Joseph Prince - Why Are There Calamities In This World If God Is Love?
Are you ready for the word? Alright, let's go right into the word. Now, today I'm gonna share with you from Genesis to Revelation, okay? No, I'm just teasing. Okay, what I'm gonna do is that we're gonna show you the history of the Bible, especially Old Testament leading to the New Testament, and then you will have an idea what the conflict, the drama, the human drama in the Bible is all about, amen? So, we're gonna start from Genesis chapter 1, alright?
God made everything, and God saw everything that he made, and the Bible says that God saw that it was? Good, I'm gonna, you know, sort of like speed up the process a bit, so we'll skip a few things. And everything that God saw that he made was good, say, "Good". And then, finally, on the sixth day, God made you, God made man. And the Bible says man is the only creation that was made in his image. God saw every day after he made something, he said it was good, but when he made man, he said it was very good, amen.
Then, after he made man, he saw that there was a need for another creation, a revised standard version of man. He made woman. And then the Bible tells us that God put everything under their feet. So, God gave the earth to the children of man. Now, God said to... you got a pair of keys, or some keys? Alright, watch this now, okay? Come, Ben, Benjamin. Alright, let's stand over here, because God is higher. Alright, so God says, "Be fruitful, power over the earth," alright. It's called BMW, alright, Beemer. So, God says have dominion. And when God says have dominion, alright, who has the authority now? Man does, are you listening? What man does with creation will have effects, okay?
So, God says have dominion. Now, who has dominion, the earth he has given to? Man, then along came the devil. I gotta find a good devil. Lawrence, come, okay. He's called the devil of vanity here, alright. Show them how the blue steel look. Yeah, yeah, alright, so, bow one knee. And this is what Adam did. Bow one knee, on one knee, alright. Now, you're not bowing to me anymore. I'm God, right? So, you bow to the devil, right? Okay, and man gave the authority to the devil. Do you understand? Do you know that the devil still, listen carefully, doesn't have full control of the earth, not full control. The earth he has given to man. But the cosmos, the world, earth and world is two different things, alright? It's shown by two different words. Earth is earth, world is world. The Bible calls the devil the small g-o-d of this world. 2 Corinthians 4:4, right?
So, the devil went on a rampage, killing, killing, killing, right? Okay, thank you very much. Now, who has the key? Okay, the devil has the key, okay, keep the key, alright. So, the devil, you see, now let me ask you a question. Why didn't God just come and say, "No, you can't do that"? Why didn't God do that? Come on, talk to me. Why didn't God just stop man and say, "You can't do that," why? Because God has given man free choice, and God gave man the power over the earth. Alright, now watch this. God said after Adam and Eve fell, God said to the devil, this is what God said to the devil. Alright, you were Eve's dropping and Adam dropping on what God is saying to Adam and Eve, and also to the devil.
Now, this part here is to the devil. God says, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her," capital S, Seed. Can you see that? "I will put enmity between", by the way, I really believe that the devil hates women, why? Because the woman's Seed crushed his head. Who is that capital Seed, her Seed? Jesus, so the moment man fell, God prophesied the coming of the Messiah, the Savior of the world, his Son, hallelujah. That's why it's capital S, but we all know that women don't carry the seed, they carry the egg. Men carry the seed, so why he says her seed? God is also prophesying the virgin birth, amen.
So, the virgin birth is prophesied here. So, the devil heard what God said, because God was talking to him, okay? God was talking to him direct. "Between your seed and her Seed," there will be enmity. "He will crush," the word bruise is crush, "Crush your head, and you will crush his heel". Which is better, to have a crushed heel or a crushed head? So, the devil has a form of P-H-D, permanent head damage, alright? So, he's afraid now, because he knows that when this woman's seed comes, he will crush his head, right? He doesn't know whether it's gonna be immediate, when. That tells us something.
And all I'm gonna share right now real quick, panoramic view, I'm gonna show you right now the devil is not omniscient. He is not all-knowing. He does not know all the plans that God has for you. He does not know your future. He does not know the calling of God. Sometimes people think that, you know, the devil's attacking me because of this, of that. No, no, no, he doesn't know. He doesn't know, alright? He knows when you open your mouth and let him know. He doesn't know you're afraid until you tell somebody you're afraid, okay, amen? The devil is always afraid of you. This is a good principle to remember.
Always remember that people might look cool, but there are a lot of fears in their hearts, alright? Deal with them like that, and all the people said? Alright, so, "He will crush your head, you shall crush his heel". So, the devil start looking out for the woman's seed. And immediately who was the woman's seed? Cain and Abel, Eve's sons, Cain and Abel, alright. So, you observe. He cannot know things supernaturally, he must observe the sense realm. He observed, both of them came to God with their sacrifices. Cain brought a vegetable offering, which God rejected. Cain brought the lamb, the blood offering that reminds God of his Son. God accepted him. He says, "Okay, he's the one".
So, before he crush my head, I'm gonna kill him, right? You follow what I'm saying? He doesn't know, isn't it? So, he instigated Cain to kill Abel. Are you with me? So, the drama begins. The whole drama begins. It's a seeking to destroy the seed before the seed comes. Are you with me? The devil wants to destroy the Seed, which is Christ, okay? Then let's follow the story. Go down from after that, Cain, then Eve brought forth another son, Seth, alright, and the Bible tells us the world was populated then, and then there was an eruption of fallen angels. They came down, took on human form.
Now, you find this in the book of Jude. The Bible says they took on human form, and then they married the women of the earth to pollute the seed, the pure seed. Are you with me so far? The devil is after the Seed. And they he says, "Okay, God preserved Noah and his family. It must be one of his sons". Only three sons were, Shem, Ham, Japheth. So, follow the story down. I can go more in detail, but let's go down all the way to God finally selected what? Out of Shem, alright, the Semites, came the Jewish people, right? Abraham was a Shemite, okay?
So, God said, "Abraham, I'm gonna make a covenant with you. Leave your father's house because he's idol worshiping. Leave your family. Come, I'll make a covenant with you, and I'll bless you," and watch the seed again. And in your seed, singular. Galatians bears that out, seed. "In your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed". And the devil says, "Oh, that's the one". He didn't manage with Abraham's family, so he tried, okay, maybe the next generation. I didn't succeed with Abraham, he's too powerful, his covenant is too great, alright, I can't break it. I can't stop it. Maybe the next generation.
Alright, then with Isaac he tried. Then Jacob had 12 sons, right? Anyone here under the sound of my voice with 12 sons? This guy has fecundity. He was productive. And the devil starts looking at his 12 sons, very hard to choose. Who among them? Then the devil saw one had a special gift, so he attacked Joseph. And when he attacks, he does not attack directly as much as he uses human jealousy, human envy, but the devil is the one behind it all. Remember this when somebody comes against you, the devil is so afraid of you, okay? Woah, how are we doing on time, good? Wanna follow the story some more?
Now, of course you know the story. God protected Joseph. The devil thought he was gone, finished, alright, he will rot in Egypt. Ended up number one in Egypt with the favor of God, amen? I'm gonna show you something right now in 1 Peter, something powerful in 1 Peter chapter 1. "Of this salvation," you know we are all saved, right? This wonderful, all-inclusive, compound word called salvation. Salvation involves forgiveness of sins, the gift of righteousness, the gift of eternal zoe life. "Of this salvation the prophets," in the Old Testament that is, "Have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace," the favor, "That would come to you".
So, in other words, even in the Old Testament, the prophets were longing to see you. They were longing to see the generation that would have the grace of God come on them. Because in the Old Testament, grace would come on one, like Noah, one like Joseph, one like David. But the prophets knew that one day there will be a whole generation that would have grace come on them. So, they were searching carefully, and they prophesied of the grace, the charisma, the favor that would come to you. "Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow".
Next, "To them," to the prophets, "It was revealed that not to themselves," oh, very frustrating, yeah? You get visions and dreams, but God says all this blessing is not for you, it's for a future generation. It's for a future generation. It's for you, alright? And, "To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us," Peter said, including himself, "To us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Things which angels desire to look into".
You know, angels are intrigued by the days of our lives, by our glee, by our heroes, and the daily hour-by-hour happening in our 24. They are watching in heaven to see the life drama of Benjamin, of Lawrence. And they are laughing just now when he became the devil. I mean, they are looking into these things. Angels are looking into these things. This fascinates them. They are fascinated by the blood that washed us, because the blood never washed them. When angels fell, God cast them aside. They were not saved. God didn't send his Son to save angels, God sent his Son to save us. To cut a long story short, all the way to David, how come he attacked David later on? David was never attacked until David attacked the devil's servant, Goliath. All these things, alright, it's part the human drama.
Because of time, let's go all the way now from David. By the way, do you know there was a time after David, Solomon, on the kingdom of Judah, the devil knew it's not the kingdom of Israel anymore, it would be Judah. Because the kingdom of Israel split in two after Solomon, alright? Another story there. But Judah was the lion that Jesus would come, because the lion from the tribe of Judah. So, the devil tried to stop the Seed. Do you know there was a time, there was a king, the eight king, Joash. Do you know that all his family, all the royal members of the household of Judah were killed except for one tiny baby? Do you know that? Only one baby left, the baby was Joash.
All the way, we are skipping Jehoiakim, which is another interesting story, all the way down to Jesus. And then Jesus grew up, you know the story, how the devil tried to kill Jesus again and again, and did not succeed. You know, church, if one time the devil succeeded, you and I wouldn't be here today. We wouldn't have the gift of righteousness. What was the purpose, Pastor Prince, what's this whole purpose of Jesus's coming? Why this human drama? Because God wants to give you this. Read with me Romans 5:17. "For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ".
Now, please don't think of reign in life as we will rule in this life. The word "this" is not here, it's not in this life. The idea here is comparison with Adam brought death to reign, Jesus brought life to reign. You got it? It's not reign in this life, that's an English expression. We're talking about death reigning, life reigning. You will reign in the life reigning. And why are we not reigning in life, why? Because we don't receive these two gifts, alright? The word "receive," receive is present perfect, present active participle. Present means it's happening now. Actual occurrence in time, alright? Right now, you must receive.
Now, it's not a salvation verse, listen. Salvation means you receive, you're saved forever, yes, but this word "receive" means every day you gotta keep on receiving the abundance of grace. When you feel guilty, when you feel wrong, you've done wrong, alright? That's the time to say Father, I receive abundance of grace, hallelujah. I receive the gift of righteousness. Present means continuous stance, keep on receiving it. It's not enough to receive it one time. Present active participle. Active means what? You gotta receive it, no one can receive it for you. Active here is like the boy kicked the ball, it's an active participle. The ball hit the boy is passive.
If this is present passive participle, you don't have to do anything, it happens all the time. But if it's present active participle, the boy kicked the ball, you are the boy, you understand? You gotta receive it. It's not enough just to say, "Well, I know you're in my head already". No, every day receive the abundance of grace. Receive the gift of righteousness. Sometimes before a prayer, I'll just say, "Lord, I receive your abundance of grace, your overflowing grace. I receive your gift of righteousness". Actually, stop at the word "gift". Gift of righteousness, hallelujah. Are you with me?
This is my last passage here, and then we'll close. Romans 8, "For the earnest expectation of the creation," all creation, "Eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God". Why are they groaning? "The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly". All creation, "Not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope". The word "hope" is there which means God says there's a confident expectation of future good. Something good is coming your way, Creation, amen? Lion, stop roaring. Monkey, stop swinging, amen? Dog, stop barking, you're about to be delivered. What are they waiting for? "The revealing of the sons of God". The Bible is very clear.
Go back again. "Earnest expectation," I'll close with this. "The creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God". The word "sons" is mature sons. "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of God who subjected it in hope". Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. They are crying out, "Please, please come into your sonship," and a few verses before this, go back, Romans 8. Go back to the spirit of bondage. "You did not receive", it's the same chapter, "You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'"
So, I'm telling you, creation is groaning, travailing in pain, waiting for, head erect, waiting for the sons of God. Not the Son from heaven, but the sons of God. That's why we must possess this sonship spirit. We must have it. We must say sons of God. You go to your plant, okay, and you say, "I'm a son of God," who are? Your plant will start growing. I'm telling you. You should experiment with your plants at home. You know, a small-pot plant, one plant you put on there, the step of your house, "I curse you in Jesus's name," amen? The other one, say, "I'm a son of God," alright. You tell me by the end of the month, just experiment, experiment. Before you curse the growth in your body, curse the plant. Jesus practiced like everyone. No, he didn't practice. He taught us to do that okay, amen? Oh, man, praise God, hallelujah. Thank God, amen. Alright, all across this place, and also everyone watching me right now, say this after me.
Father in heaven, I receive right now the overflowing grace and the gift of righteousness. I cannot be condemned, even though guilty, for I have the gift of righteousness which clears me from all guilt, paid for by the Seed of that woman. The divine Seed has come. He has died to give me this life, a life that reigns, a life that's abundant. Life reigns in my body. Life reigns in my soul, in my mind, in my emotions. Life reigns in my spirit, in my circumstance, all around me. Everyone that touches me, comes close to me, they feel that life, they sense that life, and they get well. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name. Give him praise, hallelujah. Thank you, Father.