Kenneth Copeland - God's Ways Can Be Known
— Hello everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is The Word of Faith broadcast. Amen.
— Amen. Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast, but it is the Word of Faith which we preach, glory to God. And I must say this. I have to say this from time to time, Greg, because well, we just went through a wild experience here in the Fort Worth, Dallas area. Well more in Fort Worth even than in Dallas. It just, as it came off of the North Pole, it just began to center up in the center of Texas.
— All the way down.
— And anyway, I mean, miracles. In actual temperature, it got to four below zero in Fort Worth, Texas. I'm not talking about wind chill. I'm talking about below zero. People who live and walk by faith, we never have to change our lifestyle because of the time.
— No.
— We go through things by faith. We keep the joy of the Lord. I don't care what happens. Amen? And we just keep, and we have miracles and we have problems and we just keep going. I remember so well my father in the faith, Oral Roberts. Now, when a man has laid hands on 2 million people, something's going to happen to your shoulders. The rotator cuffs in his shoulder? He had to have surgery on those rotators. "Well, why didn't God heal him"? I don't know, ask God. And then, he pushed it so far and just completely exhausted. And he just kept on preaching. Well, he had to have a stint put in an artery and those stints had life expectancy of so many years. They came to him, then they wanted to put one in there that's permanent. He called me on the phone, loud enough on the phone that I thought, something's going on here. And he said, "Kenneth"! Boy, he was upset. I said, "Yes, sir"? And he began to talk about it. He said, "Now, they told me, Oral, don't do that. Just relax, just take your medicine. It's too risky. What? Oral Roberts not taking a risk? They said, 'Oral, you might die.' Well, so what? The other side of that is stunning". That's the way a faith man responds.
— Sure.
— The other side of that is stunning. We're faith people.
— Yes.
— Now, we're in a place in the United States. I began talking about this yesterday, but I've watched and been a part of politics, I mean, go way back. Back when they used to have real conventions, everybody screamed and hollered and everybody's shaking their signs all over the place. I remember the Democratic convention and Lyndon Johnson said, "I will never accept vice president. It's president or nothing"! But then he did.
— Right, wasn't he vice president? Oh, yeah. That was...
— But, you know. Politics.
— Yeah.
— Well, lie when you have to. Like the little boy said, and the teacher said, "What is a lie"? He said, "It's an abomination to God and an ever-present help in a time of need". My point is this. That goes back to then, even before, when my dad was interested in politics, always was, and you watch things change as a nation. You watch things change and attitudes of people as generations change. Now, I'm 84. Since I was a kid, I went through World War II and all that, and I've seen attitudes change. I have never, I never dream in any way, I never had any idea that this nation could become this divided. And I'm not blaming people. I need to reemphasize that over and over and over and over and over. There are some good people in the Democratic Party.
— Yes.
— And there's some lousy people in the Democratic Party. I'm talking about leadership. And there's some good people in the Republican Party. And there's some bums in the leadership of the Republican Party, but at least the principles are there.
— That's why you preach platforms.
— Oh yes. The platform tells the story because that's a combination of what a lot of Republican people put together and a lot of Democratic people put together all over the United States. Anyway. And we're at a place where my daughter, Terri mentioned this to me and it just went off inside me. We're at a place where particularly in the Democratic Party, because certain things in the leadership of the Democratic Party, not the Democratic Party, in the leadership. Leadership is where you place the situation, where abortion is just ho-hum. You're a dog if you don't believe in it. Any kind of perversion is just, well... And I won't go any further into that, but we're talking about when sin becomes full, God must, judgment must, come. So Greg, if you would, let's reiterate this and go back to the 15th chapter of Genesis.
— "And all of what God is telling his friend, Abraham, as they're making covenant, he will say in verse 16 of chapter 15, but in the fourth generation, they shall come hither telling him about his future offspring. They shall come hither again, back to this place, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full". I began to talk to you earlier in the week about what iniquity is, what transcription is, what sin is. And then there's a future aspect of this covenant, because this covenant is not complete yet until iniquity is done away with. Let's unpack Genesis chapter 15, if you will. You read this at the very beginning of this week, "After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision".
— Now, wait a minute. After what things, Greg?
— After are the things prior to this where Melchizedek, king of Salem. He had met with him.
— Yes.
— He had already, in Genesis 12, "I will bless those that bless you. I'll curse him that curses you".
— You brought out the difference in that on previous broadcast.
— Yes.
— It's two different things. I'd never noticed that.
— Yeah.
— It's singular. It's not, "I will curse them that curse you". The source of the curse is one place.
— I always read that plural on both sides. But it isn't.
— It's Genesis 12:3. Let me show you real quick. "And I will make of thee a great nation. I will bless thee, make thy name great nation and they shall be a blessing". Verse three. "I will bless them that curse thee. I will curse him that cursed thee".
— I always read it, "I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee".
— Not, it's...
— But that's not what it says.
— The source of the curse...
— It brought the devil personally into that.
— That's the source of the curse. That's the source of the Amorite, that's the source of iniquity. And that battle has... God declared war with that, in Genesis three, when he told Eve, "I'll put enmity," a fierce hatred, "between your seed and his seed". That's when it happened. And from that moment forward, that's been the battle. The warfare is not Republican-Democrat. You're so right. It's a spiritual battle.
— Yes, it is.
— And the Amorite is a spiritual battle when they go into this.
— This first covenant was a spiritual battle over the nation of Israel.
— Absolutely, and God's covenant people.
— Yes. And the second covenant, we're involved.
— Yes.
— Because this nation, the first act of Congress, first one, there was no Washington, DC. The capital was in New York City. That chapel is there today. It is the building that survived 9/11.
— Still standing there.
— It's still standing. And it was right in the middle of that. And it's still standing there untouched.
— There's a covenant was made there.
— Yes, that's why. That's where it happened.
— That's why it's still standing.
— That's what cut the devil loose and his evil wicked mind. I've got to stop this place.
— Yeah.
— This is worse than Israel.
— Yes, absolutely.
— Because...
— And that's why we've always been tied to Israel.
— Absolutely.
— Based upon...
— He's pushing this, he's pushing this, and pushing it and pushing it, pushing it for over 200 years to get sinful in here so he can destroy this country.
— They came to this country looking at it as a second Exodus from persecution. And one of the earliest symbols of this nation proposed was to be the cloud, the pillar of fire that the Israelites were following.
— George Washington said, after praying, he said... He closed his prayer, "You will be our God and we will be your covenant with this nation".
— That's why we're attacked. And now, if you understand it and as I read this in chapter 15, you'll understand why global warming happens, you'll understand all of it. You'll begin to see it. The pieces will connect for you. All the prophetic pieces will begin to come together knowing that you're approaching the day when iniquity will finally be vanquished. We're so close to it. So he says that after these things, the word of the Lord. Who's the word of the Lord? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. After this thing, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying, "Fear not, Abraham. I am thy shield". The word in Hebrew for shield is magen. "I am your magen and thy exceeding great sakar". Reward, sakar. Reward, in Hebrew, that means "I am your wages. I'm your hired, I'm working for you". I'm your wages. He's your source. You learned that a long time ago that, "I am your shield, protection, and I'm your wages". And Abraham...
— That's why Jesus said this, Greg. First things first, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God".
— Yes.
— And his righteousness. The Classic Amplified says, "Your work, your way of doing things right".
— Yeah.
— You know how to do it.
— And this is all in this chapter.
— Yes, it is.
— It's all part of your covenant. "And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels," is what it says, "shall be thine heir". Now it's a very interesting word in the Hebrew when you read it. It is may ah. And that means "your inward part". Out of Abram, out of your inner belly, is where the seed is going to come from. That explains something when you understand that. Jesus will say, "out of your inward man," out of your inner belly. He's saying, "Not just physical seed out of you, Abraham, but from your spirit seed". That's Isaac. Once you understand that, now you understand who Jesus is because He is that spiritual seed that was sown into Mary. She said, "Be it unto me according to your word. And the word was sown into her". Now you can understand Paul's argument in Alsatians, chapter four, about Isaac and Ishmaelite. One is covenant seed, "out of your inner man," is what he's saying to him. "I'm going to bring him out of your seed". Now verse five gets exciting. "And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven"...
— Towards heaven.
— "...and tell the stars"... Faint' that an interesting phrase, "tell the stars"? Tell them what? What are we going to tell the stars? "If thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be". In the Hebrew, it says, "recount the stars," which tells me, wait a minute, because when I looked it up and you can read it in the Shamash, which is the Torah and the commentary from the rabbis, "recount the stars," which tells me somebody counted them before: Adam.
— Yes, he did. I never thought about that.
— He said, recount them. Recount the stars. Can you recount them? Because you can't. But Adam knew before the fall, or "re measure it". And so in the midrash, the commentary, it said this. Instead of "He brought him forth abroad," it says, "He took him outside". "He took him outside," Brother Copeland, is the connotation, "the realm of reason of the natural". He took him outside the universe to let him look at all of it. He didn't just see the stars that he saw in the Northern hemisphere over Israel, he saw all the constellations. He took him outside. The rabbis say, "He took him outside of the realm of reason and nature". In Genesis chapter one, the scripture tells us that God made the seasons for a time for us, so that we would know what season it is. We would know what day and night it is. "And they shall serve as signs," is what the Bible says to us. He took him outside of natural realm and showed him the entire universe to count it all. Can you count it? Can you recount all this? Because we counted it once when we made it. And he said, "There are two lights," in Genesis one, "one will dominate the day, one will dominate the night". And so he's making a distinction in this description, the difference... Abraham, there's a difference between night and darkness. Light and darkness. Well, you read it earlier in this week with John.
— Yeah, that's right.
— Talking about light and darkness, he's making a distinction between light and darkness, between spiritual seed and natural seed. And so this is all part of this covenant. So the lights, as great as they are, are going to yield to God's will. Joshua will stop the sun for a battle. So even the heavens has to yield to the will of God. And this is what he's showing him. He took him outside the reasoning of his mind to see this entire thing. When you're in faith, you're above the laws of nature, natural law, because this is when he became in faith and righteousness. He took him outside and showed it to him and said, "Count it all because I took you outside of this. And if I have to, I'll recreate the parts that you need to have a spiritual seed". It's heavy stuff. And then because the very next verse after that, "And he believed in the Lord and it was counted it to him for righteousness". "When he believed," that's righteousness...
— Yeah, Romans 4:3, "He believed".
— Absolutely, brother. He believed him because he took him out of the natural. When we get out of our natural and we get into faith, even the laws of nature are subject to that. Glory to God.
— And Ishmael was born out of the flesh.
— Out of the flesh. Now you understand why Paul argues what he argues. He said, "Out of your inner man," out of your inner belly, with the Hebrew word, is where the seed of Isaac is going to come from. That's Jesus. That's where that's going to come from as well. And so all of these are little pieces of the puzzle. When he offers Isaac, Isaac was dead to him, right then. When he offers Isaac later on, not in this covenant but later on, you won't hear from Isaac again after that until Isaac goes to get his bride. It's a picture of what's happening with us.
— Praise God.
— Jesus offered Himself for us and the next thing on the picture is when he's going to come get the bride, and that's the timeline that you and I are living in. So now, here's an interesting thing. As you begin to read this, the father then, now has him slay animals. That doesn't make sense with taking him out of the natural. He took him right back to the natural. I'm like, "Lord, why is this? Why'd you do that? You took him outside of nature, then you took him back to nature". Because this becomes the guarantee moment. It becomes the binding blood moment for what he had just promised him.
— Oh, that's good. Say that again.
— Yeah, he became... God's now going to bind himself to the blood of these animals, with what I just said to you, what he just promised him.
— Don't kill the man. Kill the animal. The animal represents the man.
— Absolutely. Because man had dominion over him.
— That's right.
— So when you look at this, Abraham will argue, Abraham's going to argue a question. In the Hebrew, it'll say, "Whereby shall I know"? In other words, "How am I going to know this"? He's instructed: you get the animals for this. Because Abraham is saying, "God, if my people, if I can't stay righteous and our people and descendants in the future can't stay righteous, then this covenant won't be any good". And he said, "There's a sacrifice that's a substitute that's coming. And these animals are going to be a substitute until that sacrifice that will come out of your spirit is born into the Earth".
— That's beautiful.
— And that's what all of this is saying. When you read it in the original language, you begin to see that. When the Father chose the animals, He's revealing that a substitute will come. But here's the thing: blood cries out. The moment that he killed those animals, it was done. This thing is going to happen because he can't go back and put them back together.
— Now let me explain something here to you. Particularly for our radio and television audience. They cut the animals...
— Right down...
— ...down the spine. Not this way, but this way. And then allowed them to fall. So there was a blood pool between those ends. And then the birds were different, but the animals...
— They didn't split the birds.
— Then that made a track. So he told him to lay them... Out for a better word. End on end.
— Uh-huh.
— And then his Shekinah glory. I mean, the place lit up like day, and God walked, making covenant. He's speaking to him, walking in blood. This is huge.
— Huge.
— This is just...
— As a substitute for you, Abraham. There'll come a day though, that that substitute will be from your bowels. It will come from your spirit-man. So when you took him outside of the stars, he showed him something else in that. No one can count the stars. We haven't even mapped space in our age. When you are a secure, when you're in faith, Abraham, you're as secure as the heavens, you and your family.
— That is.
— And I'm doing it in blood.
— That is so good.
— And that's the way that you and I are. And so we can ask him a question. He makes the sacrifice in the land. So the land that the blood fell on is tied to this. Now that's key to America. That's key to Israel. The land, he divided it into land and tells him, "Your people are going to go out of the land. And then I'm going to bring them back here when the cup of the Amorite is full". So he's going to give some time on this thing, but he's letting him know what's going to happen. He's given him a timeline and he's giving you and I a timeline, if we study these things, to begin to see what age you and I live in. That when we see the things that are happening daily in the news, you're not going to get upset about it because you realize, "Oh, the cup is about full". When once and for all the iniquity will be dealt away with. So when he chose the animals, he's saying, "There's a substitute for this". They didn't do the doves. Why? The doves, according to the sages, represent Israel and Israel will never be divided.
— Never be divided.
— Well, that's wonderful.
— Never be divided.
— You find that in the song of Solomon chapter two, if you read the song of Solomon chapter two, it's a picture of the rapture, "My beloved cometh skipping on the hills, saying, Come away with me my bride". It's a picture of the rapture, not the second coming. And so this is why those aren't divided. So the nation can't be divided. This is why the United States, because like you said in this program, we have a covenant. It was ratified in the blood of those patriots time after time after time.
— Yes.
— Sworn before God. And it's a land covenant as well as this is why we are the United States. Indivisible. And that's the way Israel is, because we tied ourselves to the Word of God. That goes to Genesis chapter 15. Then he says, "400 years". And then he says, "four generations". And I'll have to unpack that one tomorrow.
— Yeah because we are out of time.
— Because you'll see it with America.
— What do you think about those five minute broadcast? Aren't they worth it?