By day a pillar of a cloud; and by night a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21)

 (…continued from part one…)

*2*    Being the One who told Abraham to, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:” of Genesis 12:1, it then behoves His excellent Divinity to show His Almighty power. God would not allow His covenanted son and friend to lose his wife. The manifestation of His power got Abraham’s family protected from Pharaoh’s incursion. Why? Satan wanted to scuttle the birth of the next man to receive the baton towards the emergence of the nation of Israel, and ultimately the birth of Jesus.                                                                                           

                Again Israel was saved from Pharaoh. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, HE knew that the king of Egypt would refuse. Exodus 3:19, “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.” Jehovah had to do what HE must do; “Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land” (Exodus 6:1). The word, ‘strong’ is chazaq (khaw-zawk’): ‘strong (usu. in a bad sense, hard, bold, violent).’ And the word ‘hand’ is yad (yawd) ‘a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etc.), in distinction from kaph (kaf) ‘the hollow hand or palm,’ the closed one).

   I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts

                God’s power was practically put on the line when it came to the matter of David and Goliath. All was set for the prophetic father of the Messiah, the Branch, Son, the Lord (Daniel 9:25; Isaiah 11:1, 9:6 & Psalm 110:1) of David as the king of Israel, and Goliath, whose name Golyath (gol-yath’) means: ‘exile’ which comes another Hebrew galah (gaw-law’) ‘1. to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense) 2. (by implication) to exile (captives being usually stripped) 3. (figuratively) to reveal.’ Goliath is the type and shadow of the Antichrist, come to strip Christians of their righteousness and get them destroyed.

                1Samuel 17:43 “And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.” Goliath drew the battle line. God must prove His power through His ‘beloved,’ which is the definition of David. 1Samuel 17:45, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.” David did the expected. He involved the strength of Jehovah.

    Faith drew the grace of God unto David

                It was very apposite for David to use stones and it must be five in number. When Jesus said to Peter, “thou art Peter,” He meant, “thou art a stone.” The stone represents every Christian. Five is the number of grace, without which none will get born again, be cleansed, and justified to become God’s child. For these reasons God must show His power.

                2Corinthians 5:7 declares, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Our faith, therefore, is an invocation of His power. That, Prophet Elijah did prove at Mount Carmel. It was Jehovah versus Baal, the sun god, the idol that Nimrod made global. We know that these demons can conjure anything. So, how come Lucifer could not do that, that time around? God’s power is incontestable. Satan was told to, “Shut up!” Unfortunately, Elijah forgot to rely on this same power. He could not ignite the power to shut the idolatrous mouth of Jezebel. He lost faith, by deciding to walk by sight, too bad.

                The ultimate exhibition of His power was at the cross. He had to do the impossible: die and conquer death in its most eerie underground of hellish abode.

                The likeness of rhetorical ponderosity in a grand Pauline revelation is found in Ephesians 1:19, “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,” where ‘exceeding greatness’ is the Greek, huperballō megethos. Verse 20 says, “Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” Let us do an exegesis of this Scripture.                                                                     

                ‘Exceeding’ is the Greek huperballo (hoop-er-bal’-lo) ‘to throw beyond the usual mark; (figuratively) to surpass (only active participle supereminent).’ ‘Greatness’ is megethos (meg’-eth-os) ‘magnitude (figuratively).’ The expression, ‘exceeding greatness’ huperballo megethos, is saying that, “Target any distance, in your wildest dreams,” Paul is teaching here, “and God will surpass it far, far by far!” In fact think about incalculable monstrosity of inter-continental ballistic missiles and they would not equal the awesome strength of Jehovah. That is what huperballo megethos is all about. The first ‘power’ is dunamis (doo’-nam-is) ‘1. Force 2. (specially) miraculous power 3. (usually by implication) a miracle itself.’ Power that translates ‘working’ is energeia (en-erg’-ei-ah) ‘efficiency (“energy”),’ and ‘mighty,’ ischus (is-khoos’), means: ‘strength, forcefulness. The second ‘power’ (of verse 19) is kratos (krat’-os): ‘vigor (“great”).’   

(…to be concluded…)

Read the 1st part. Click here.

Click here to read part three
                                                                                                                         

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