amen. It's all that's needed.
Now, before the mercy seat seven times. Why seven? Number of perfection. You and I today, when we come before God, we have a perfect standing. You have a perfect standing. Amen. Not only that, why seven times again? Because we need to be reminded again and again and again that in spite of our sins, in spite of us not having our act all together, we can come to God and we don't look at ourselves. Good things that we have done, all the bad things that we have done, we look to the blood of Jesus.
As long as the blood is on the mercy seat and Jesus has shed his blood, God today, the cherubim is not looking at the broken law. If there's no blood, they will see the law and the law says, if you disobey me, I will curse you. But the cherubim is not looking at the blood and the blood says, you deserve death. You deserve death. You deserve death. You deserve death. Blood is the metonymy of death. Blood means death. Jesus shed his blood. So, the fullest judgment, the curse can exact from sinful man besides disease, poverty, depression, the ultimate is what? Death. That's the final thing, right? Am I right? That's the final thing. The ultimate punishment for man is death.
So, at the cross, when Jesus shed his blood, remember this, God so loved the world. Another thing I must tell you is this, even believers have this wrong. Do you know that nowhere in the New Testament does it ever say that God must be reconciled to man? Never. And that's why Paul says, I preach repentance towards God. Change your mind towards God. He is a good God. God does not need to be reconciled. God does not need... Jesus' death did not put God in a good mood. Jesus' death did not put God in a favourable posture. God was always favourable before Jesus died. Which one came first? Jesus' death or for God so loved the world came first? God loved us even though we were in our sins even before Jesus came. It is the reason why Jesus came. For God so loved the world that He gave. He gave His only Son. because He loved you and I. And His Son died on the cross for our sins. Amen?
Jesus as Our Mercy Seat – Perfect Standing Before God
So the price for our sins has been paid and the blood is now sprinkled on the true mercy seat in heaven. Jesus is our mercy seat. And right now, because of the blood, when you come to God, listen, the only thing the blood of Jesus does in terms of God receiving man is that it makes God righteous in making man righteous in His eyes. God is not merciful in making you righteous because of the blood of Jesus, the holiness of God, all the claims of God's holiness on your life is fully met by the blood of Jesus. There's no more claim on you. It's all fully met. All the claims of the law is fully met in the blood of Christ. Amen. All the obedience God demands from you from the law is fully met in the blood of Jesus.
In other words, the blood of Jesus, when you see what He has done, for God, the only thing is that it makes God righteous. It has a righteous foundation to make you righteous. Can I have a good amen? So, today Jesus is our mercy seat. And no one can remove Jesus from His place. I said no one can remove Jesus from His place. Can I have a good amen?
I'll bring this to a close. Friend, I don't claim to know everything, but I do know the One who loves me, the One who loves you. Amen? And He wants us to put our trust in Him. And when you come to Him, see the blood. Don't see yourself. Don't see your good or even your bad. Don't see yourself. See the blood. The blood is there at the true mercy seat in heaven. Sprinkle on the throne of God. And you have a perfect standing to come before God. And your prayers are not to make yourself feel good, to soothe your soul. Your prayers are to get real, solid, concrete answers from God.
Yes, God is in the business of miracles that transcend time and space. He can do it. God can reverse. In fact, the Bible says God can restore to you the years the locust has eaten. So all the wasted years and wasted time, God can restore it. God can give you new wine. Amen? Man, in an instant, what takes other people laborious work. Amen. Don't envy them. Don't envy them. If they knew the truth, they'll envy you.