DIVINE PROTECTION
John 18:4-6 (NLT) 4Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him. Stepping forward to meet them, he asked, "Whom are you looking for?" 5"Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I am he," Jesus said. Judas was standing there with them when Jesus identified himself. 6And as he said, "I am he," they all fell backward to the ground!
In these dark days on the earth we need that heavenly protection. Paul gave us a many windows into why to have trust in Lord. But, I must admit I like Philippians 4:13 (NLT) 13For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need" the best! Do you believe it? Because most of the time we humans have a tendency to put our eyes on the current situation and focus on just how big it really is. Not on just how big our Lord really is. When I read of all the great workers for Christ, including the original Bible workers is see they had one thing in common. They did not use their common since to get through a situation, nope, they used God's common since. What do I mean? Let's look at few examples in just Paul's life. Acts 16:22-24 (NLT) A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape. So he took no chances but put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks. Here we find Paul in trouble with man again. He and Silas have been beaten and put into prison. But, these Christians had such a reputation of getting away that the jailer did not want to take any chances so he put them in the inner most dungeon and put their feet in stocks. I am sure this jailer had heard the stories of how Peter was locked in jail and chained between two guards and just walked out without anyone seeing him. I am also sure that what this jailer remembers most was the fate of the two guards. (they were killed! see Acts 12:6-18) But, let's look little deeper; Acts 16:25-34 (KJV) 25And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. 27And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Now, do you notice the time span here? We do not know exactly how many hours passed but it is a safe assumption that the city officials were not handy at 11:50 PM to beat Paul and Silas. Paul and Silas were in the prison for a few hours before they began to sing praises to God. If they were like the rest of us they spent some time in the "why me mode". But around the middle of the night they came to their senses and most likely looked at each other with that deer in the head lights look and laughed. They laughed as they realized that the Lord they served was more powerful than any prison bars. I have to believe that this was one of those times that gave Paul the confidence to say Philippians 4:13 (NLT) 13For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need". After they got over the "boy am I stupid" feeling we have all had, they started singing. Not just singing but singing praise songs to Jesus. These two had church in the middle of a dark, damp rat infested prison. Luke notes that the other prisoners heard them. Paul and Silas were going to give Jesus Glory so vibrantly that everyone would know. I do not know how many of you have tried to have church in a prison atmosphere. But I have and I know that many of the prisoners are not very receptive to hearing the gospel preached or the Lord praised. In fact in the most recent times I have preached in a jail setting we had to be locked away from the general population. What happens next is so inspiring to me. Paul and Silas are busy having church and God responds with an earthquake that opens all the doors and breaks all the bonds. Instead of running away Paul sees an opportunity to preach the gospel. So Paul has church again and the jailer and his whole household are saved by God's greater purpose. So many times God has a purpose but we fail to follow through.
Let's take a deeper look at today's verse. 6And as he said, "I am he," they all fell backward to the ground! Did you ever notice the real importance of this series of verses? So many "theologians" have speculated on this and come to the wrong conclusions. Here are just a couple of examples "There is no proof that there was here any miraculous power, any mere physical force, and to suppose that there was greatly detracts from the moral sublimity of the scene." Or "If Jesus' hearers had thought he was pronouncing the divine name, they might have also fallen back in fear, because magicians were said to try to cast spells in that name." Sometimes I just want to go up to these people and knock on their heads and ask " is anyone home in there?" The Greek here is a series of words meaning "They went away into the rear and fell to the earth." What John was trying to get across was two points. First he wanted to show that Jesus did not have to die on the cross but he volunteered to die for us. Second John wanted to show that even though the Roman guards were heathens they either knew to retreat from the power of God and to bow to Him or God was honoring His Son by making even the heathens bow. Romans 14:11 (NLT) 11For the Scriptures say, "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow to me and every tongue will confess allegiance to God.'" Yes, that is what the Greek implies that they fell forward to the earth. That is what I mean by heavenly protection. Do you have it? Do you ask for it? Do you even believe in it?
Many years ago a preacher man named Arthur Blessitt was in South America and I will let him tell the true story.
"We opened some cold canned food, ate and soon we were in bed. Mike was in the front bed, and I was at the back on the bottom, and Don at the back on the top bunk. I was too exhausted to think. I went sound asleep just after I lay down. The night was hot and I was wet with sweat. A loud banging on the side of the trailer awoke me and the voice of a man saying, Narcotica policia!" I shook my head, sitting up in bed, and pulled back the window curtain to look out. A gun was in my face. "Narcotica policia!" I turned on the light, slipped into my pants and opened the door. There were guns pointed at me. One short, middle aged man put a pistol directly in my face, pushing me back and stepping in. All were in khakis or blue jeans and plain shirts. Several had mustaches and most were in their late teens or early twenties. Several came into the trailer and looked around as if they were going to buy it. Don did not say a word, even though he spoke Spanish. Mike was sitting up in bed wondering what was going on. He could not find his glasses. "What's happening Arthur, what's going on with all these guys?" he asked sleepily. "Pray, Mike. Pray." The short man waved his pistol toward the door. They took me by the shoulder and arm and as I started out I reached up and took the truck keys. This was simply an impulse, for no particular reason except maybe I thought they might want the truck and they could have it. There was no doubt these were not narcotics police. The people would later say they were government troops, the govern ment would say there were guerillas. Never mind who, the problem was terror on the roads to rob, to kill and to terrorize the land. I began to witness in the little Spanish I knew. "Dios te ama. (God loves you) Jesus will forgive you and come to live in your heart." No one seemed to hear my words. I could see seven men with rifles and pistols, plus two more lying on the back of the truck with machine guns protecting them. It was a clear night and beautiful. Maybe they want to rob us, I thought, but no. They took me beside the truck and stood me there with orders not to move. They lined up about 15 feet away, raised their guns and pointed them toward me. Suddenly I realized they were going to shoot me. I was standing before a firing squad. The cress was on top of the truck and difficult to get to. Now, this is what flashed through my mind. If I'm going to die I don't want to die without a Bible. These guns were all aimed at me as I suddenly turned to the right, took about two quick steps and reached forth my hand to put the key in the truck keyhole. I did it on the first try. I was thinking, even if they shoot I think I can get the door open before I die and grab a box of Bibles. The men were saying, "No, no!" I swung the door open, raised the front seat and grabbed a box of Bibles. They had no way to know what I was getting or doing. Only God knows why they didn't shoot, but my thought was, if I'm going to die, what does it matter whether I get it from the front or from the back. I set the box of Bibles on the ground and turned to get it open. It was bound with strong tape with cords inside of it, making it almost impossible to get open. I could see the feet of the men around me and feel their pull on my shoulder trying to get me up. After getting an opening in the box of American Society Bibles, I thought I'd give them all a Bible too, filling my arms as I stood up. No one was there! What's happening, I wondered. The glory of God was present, then I saw the unbelievable. All the gunmen were on the ground, fiat on their backs. The short man who seemed to be the commander was lying inside the trailer with only his feet and legs sticking out. As I walked toward them, they began to slowly get up in a daze. The man sat at the door, collecting himself. I said in Spanish, "Do you want a Bible?" "We won't bother you," he said. I grabbed a water bottle and offered them water. All of them jumped up and raced away into the night with no lights turned on the truck. I stood in silence. What had happened? It was all so fast! As I walked into the trailer Don said, "We thought you were dead." "They were going to kill me, shoot me," I said. "But I opened the truck and got some Bibles. When I looked up the men were on the ground." "Arthur, we could hear the blows of meat against meat. We thought they were killing you. Then we heard them holler '0-o-o-oh' and they came falling back. One of the men fell into the doorway." We sat up talking and talking. At dawn as I prepared to leave, carrying the cross down the highway, the people of the houses were there. They were saying, "We saw a bright light. God was there and the gunmen fell to the ground." Arthur has carried the cross around the world several times. His stories and books on his travels are great evidence and inspiration on the truth of heavenly protection. www.blessitt.com http://www.blessitt.com is where you can find more information.
Almost on a daily basis I see how our Lord and Savior protect His chosen, His workers. Just this last month in Kenya we have seen many people killed simply for hates sake. Not for war to protect, no just because one trial group hates another tribal group and that gives them the right to chop up others with machetes. His Will Ministry at the leading of the Lord rebuilt two homes in Kenya to be used as housing for orphans this year. Both those homes, pastor, children and women were right in the middle of the horror. We prayed for heavenly protection, our worldwide partner's prayed for heavenly protection and those in the middle of the horror prayed for heavenly protection. Well guess what even though homes near by were burned down and people injured or killed not one hair on those working with His Will Ministry were hurt. In fact in God's great sense of humor we all prayed that God would provide an army of Angels that appeared as mucho men well armed with weapons to scare off the evil. Well one room of one of the homes that was just rebuilt was used as a temporary headquarters for a group of very well armed government army soldiers. Now my friend that is what this old pastor calls heavenly protection. Believe yet? We have a pastor who has been trying to reach the Hindu's in his country. Problem is that they would rather see him dead than convert a single Hindu. A few weeks ago he went into the back country to bring the Lord's Supper (communion) to the tribal people who had come to Jesus. He admitted to me that he was troubled and scared. He knew that if they caught him he was dead. He walked 42 kilometers through the jungle. As he said "some of the darkest jungle he had ever seen." During the midst of the darkest jungle he had "church" like Paul and Silas. All the pastor could say is that he had never experienced anything like it. Later in the trip he met a Muslim man that had lived with the tribes for so long he had forgotten his Muslin roots and only spoke the tribal language. The man saw this pastor knew Jesus and ask for prayer to release him from his burden. He never said what the burden was but when this pastor prayed the man started running and jumping around saying the burden was gone and Jesus was the Lord. Needless to say the rest of the pastor's trip went well.
Where are you today my friends? Do you really trust the Lord and His word? As this world grows darker and darker we need to live and breathe every word of God. Matthew 4:3-4 (NASB) 3And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." Matthew 4:4 (NASB) 4But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" If it was good enough for Jesus isn't good enough for us. My friends we need to get back to the basics of God's word pure and simple. We do not need a new word, a new doctrine, a new prophet. We need to get into the living Word of God and trust that word for all we need. You want heavenly protection then ask, ask and keep asking because God does not promise to provide it automatically. But, Jesus did say "ask anything in my name and it shall be done for you." Try it my friends you will like it.
God Bless
Pastor A. J.
