We’re not going to be nominal Christians; we’re going to be zealous for the Lord, passionate about His love and we love Him because He first loves us. Nothing is more practical than unveiling the beauty and the loveliness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is not a teaching; grace is the teaching of Jesus Christ. Amen, Church? God wants you to reign. Praise the Lord; praise the Lord. It is good to be back here with all of you, here in your home Church. Nothing like home. Amen? We just came back from Israel, we were there for about 2 weeks. I did some shoots. After that, the Pastors joined me for our tour proper. They had a good time but I was very tired because it was the tail end of a few days of preaching on site and doing filming. So, I let them go off on their own for the first day. For the full day they were out together; I hope they all behaved.
(Laughter).
Pastor Matt was there, that’s why I’m saying that.
(Laughter).
They went to a place called the Temple Institute and they thought I might want to join them for dinner. They told me about what the rabbinical oral tradition has been regarding one aspect of the name of God. They shared that there is a mystery about the name of God. There are 72 letters that will lead to the name of God, and they say that today no one knows. And the reason they say that is that they’re missing letters. In case you do not know, there are certain missing letters in the original Hebrew scripture that in no way take away from the original inspiration of the scripture. In fact, they purposely when they copy, they purposely left whatever is missing purposely missing. And there is a purpose why it is missing.
This I knew about, even before I went to Israel. But then I was not there at the Temple Institute. They came back and told me there was 72 letters leading to God’s name that Jewish people say they cannot understand and that has been for generations. So, it was handed down by oral tradition. The next day, we were doing our tour, this time I joined them, over the next 2 days, and then we were in Samaria. Remember Samaria, where Joseph met the Samaritan woman at the well? We were there in Mount Gerizim, just like that woman told Jesus you know our fathers are Samaritans. Samaritans are not really Jewish people but they like to think that they are.
She said to Jesus that our fathers say they might worship in this mountain. She’s referring to Mount Gerizim and that’s where we were that day. Mount Gerizim. And Jesus says salvation is of the Jews, no the Samaritans or anybody else. It comes of the Jews because the son of God came as a Jew. Now we understand why there is such an extreme hatred that the devil has against the Jewish people. Because our savior of the world, the crusher of the serpent’s head, came as a Jew.
Salvation is of the Jews, Jesus said. And He told her that if you know of the gift of God, who is it that is speaking to you, you will ask Him and He will give you the water of life. I love that. Anyway, we went to Mount Gerizim and lo and behold again, just like a few years ago, we run into the Samaritan priest. He was there and he was excited to see us. And he invited us to his museum, the Samaritan museum. Of course, he says that the Jewish people are wrong because they’re not supposed to be worshipping in Jerusalem, they’re supposed to be worshipping in our mountain here. It’s the same 2,000 year problem. In fact, more than 2,000, before the time of Christ, when the Samaritans came to be in the land of Israel.
However, they do have the ancient Aramaic script, which is the first 5 books of Moses. They have it in their ancient Aramaic script. Okay. Even though their Bible, listen carefully, their Bible is not inspired like their Masoretic text, the Hebrew text. But, being inspired is copied accurately; it is accurate. But the Hebrew scripture’s accurate.
So, anyway, he was showing us different things, different aspects of the Samaritan faith. Something interesting is this. They don’t believe in Jesus or the Messiah yet they say that they still practice the Passover and they say that when they killed the calves and the lambs, they showed us in the videos and pictures of that, it was a big celebration for the Samaritans, which is now a very small, minority people. And he says that they put the lamb that’s cooked in the pit and they cover the pit for guess how long in darkness? Three hours. So, they still keep the tradition of the Old Testament Jewish sacrifice. Amen. They don’t believe in Jesus so obviously they’re not trying to make it as close to Jesus because they don’t believe in Him. But it’s three hours of darkness. Imagine the true lamb of God bore our sins and from mid-day to 3 pm there was darkness and from 9-12 he suffered in the hands of men. But from 12-3, he suffered in the hands of God. Not father to son but God and the sacrificial victim.
And then he says this. You can ask me anything you want, he says. He says, I know everything. And don’t forget, Pastor Matt was there.
(Laughter).
He says, you can ask me anything you want. I know everything. Now, to be fair, he is very knowledgeable as far as his Samaritan beliefs are concerned. He says, you can ask me anything, alright. I can tell you. If I do not know anything, he says, I sleep, I ask God, the next day I wake up and I know.
(Laughter).
He says, for generations this has been the inheritance of his family tree, of whom all are high priests, and he claims they all come Aaron. And he says when we do not know we pray and we wake up in the morning we know. Ask me anything, he says. You know. There is nothing I do not know. And then Matt makes this loud exclamation. Alright. Matt says, so Buddha. And then the Samaritan priest stopped talking. He turned to our guide who was there and spoke Hebrew to him and asked what is so gooda? So, generations of omniscients came to an end because of Pastor Matt.
(Laughter).
Generations. One guy walks in and so gooda. He’s not asking, he’s exclaiming, but the guy says, he asks the guy in Hebrew what is so go good? We all held back our laughter until we were in the bus. We were all laughing, I’m telling you. A few days later, I explained to Mark what is the meaning of so gooda. We were having cheeses, so many cheeses in Israel, alright, and one cheese was called Gouda cheese. I said, Mark, this is your cheese.
(Laughter).
But, nonetheless, just to let you know that the man is very knowledgeable. He is knowledgeable. And he has a family tree all the way from 2,000 years ago and before that. The Samaritans started in the Old Testament. So, he has a family tree of his father’s father etcetera all the way to the high priests of Samaria but then he stopped and said that the 49th high priest of Samaria was the time when Jesus came to Samaria. The 49th high priest. I asked him, what is the name of the 49th high priest? He says, the name is right there. Yehonatan, which is Jonathan. And like this I got a revelation from the Lord because that woman at the well most likely she would be reverting back to her high priest and her high priest’s name was Jonathan. So whatever she wants to – if she wants to bring an offering or she wants a special prayer request or whatever she would go to a high priest. His name was Jonathan. And Jonathan in Hebrew means the gift of God.
And I got a revelation. No wonder Jesus stood at the well and told her, woman, if you knew Yehonatan, if you knew the gift of God who is the one talking to you, you would ask Him, instead of the priest because He is the true high priest. Can I have a good amen?
(Applause).
See, when you go to Israel it is important that you listen to the water but you convert them to wine. And then the next thing was this. I asked him, you know, there’s this verbal or oral tradition that there’s a mystery to the name of God, and because of that there are letters missing. You know, there are letters missing. He said, yes, I heard about that, the Samaritan priest said. He turned to our Jewish guide, always playing one up man-ship, ours is the true yours is not the true, and he told the guy, your Bible has it missing, 3 letters missing. Ours is not missing. And the guide, he has a scroll, he took out the ancient Aramaic script of the Torah, which is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. He opened up the Deuteronomy and he read, and he read in a singing fashion, alright, because that’s how they do it, they sing. And he sang the verse that has 72 letters and he turned to our Jewish guide and says, your Bible, your Hebrew scripture, only has 69. Ours is 72. We have all of the missing letters. Very interesting.
Announcer: Still to come today.
Joseph Prince: The gospel of grace is our daily food. Our weapon. It is something we feed on. Grace is the gospel. Grace is not a teaching. Grace is a person of Jesus Christ.
Announcer: Stay tuned. Joseph Prince will be right back.
You can enjoy provision, protection and unshakable peace today when you receive the gift of righteousness that Jesus has made forever yours. As a thank you for your gift of any amount, receive Joseph’s latest 3-CD audio series Forever Yours and the bonus Reign in Life 2015 Wall Calendar. Find out how you can enjoy every blessing in Christ. For a specific gift, we’ll send you the Forever Yours special gift collection that includes the brand-new Right Believing Capsule with 55 powerful messages that will change what you believe and change your life. This collection also contains Joseph’s latest The Power to Reign CD, DVD and journal set, and other exciting resources that will bless you. For more information on how to order these resources, call us toll-free at 1-877-901-4300 or visit us at JOSEPHPRINCE.ORG today.
Joseph Prince: Three missing letters in the Hebrew text. And when they copied down through the generations, whatever – the Hebrew is very interesting. I followed some of this but there is so much more to teach. For example, there is something where they will put the head as small sometimes big. So when they copied it they copied it accurately. There’s a reason for everything. Like sometimes, the curve is cut in-between and when they copied they cut. And you will see the true how Jesus was cut off. So, the Hebrew text is accurate. Right? Not a Semaritan but the Samaritan text has it complete with the 3 missing letters. So I asked him, what are the 3 missing letters? He told me, all of the 3 missing letters are the vav. And He spoke to me straight away. I didn’t speak right then. But in the outside Mount Garazim, I spoke to the pastors, God spoke to me about the 3 missing letters. If you don’t see it, you cannot know the true name of God. So this has been passed on through generations. What is it? I said, the 3 vavs.
Vav is a conjunction. You say, end. End. Alright. It is a conjunction. Va la mare a la heim end/va la mare a la heim. And God said. Va la mare and said God, a la heim. So, vav is a conjunction. Also, vav is a picture of the nail. Remember, yod hei vav hei. Hand of grace nail vav in grace. Yod hei vav hei. Vav is a picture of a nail. Hebrew language is a pictogram. Aleph is an ox. Vav is a nail. Three nails missing. Not 2, not 4. One nail, 2 nails, 3 nails. And unless you see the 3 nails, and understand what it means, you cannot see the true name of God. And I’m telling you, when I received that, it was like spiritual Goosebumps. I enjoy seeing things like this when I’m in Israel. They speak naturally, they speak from history, but the Holy Spirit in me will take it and turn it into bread and wine for everyone. Amen. And living waters. Hallelujah.
(Applause).
Thank you Jesus. The pastor has been telling me, put this on print first so that people know it was revealed first with you because once you start sharing in Israel, now many things we have shared has become very popular now that no one really knows where it came from. So they told me, even just now pastor Ben was saying, put it down, pastor. So I sealed that. That’s not my sermon. That’s not my sermon; my sermon today is something else. And I know that God will bless you richly as you hear the word of God. One of the things you need to understand is this, Church. When you come to God’s house, it’s good to hear the practical lessons. It’s good to hear what to do in our business life, in our family life, with our children, but everything else must be based on the gospel of grace. Because the gospel of grace is not just something you are saved by and receiving it on the life, escaping hell and enjoy heaven on the way to heaven. Amen. Having love and joy in your heart, freedom from seeing consciousness. It’s not just that.
The gospel of grace is our daily food. Our weapon. It is something we feed on. Grace is the gospel. Grace is not a teaching. Grace is a person of Jesus Christ. Amen, Church? And there are people that think when you preach about Jesus and you talk about how beautiful our Lord is, and He is altogether lovely, they think that you are not being practical. Of course, no one would dispute that. No one would come against somebody who is talking of the beauty of the Lord. But you know they will say things like, you know, the sermon has got to be practical. But nothing is more practical than unveiling the beauty and the loveliness of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are people who will say that unless, for example, you want people to have a loss, for the mission feel.
And they will say, you have to have a passion for the loss. You’ve got to love the lost souls. And you can preach it like that, if you want. Okay. But there’s a better way. I’ll show you a more excellent way, as pastor Paul would say. For example, in Song of Solomon, look up here. In Song of Solomon Chapter 5, alright, the Bible tells us: The Daughters of Jerusalem ask the Sher Ali woman – by the way, there are different players, like Shakespeare’s play, there are different players talking. There is the bride groom talking. Then there is a Shulamite. Shulamite is a picture of the Church of Jesus Christ, the bright of the Church of Solomon of our Lord Jesus Christ. Song of Solomon, I’m telling you Church it is literally the song of all songs. Of all of the songs in the world, God thinks this is the song of all songs. Just as you say Kadesh Kadeshim, the holy of holies. It’s the holiest place, where God’s presence dwells. The king of kings is what? Put all of the kings together and Jesus Christ is supreme.
(Amen).
King of kings. Lord of Lords. Amen. This is the Song of Songs. Song of Solomon is not about the love between men and women being blared in our radios today all about the love of a man for a woman or woman’s love for a man. It’s not the greatest love of all. Even love for self. The greatest love of all is Jesus’ love for us. And the Song of Solomon is all about that. The daughter, the Shulamite, is acutally, the Shulamite is the family name of Solomon. The feminine form of Solomon is Shulamite. In other words, we are the family reflection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can I have a good Amen? So the Daughters of Jerusalem are the people who are not saved but they are very close. They are hungry.
Notice how these people inspire. So these Daughters of Jerusalem are asking the Shulamite, the Shulamite is a type of you and I, asking her, what is your beloved more than another beloved, o fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you so charged us? She’s asking them, have you seen my beloved? And they say, what’s the big deal about your beloved? Why is your beloved greater than our beloved or any other beloved? Then she starts talking, the woman starts talking. The Shulamite is talking; alright, the Church is talking. The pride of Christ is talking. The beloved of the Lord is talking. She says, my beloved is white and ruddy. Now, why – sak, the word sak in Hebrew, is the word dazzling. Ruddy is adhom. Adhom is where you get the word Adam. Red, ruddy. Red. Edom is the same word. Right. So, he’s dazzling white and he is red. Fully God, fully men. That’s our beloved. Amen. Thief among ten thousand. This word thief is the banner carrier. The banner lifter. You put all of the ten thousand soldiers together, they all wear the same uniform, and right in front of them on the horse, leading them with the banner in His hand is the Lord Jesus. That’s the word chief here.
Now, I’m not going to explain everything. That’s not my sermon. His head is like the finest gold; his locks are wavy, and black as a raven. I wish I had time to show you all of this. The meaning of Verse 12. His eyes are like doves. The same eyes that turn around and look at Peter, and Peter wept. Remember that? Those are the same eyes. His cheeks are like a bed of spices. What I’m trying to show here, and I hope one of these times we’re going to have time to go through it in detail, but look at the end, at the end she starts describing his legs, his inwards and his cheeks even, the bitter spices that men would spit on and pull his hair, his beard. She describes his loveliness and at the end she ran out of adjectives and she says he’s altogether lovely. But look at the result of her expression of her beloved. All the way down, look at this.
The Daughters answered, where has your believed gone, o fairest among women? In their eyes, she’s beautiful now. As long as you look at Jesus, people who were hungry for Jesus were you’re beautiful. Where has your beloved gone? Where has your beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with you? Notice what’s happened. When she described about the loveliness of the Lord, those who are hungry says, where has He gone? We also want to see Him. We also want on Him.
Now, Church, this is the highest way to evoke or to provoke hunger in people for our Lord. Hunger for the missions feel, hunger for this. And that’s what we are doing, Church. This ministry is not just about telling you the 7 ways to have a successful marriage and all of that. As wonderful as that is, we don’t teach on marriage. I have a message called Christ, the center of happy marriages. Amen. And when we teach on parenting, it’s grace-based parenting. But above everything else, it’s when you teach on marriage you must teach on the Lord Jesus because it’s husband love your wife as Christ loves the Church.
A lot of people stop there. Unless you know how Christ loves the Church like in Song of Solomon you will never know how to love your wife. And He makes love with words, by the way. And some men have forgotten. They make love; that’s all. But in the Song of Solomon, He makes love with words. It’s very interesting, I find that they are provoked to seek after the Lord because of her depiction and description of the beauty of her Lord. And she was looking for the Lord because she was missing His presence. Now, He never leaves you but she’s missing the sense of His presence. And the way to get it back is when you find somebody to talk to about the beauty of the Lord. Amen.
Alright, that’s not my message. This will show you the wisdom that God has given this ministry regarding proclaiming the beauty of our Lord Jesus. Alright. It’s not an impractical message. It’s a most practical message. In fact sometimes you will stir people, you’ve got to love God more, you’ve got to have a desire for the loss to be saved, and you’ve got to have a passion for the loss of the mission fields. All of that is wonderful but you can be more from outside, which means that when you’re faced with trouble there’s nothing inside to carry you through. Whereas this, when people love the Lord, and they’re hungry for the Lord, it’s from within. And you would even suffer for his namesake.
Listen to me carefully. Alright, Christianity is something that if you want after the Lord the world will think you’re crazy. Have you suffered that before? If not, you’ve not followed after the Lord; you’re just a nominal Christian. But we’re not going to be nominal Christians; we’re going to be zealous for the Lord, passionate about His love and we love Him because He first loves us. And all of the people said, Amen.
Announcer: Thank you for tuning in to our broadcast. You have watched highlights of a sermon by Joseph Prince. To order an audio CD of the full sermon, which is approximately 60 minutes long, call the toll-free number at 1-877-901-4300 or visit us at JOSEPHPRINCE.ORG now.
Next, on Destined to Reign.
Joseph Prince: When the whole world, everything wrong will be right. No more wars, no more famine, no more children dyeing before their time. No more hospitals. I’m waiting for that kingdom. We’re very close, people. The prophet has brought men to God. He’s served his purpose. It’s a day of grace. It’s a day for the son of God. No more the servants of God but the son of God.
Announcer: You can enjoy provision, protection and unshakable peace today when you receive the gift of righteousness that Jesus has made forever yours. As a thank you for your gift of any amount, receive Joseph’s latest 3-CD audio series Forever Yours and the bonus Reign in Life 2015 Wall Calendar. Find out how you can enjoy every blessing in Christ. For a specific gift, we’ll send you the Forever Yours special gift collection that includes the brand-new Right Believing Capsule with 55 powerful messages that will change what you believe and change your life. This collection also contains Joseph’s latest The Power to Reign CD, DVD and journal set. Learn how you can triumph over sickness, lack and depression, and lead a victorious life in Christ. Request this collection to receive this and other exciting resources. For more information on how to order these resources, call us toll-free at 1-877-901-4300 or visit us at JOSEPHPRINCE.ORG today.
If you’ve been blessed by today’s message, we would like to give you an opportunity to partner with us to impact the world with the gospel of grace.
Joseph Prince: Under grace, God says I will be merciful to your unrighteousness. And your sins I will remember no more. There’s been a change; there’s been a change, Church. And it’s all because of Jesus.
Announcer: Dear friends, together we can impact the world for Jesus. Partner with us and be part of this grace revolution. Call us toll-free at 1-877-901-4300 or visit us at JOSEPHPRINCE.ORG/PARTNER today.
When you see Jesus as the great I Am, He becomes all that you need. For a specific gift to the Ministry, you can request this 3-CD audio series Unveiling Jesus. For more information on how to order this powerful resource, call us toll free at 1-877-901-4300 or visit us at JOSEPHPRINCE.ORG today.
Joseph Prince Ministries is a section of 501C3 non-profit organization, and your gift is tax-deductible for the amount that exceeds any fair market value of the materials that you receive from us. Joseph Prince Ministries believes that your tithes belong to your local church. Your donations to the ministry are received as offerings to support the preaching of the Gospel of Grace.