[Scripture]
Genesis 6:18~20
[18] But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
[19] And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
[20] Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
This is 104th Lecture on Genesis.
I will continue to explain with Genesis 6:18, which is where I left off in the last lecture.
God established a covenant that He would save Noah and his family from the judgment of flood and restart the history of human cultivation with them.
Since God accomplishes His covenant in justice, it becomes effective only when the counterpart of the covenant meets the proper requirements of justice.
In the last lecture, as an example I talked about the Israelites who escaped from Egypt.
God made a promise through Moses that He would give the land of Canaan to the nation of Israel, but the 1st generation of the Exodus didn’t believe it.
Except for Joshua and Caleb, they couldn’t enter Canaan.
It was the 2nd generation that believed in the word of God completely and could enter Canaan.
As you can see, God is faithful; He keeps His promises He makes.
However, you should also aware that the promise can come true only when you believe it completely and pray until the end.
The same applies to those who are anointed for ability and power.
Ability may come upon those who come into spirit, and power, upon those who come into whole spirit.
I said this based on the Bible.
Jesus said in Mark 9:23, “All things are possible to him who believes.”
He also said in Mark 16:17-18, “These signs will accompany those who have believed,” and listed a couple of signs.
The Bible just said ‘him who believed’ and ‘those who have believed.’ But you know that there are different measures of faith.
To receive a miracle ability, you must reach the 4th level of faith and enter spirit. To receive power, you must enter whole spirit and reach the 5th level of faith.
However, such ‘ability’ or ‘power’ cannot be just given to you when you enter spirit or whole spirit.
You must earnestly pray for it until you receive the miracle ability or power from God the Father.
Those of spirit and of whole spirit love God the Father foremost, and therefore they try to accomplish what the Father wants.
What God the Father wants is for many souls to reach salvation.
As they try hard to do it, they surely see that they must receive greater ability from God the Father.
It is because they now understand it can never be possible with a man’s strength and wisdom to change the heart of people.
Because of their love for God the Father and for the souls, those who sincerely and ardently seek this ‘ability’ can eventually receive it.
The spiritual meaning of ‘ability’ is ‘something that man cannot do, but God can do with His mighty power.’
Once you receive ability, nothing is impossible as you can do it in the will of God.
To receive such ability, even if you come into spirit, you must pile up an immeasurable amount of fiery prayers.
Even if you are anointed for this ‘ability,’ only when you pray fervently, can you be on fire to manifest the ability.
How great the amount of prayers should you pile up to receive ‘power’ which is in the higher level?
‘Power’ is ability with authority.’
Power is followed by ability together with authority.
‘Authority’ is ‘the dignified and glorious power set by God and the command of God from above in the orders of God.’
This spiritual authority can be compared to a sharp sword.
Just as this sharp sword cannot be given to a young child, spiritual authority cannot be given just to anyone.
God allows this authority to those who pulled out evil from their heart and accomplished sanctification to the extent they fill their heart with goodness and love.
Let me given an allegory to help you understand the difference between this ‘ability’ and ‘authority’.
There are an old father and a young son; the son is both stronger and wiser than the father.
Strength wise, the son is much stronger than the father.
However, whose authority is greater?
Since the son has to obey his father, it can be said that the authority of father is greater than that of son.
Here is another example.
In the days of the monarchy, an envoy carrying an order of his king was treated like a king in a foreign country.
The envoy was treated as he was, not because of his own authority, but because he came with the authority of his king.
A king didn’t send just anyone as his envoy.
He chose a man who was well qualified.
It is the same when God allows spiritual authority to someone.
He allows it only to the one who is properly qualified.
When this spiritual authority is combined with ability, it becomes spiritual ‘power’.
Just as Psalm 62:11 says, ‘power’ belongs to God.
In other words, God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit; the Triune God possess this power.
Therefore, God allows this power to those who meet the proper qualifications according justice.
For your information, there are people who are not sanctified, but they can heal the sick affected by germs.
This is the case as God gives the gift of healing to those who love God and souls, and have piled up countless fiery prayers.
Besides, chances are that God shows His mercy because of earnest prayers of love.
For instance, a servant of God has no ability to affect miracle. And yet, one of his members desperately requests prayer by faith. Then God may work as He sees the pure faith of the member.
In this case, its level is completely different from the power of God.
Dear brothers and sisters.
The Bible says, “Power belongs to God.”
That’s why Jesus gave the power to His disciples so that they could manifest it.
Matthew 10:1 says, “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.”
Luke 6:12 tells us that it happened after ‘He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.”
To set up His 12 disciples to be able to manifest the power on His behalf, He first piled up prayers before God.
At that time, His disciples were not qualified to manifest the power by themselves.
They just trusted Jesus and followed Him.
That’s why Jesus prayed for them and piled up justice before God the Father.
As its result, Luke 9:6 says, “Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.”
Moreover, Mark 6:12-13 says, “They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.”
His disciples could also cast out demons and heal many sick people.
His disciples themselves, didn’t manifest such power; they just manifested the power Jesus gave to them.
There was a reason why these 12 disciples could be chosen and manifested the power.
It is but one thing; since they trusted Jesus, they left their own lives behind, and followed Jesus.
Judas Iscariot, of course, was chosen in the providence of God.
If the Lord’s disciples could manifest the power as when Jesus was with them, what happened to them after the Lord was resurrected and ascended?
Mark 16:20 says, “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.”
Acts 2:43 also says, “many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.”
The Lord was often with His disciples as in spirit, however, their faith grew up much greater than before.
Since they met the resurrected Lord, they didn’t fear death; they came to have truth faith.
With this faith, they could do many signs and wonders as they prayed in the name of Jesus the Christ.
Of course, not all of the 12 disciples manifested the power.
Even though Jesus chose the 12 and gave the power to all of them, they could possess the true power only to extent they met the proper qualifications in justice.
