The True Living Bread & Water (5)

 Hey Guys😊, how you all doing?

Thanks be to the Almighty God for the beginning of a New Week. Our Scripture reading is in Ecclesiastes where it is written:

  “The race is not for the swift, nor the BATTLE to the STRONG, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).*

    If one of the renown kings in Israel says that “the BATTLE is not to the STRONG,” it is a true saying and an authentic statement which was made based on *fact-proven* evidences in the Bible. Due to this, David the King also spoke about these things in a rhetorical question and answering it himself. He said, “Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in BATTLE” (Psalm 24:8)

    So whiles JESUS CHRIST our God is “strong” and “mighty in BATTLE,” we are not. And the reason is because we are mortals who are weak, powerless and SINFUL. Therefore God Himself “FOUGHT” the “BATTLE” for us, and He told us in Isaiah, “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her WARFARE is ENDED, that here iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the LORD’S hand double for all her SINS” (Isaiah 40:1-2).

    The word “WARFARE” as it appears in the above passage is the same as “BATTLE.” Therefore when we deduce the Word of God spoken above, it will read “her BATTLE is ENDED.” So here too in Isaiah, we see the confirmation in the fact that God Himself  “FOUGHT” the “BATTLE” against Sin and Satan. And being triumphant, He is telling us that our “WARFARE is ENDED,” and it actually “ENDED” in VICTORY.

    However, it is very important for Bible readers and biblical students to take note of the fact that, God actually used someone’s “VOICE” to speak these words to us. That’s why in the same Chapter of Isaiah, He said, “The VOICE of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3). The Scripture affirms that this “VOICE” is none other than John the Baptist according *Mark 1:1-4.*

    Therefore because John the Baptist passed on our SINS unto the LAMB of God by baptizing Him, immersing Him into the water (signifying His death) and raising Him from the water (signifying His resurrection,) the Scripture says, “The next day John saw JESUS coming toward him, and said, “Behold the LAMB of God who takes away the SIN of the world! (John 1:29). This is the “VOICE” who was commissioned by God to tells us that our “BATTLE is ENDED.”

    When Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (the first President of Ghana) liberated his country and his people from Colonial suppression, oppressor’s rule and slavery, He made a very popular statement in his Independence Speech on 6th March 1957 when he said, “At long last, the BATTLE has ended! And thus, Ghana, your beloved country is FREE forever!” And until this day Ghanaians commemorate his achievement on every 6th March because they believe in what a deadly mortal has achieved even though he is no more.

    It is therefore unfortunate that if a mortal human being such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah could say “The BATTLE Has Ended,” and his own people and those from the African continent believed in his words, then I wonder why until this day many Christians do not “BELIEVE” in God when He says to them “Your WARFARE is ENDED, your iniquity is pardoned; for you have received from the LORD’S hand double for all your SINS.”

    This is the most POWERFUL words ever to hear because it came from the immortal and invincible God. He is unbeatable and can never be subdued, but false Christians do not “BELIEVE” in His Words but they follow a religion which has “a form of godliness but denying its POWER” (2 Timothy 3:5).

    Those who claim they are Christians but who do not   “BELIEVE” in the “Word” of the LORD, but who deceive themselves by claiming they are “born again” Christians must know that if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is not, the Scripture says he “DECEIVES” himself (Galatians 6:3).*

    But one may say, “ if the BATTLE has ENDED as you are teaching by the Scripture, then why did Paul say that, “For we do not WRESTLE against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole ARMOR of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:12-13).

    However, what we need to understand here is that, here in the above passage, Paul was not talking about the “BATTLE” against SIN for our SALVATION. In other words Paul did not write the passage to tell us that we must FIGHT the “BATTLE” for our own SALVATION. But rather, he was telling us that we are engaged in a continuous “BATTLE” between the TRUTH and the UNTRUTH, and therefore we must put on all the “ARMOR” of God which speaks about our SALVATION. That’s why He told us to put on the “HELMET of SALVATION, the BELT of TRUTH, the robe of RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Ephesians 6:14-17).

    In conclusion, because “the BATTLE is not to the STRONG” as King Solomon is telling us, God Himself FOUGHT the “BATTLE” for us and He told us our “WARFARE is ENDED.”