The Harvest Is Ripe!

(From radio broadcast of Bro. Julius Adewumi)

So, faith first of all, must believe that God is able to do all things. Secondly, faith must have confidence in the Lord, that when he calls, God will answer. Thirdly, faith must begin to confess that he has the answer before he receives it.

Daniel said "give me time and I will get the interpretation". He was certain God would give him.

The Lord Jesus gave us similar exhortation when he said, "whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith." That is, believe that what you say shall come to pass and it shall come to pass.

Daniel demonstrated this to us in this story. He said he would get the interpretation. Have confidence in your God. Confess what you believe.

v.17 :"Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon."

v.18: "Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision."

The second point Daniel showed to us from this story is that he called his prayer group together to pray about this. Therefore, you must be a man of prayer to get things happen. Faith demands prayer, interceding with God. Being able to talk to God and get answer. Daniel was a man of prayer as we see in other chapters. He said he prayed three times a day when there was not any major request. He faced Jerusalem three times a day, giving thanks to God. You need also to be a man of prayer. How often do you pray my friend? Maybe when you wake up in the morning, or perhaps when you are about to sleep. Let's do more than that. Daniel prayed three times a day, for which he was thrown into the lions' den.

In the book of psalms, king David said "seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgment." (Psa.119: 164). How often do you pray my friend? How often do you praise the Lord? This is one of the things the men of old did that gave them great reward from God.

In the book of Acts, the apostles went to the temple to pray at the hours of prayer. What they call "the hour of prayer" was the third hour, the sixth hour, or the ninth hour; that is, every three hours. When Paul's team was evangelizing, it was said that they went aside to pray at the "hour of prayer". They were used to praying every three hours. (9AM,12noon,3PM etc). They also prayed consistently. We believers should take time to pray regularly, fellowshipping with the Lord.

Because Daniel and his friends prayed and believed God, God revealed the secret to Daniel.

Now after you have believed, confessed, and prayed, the answer will come. Let's now see how Daniel reacted when he received the answer.

v.20: "Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter."

Faith must thank God for what you get. It is very important that you thank God; this prepares you for the next time you come with a request.

Next, Daniel went before the king to relate the dream. Let's see again some characters of Daniel we need to emulate.

Daniel went to the captain of the guard and said "bring me before the king, I have the interpretation". They brought him before the king in haste, and said to the king, we have found someone who will show the king the interpretation.

v.26: The king answered and said to Daniel,… art thou able to make known unto me the dream, which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?

Now I want you to listen closely to how Daniel humbled himself. Because as we talk about faith, these are all the attributes God wants you to have, to get you what you desired. God wants you to have humility before him. "Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up." (James 4:10).

Daniel humbled himself to make the people and the king know that he was not somebody special, but that it was only God to be praised in the whole episode. It was the God of heaven that needed to be praised in this story here.

v.27: Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, The secret, which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king. But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these:

v.29: "As for thee O, king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass."

i.e what caused this dream to come to the king is that he was thinking about what will come in the future and the God of heaven made it known to him in a dream what will come in the future.

Now Daniel was going to take himself out of the equation right now.

v.30: "But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart."

i.e. God did not want those wise men to be destroyed, God also wanted Nebuchadnezzar to know the thoughts of his heart. God searcheth the hearts of men.

You can see the humility that Daniel showed in interpreting the dream. So when we have faith, our faith is to glorify God. Just like Daniel glorified God in this story, showing that it is the God of heaven who must be praised and not him. He pointed out that God searches the hearts and the thoughts of men. Even upon your bed, God searches your thoughts. And God can reveal what you are thinking to you, as He did to Nebuchadnezzar. God also will judge the thoughts and the intents of the heart, therefore we must let our thoughts be pure.

In summary, confess what you want to get from God, believe that you receive it. Have confidence in your God. Christ said, "ye believe in God, believe also in me." Have confidence in the word of the Lord.

He said, "if ye abide in me and my word abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." Have confidence in the Lord that it shall be done unto you as ye have walked in him.

Believing that you have received it and you shall have it. Also humble yourself. Confess that it is God that is doing this, and not because of your special holiness, God is good. And if God is good to you, he can be good to those people you are telling also. "The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his work". If you believe this, when you are confessing God, take yourself out of the equation. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (Jn.3:16).

When we give testimony, we must remember that God is good and he wants to show his goodness to all.

From this story of Daniel, we can see how Daniel spoke so that Nebuchadnezzar would see God revealing the secret and not Daniel.

Now, let's see how Nebuchadnezzar reacted.

Even though the king fell before Daniel and asked for oblation to be offered to him, but he confessed:

v.47: The king answered unto Daniel and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret."

See what I mean? Like Daniel, Our life and our gifts and our testimonies must be to glorify our God. Anything short of that is not good enough. Give glory to God, after you have received your answer, and when you are testifying before men.

The heathen king, Nebuchadnezzar, confessed and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.

This is the God we worship and we are showing to you. If you are not a Christian, accept the Lord Jesus as your Lord and savior today. He is the revealer of secrets, the soon coming king of the heaven and earth.

Jesus is this God of Daniel who manifested in the flesh, and gave himself to die for you, rose again by himself and went back to heaven, and he said "wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

"For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."(1Cor.15:25-26).

Christ must continue to reign in the heavens until all enemies are put under his feet. But we are the subjects that have not come up yet. Death is an enemy. Sin, sickness are enemies. When it says all enemies should be put under his feet (including death), remember, Jesus Christ has already conquered death and all, because we know he rose from the dead and he is reigning supreme in the spirit now as the head of all principalities and powers. (Col.2:10). But Apostle Paul's letter portrayed that "he must reign till all enemies are put under his feet". That was also written in Psalm 110:1 that "the Lord said unto my Lord, sit down at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool." The revelation of this statement is that "WE", the church, are the body of Christ. We are the ones represented in that statement. Christ is the head of the church, and we are the body, down through to the feet, which are the end-of-the-age believers. Remember the symbol interpreted as kingdoms of the world in the vision of Nebuchadrezzar, in the book of Daniel chapter 2. Christ has already conquered; but we, as his body, are yet to have all the enemies, especially sickness and death, (physical death), put under our feet. This is the age (at the feet) in which God will do it! At the "feet" of Christ shall all enemies be subdued! Christ will continue to reign until that is done. Then we, human being, can reign with him. We are not reigning at all now; we are suffering on earth as long as sicknesses still attack believers and death separate loved ones.

"I will ransome them from the power of the grave, and I will redeem them from the earth. O death, I will be thy plague; O grave, I will be thy destruction!" (Hosea 13:14).

If you cannot believe this, check yourself! All enemies must be put under His feet. When Christ has completed to put death under the feet of his true church, His purpose will be fulfilled. Those who do not belong to his body may really not believe this, nor be part of this, "for He shall reign till he has put all enemies under his feet" (the church's feet), and "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." But we have to follow him, and keep his saying so that we can be part of those that will partake of the power of the world to come. He said "if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death."(Jn.8:51).

In Ezekiel 33:11, it says "As I live saith the Lord, I will have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked forsake his way and live." God said he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, how much more in the death of the saints. In fact, Psalm 116:15 said, "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints". You see? the will of the Lord is already written down in the scriptures. Whether for the wicked or for the saints, God has no pleasure in their death. It is so precious for any saints of God to die. That is the whole idea why Christ has come to abolish death. He has come to deliver us, who through fear of death were subject to bondage as written in Heb.2:14-15.

Let's remember the ministry of the Lord Jesus. In Jn.5:28-29,Christ said "the hour cometh in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ...".Let me ask you one question. Can we Christians lay claim on the fact that Christ has made us sons of God? Is that not what salvation is all about? Salvation implies that we have been adopted into the household of God. We become sons of God. Jn.1:12 said "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." Now that we are sons of God, it said we are "joint-heirs" with Christ, according to Romans 8:15-17. If we are joint-heirs with Christ, doesn't that mean we are entitled to "some" of the powers that Jesus Christ has? Oh yes! Now let's see what Jesus Christ said that he has, as a Son of God.

In Jn.5:20-21,26, it says "For as the father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them , even so the son quickeneth whom he will". "For as the father hath life in himself, so has he given to the son to have life in himself ...".This tells us that Jesus Christ, as a Son of God, when he was on earth, has the immortal power to quicken the dead and bring them back to life. He said the Father has this power in Himself, and has given to the son to have this power in himself also. Now if we can claim the same right as sons of God, because we are now adopted as sons, "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God", it means we also, individual sons of God, should come to the "level" of this son-ship, whereby we can also have life in ourselves and quicken anybody we will, to bring them back to life. That is the full redemption, which he promised for mankind, when the seed of Adam can control this planet, visible and invisible. This is full redemption! When we come to the stature of the fullness of Christ, such power will be in-dwelling us.

Someone may say, "we are far from that yet". Yes, we are far from that, but "faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God."

I am preaching the word of God to you, friend, so that when you know that this is the power which Jesus, as the Son of God, manifested upon earth, He has shown to us what we can become if we grow up to be like him. Of course the Lord Jesus is God manifested in the flesh (1Tim.3:16). Christ is telling us that as the son of God, he has this power to quicken anybody he wills, to raise up anybody from the dead; He also is saying to us that when we come to the fullness of the stature of Christ, we will have this power. Jn.1:12 says "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God." The power is in us when we have the Holy Ghost. But it said " ..to become sons of God". "So we are to become what Jesus Christ manifested on earth. We have to work with the Holy Ghost by submitting to him and become what Jesus Christ manifested on earth. (1Cor.12:7).

You may ask: "are we not sons of God already, since we are born again?" I said we should become "what Jesus Christ manifested on earth": SONSHIP POWER INDEED!

For example, I have little children. They are so little I cannot put them in my car and say, "here is the key, go ride the car." They can't drive the car; they are too little; but they are my children. I want my son to become a son indeed who can take my car and go wherever he wants. I want them to grow up. When they are little babies, sure, they are my children. They have the right, but cannot use it because they do not know how to use it. Similarly, when we are born again, we are sons of God, but we have to grow up and come to the stature of the Son of God, the level of Christ. That is why it says in Ephesians 4:11-13, "till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man; unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." We have to walk with Jesus; we have to understand that the power manifested in Christ, which he said is in him to quicken the dead, this power is for the son-ship. It's for anyone that arrives to that level of the stature of the Son of God. To this end, He has given everyone who is a Christian the power to become the son of God. We have to use it and grow up to the stature or level of son-ship. (Rev.12:5).

I do not think everyone of us will reach this stature before we depart from this planet. That is the sad part of it. However, the first-fruits must arrive. (Rev.14:1-5). But the word of God has been given out. This is the will of God. As we said, "THE WILL OF GOD HAS BEEN WRITTEN DOWN IN THE SCRIPTURES."

Jn.5:21 says "As the father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth whom he will." We also, as sons of God, should be able to raise anybody back to life. This is part of the full redemption.

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