Joseph Prince - Jesus Brings Life to Dead Places
Remember this, let’s not be discouraged. You sit in a church, a good church. We just finished two weeks of preaching from Melchizedek and Abraham and how these two things were distinguishably seen very clearly, you know, right, elucidated even in Hebrews 7, that Melchizedek brought bread and wine, Abraham responded with the tithes. How many of you know that in this world, the biggest natural problems or challenges we have has got to do with these two areas? Either provision, we don’t have the provision, okay, even rich people worry about their money, you know, or… by the way, every banking industry in the world, every government in the world, is concerned about these two things, all right, money, enough money for the populace, and their health, these are two areas. And it’s covered by the Communion, and it’s covered by the tithe.
I’m gonna show you something beyond any dispute that God sees these two twins as the answer to our natural necessities of life in this, what we call, earthly life. He has given us the answer, and even there are churches who don’t even believe the importance of Communion relating to our health. We see it first in 2 Kings, chapter 4, verse 38. «Elisha returned to Gilgal». Very interesting, Gilgal is the place where it used to be a place of blessing. It was the first stop of Joshua and the people of Israel when they crossed the River Jordan. Gilgal is the place of the 12 stones. Gilgal is the place where they circumcised the kids that were not circumcised when they came out of Egypt for 40 years ago, all right, they circumcised, and it’s a place of blessing.
It’s a place where God says, «Gilgal, the name means rolling away of your shame, of your reproach». The cross is the place where our shame has been rolled away. And there was a famine in the land. So Elijah… don’t forget, say, it’s a time of famine. Say, time of famine. Now, I’m preparing you for the days to come, okay? We all know that the world is in a famine until Jesus returns, of course. Ever since our first parents fell in the Garden of Eden, the world has been in the famine, it’s always in the famine, but I’m speaking in terms of comparatively. We are entering a time of famine, okay. This message is the word of the season. The now word for you. There was a famine in the land.
«Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before,» Elisha, and Elisha «said to his servant, 'Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets. Put on a large pot, boil stew.'» Next verse, «So one went out into the field». Now, it’s already boiling. The stew is already there. But one joker, one of them, his name is not given and we don’t care, we don’t care who is it, but one person went out to try to improve what is already ready-made, what has been made. The prophet says, «Put on a large pot, put on stew on it». And he went, said that the stew would need some things that will make it even better. So he found the herbs and found a wild vine, and he thought it was a vine. And some people, they’re always into organic food and all that, here’s a message for you also. This is a wild vine, it’s not a homegrown vine, it’s a wild vine, organic vine.
«And gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds,» or cucumbers. The technical word for this is cocolinth, and they use this for medicine today, okay? But it can be poisonous, «wild gourds and came and sliced them into the pot of stew». Now he’s going by his eyes though they do not know what they were. In other words, he saw something shining. It looks ripe. It looks good. Adam and Eve, Eve saw the tree was good. It looks great, hallelujah. I think I can improve on what God has done for me only to find she lost everything. And he wanted to improve because it was shining. He took it, he cut it into the ready-made stew that were still sizzling.
Next verse, «Then they served it to the man to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, they cried out,» the sons of the prophets that is, «and said, 'Man of God, there is death in the pot! ' And they could not eat it». Do you know that the place of the pot, when I think about it, I was meditating on this, the pot is the place of food, isn’t it? It’s supposed to be a place of life. It’s a place of sustenance. It’s a place where you don’t expect to find death. It’s a place of nourishment, of life, not death. But instead now there’s death in the pot. I think about it, what is the typology here of the pot? I’m thinking people are looking for life, but instead they found death.
What is it that sustains life? What gives life? I know natural food, yes, but there’s a hidden truth here. So I think, all right, you can apply it to your own body, but it’s also the pulpit ministry because from here the word shall go forth that is supposed to be life-giving, and you don’t expect death to be in the pot. Are you listening people? So now the problem is this, there’s death in the pot, okay? «And they could not eat it». So they shout to the Man of God. At least they knew who to shout because Elisha, whose name God has salvation, is the type of our Lord Jesus Christ. And look at what Elisha said. «So he said, 'Then bring some flour. Bring some flour.'» What? «'Bring some flour.' And he put it into the pot, and said, 'Serve it to the people, that they may eat.' And there was nothing harmful in the pot».
Now, look up here people, the way of the world, if there’s something bad, is to remove it. God’s way, add something greater. Now, listen carefully, don’t misunderstand me, all right? The world today is still under the curse. We are blessed. We have been redeemed, but the world is under a curse, agreed? If you have good food, I mean, nice, really luscious-looking rice or potatoes or whatever, and then somebody put a bit of feces in it, fecal matter, but the fecal matter is minuscule, just a small bit, is it okay to eat entire food, no. So your son says, you know, «Daddy this movie is good, just that part only this, you know, there’s a naked lady, that’s all». I present him the food, say, «Eat». But just let you know, our little baby brother has a little participation here.
So the thing is this people, when clean, even clean is 90% clean and 10% dirty, what happens to the food? It’s dirty. What about water? You drink the best water, the water that has gone through filtration after filtration, amen? 3400, 6400 filtration. The best water in town. Okay, if you’re promoting this, I’m not knocking your… don’t get angry with me, okay? I’m just telling you what works even for your business. And you put a bit of poison, just a bit, a bit of drain water, okay, drain water. Will you drink it? No, why? Because uncleanness spreads. Uncleanness is worse than the good, no matter how much good it is. That’s the world we live in. There’s only one cure, when Jesus steps into a poisonous situation. And our Lord Jesus came into a time of famine.
Jesus walked among the regions of death. And wherever he was, people, nobody ever died in his presence. But there are evidence that wherever he went that someone is already dead, they were raised from the dead. Because he says, I am the resurrection and the life, amen? The Bible tells us he stepped into a situation, he came right into the midst of our necessities, our depression, our fall, and our curse. He moved among us. He was already in the palace somewhere in Jerusalem fellowshipping only the elite people, the elitist group. He was among the poor, he was among the people, and whoever touched him, power.
The Bible says, I love the King James, «Virtue went out of him and healed them all». And I’m telling you, walking down the path, and I’ve walked down that path, they uncovered that path, the 2,000-year-old path of the village of Bethsaida. And I put my pastors on either side lying on the ground. We took a video of it. I’m Jesus, lah. And it’s such a small path, we thought it was a big road, and the Bible says, «They lay up people on the streets on either side». I can understand now. And as many as touch his ropes, touch his hand. Can you see the scene?
All sick people lying down there on their stretcher, all right, with their crutches and all that, crying, wrapped up in bandages, smelly. It’s a terrible sight of broken humanity. And the Prince of Peace came, the Son of God. The Father loved him so. He is the fine flour. And he came, and they all touch him, they touch his robe, they touch his fingers, and behind him, in front everyone is still on the ground, behind everyone start walking. Those of you who are movie directors and all that, take note. This is amazing. I love it. I love the picture of it. As many as touch him were made whole. There was virtue in Him in the regions of death. There’s resurrection in him. He is, not that he has, the resurrection and the life. «Bring some flour».
If you look at flour in the five offerings in Leviticus, we have one offering that is not typical of his death. All the other four are types of his death. There’s only one that is of his life, and that’s the flour offering or grain offering. Look at Leviticus 2 here real quick. «When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour». Fine flour, ladies know this, when you touch it, you can hardly feel it. It’s so, like, powder, fine flour, fine. It’s so fine, it’s fine. You touch it, and it’s so soft. There’s nothing coarse, nothing uneven. Our Lord Jesus, there is nothing coarse about his style, his words, his ways. There’s nothing uneven. No one characteristic in him preponderance. That’s not, like, when he’s firm, all right, he does not hurt.
When he is serving and washing feet, he’s not servile. There’s still a princeliness about him. He is totally balanced in all his character. Truthful, but kind. Jesus is fine four in every action. Look at this, «And he shall pour oil on it». Oil is the Holy Spirit so it’s earthly life. He’s fine flour, and he’s anointed of the Holy Spirit. Every word, every action was motivated, prompted, led by the Spirit, amen. «And put frankincense on it». That means every thought, every word, every deed goes up like sweet smelling perfume to God. Oh, what material for our holy meditation, people. We can just think of this. Sometimes I’m exercising, and my mind is so free, you know. I’m walking down the road, climbing up a hill or whatever, I start meditating on, I just say, «Fine flour, fine flour».
That’s all my breath can give me, «Fine flour». I mean, exercising, you don’t say, you know, one long verse, right? You say, «Fine flour, fine flour». Then I’ll say, «Oil». Or I’ll say, «Frankincense». Everything about him, the father loves it, you know. The Father loves to hear about the Son. You see, when he was born, you drop down, then, you know what they do? By the way, it’s burnt «offering made by fire, sweet aroma to the Lord,» all right? «A sweet aroma to the Lord». It’s all burned. Drop down, they make cakes out of it, the flour, they make matzah bread. And notice, there are two things mentioned, fine flour, the cakes of «unleavened cakes of fine,» this matzah bread, «mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil».
Remember, in the virgin womb, the divine Son of God was mixed with oil. And that’s why the angel Gabriel told Mary, «That holy thing, which is conceived in your womb, shall be called the Son of God. The Holy Spirit shall overshadow you». That’s how she will have the baby. There was no human participation. «The Holy Spirit will overshadow you». He was mixed with oil. His whole person was mixed with oil in his mother’s womb. Then, when he was 30 years old, the next one, he was «anointed with oil». Now anointing comes on, mixes within, anointing is upon. He came out the River Jordan, and the Holy Spirit came. By the way, those who believe Jesus only, Jesus the Father, Jesus the Holy Spirit, Jesus is Jesus, they call it Jesus Only, have a problem here because when he came out the water, the Father spoke, «You are my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased».
The Holy Spirit came like a dove. We have three divine persons, one God. So Jesus Only people have to say that he was practicing ventriloquism. Triune God, one God, people, one God. Triune God. Can I have a good amen? All right, so «Bring some flour,» back to that again. «'Bring some flour and serve it to the people that they may eat.' There was nothing harmful in the pot». Pastors and leaders, our sermons are not perfect, none of us. So make sure we have the Lord Jesus in our sermons. At least it will purify the rest of the unclean elements in our sermon. In every sermon, there is a human opinion. In every sermon, there is a tradition. In every sermon, there is a ignorance being manifested. But when you put the Lord Jesus in it, it will purify the rest.
I told you, in this world, a curse, the unclean make the clean unclean. But when you put Jesus, he’s the only one greater than uncleanness. When he touched the unclean, it becomes clean. When the flower went into the pot, all the death went out. Our Lord Jesus stepped into the cauldron of death at the cross for you and I. And you know who stepped out? Our Lord Jesus. You know who was left behind? Death, death had to kowtow to the only man that ever made it bow before him. Every man is afraid of death. The Son of God, the Bible says, for this reason he took on human flesh and blood, that true death. In other words, the Christmas story, he became a baby to die.
So there is a body to die. And why die? That true death, he might destroy him who had the power of death that is the devil, amen? Okay, come on. Then we come to this story, it’s only seven verses by the way, we come to the next story. «Then a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits». See the word «then»? It seems the Holy Spirit linked these two miracles together. It is about the tithe, and it’s about Communion. Because today, the way we practically receive the fine flour is through Communion as well. That’s why the Lord says, «Do this in remembrance of me».
So, Communion… you know, the devil has backlash. He will attack you. Last week, I preached on Communion. The entire sermon was on Communion, right? And you know what happened this week? My boy fell sick. On Thursday, he had a high fever, and during his life as a baby, I mean, he’s only here for two and a half years, but throughout his life, all right, his career as a baby and an infant and now a toddler, he never had temperature up to 39.5, which is very high at 39.5. And doctors will tell you 39 is really a mark off point, but 39.5, and I was stunned, and I didn’t know what to do. Of course, the devil will throw thoughts in your mind and say, «Now, where is your Communion teaching? You know, you gotta rush to the hospital right now. Bring your boy there, all right, or else it’ll be in your hands».
And it’s, like, you know, the counter-attack. So that night, when he came down with 39.5, tried to put him to bed, he was crying. And I took Communion that night on his behalf. And then the next day when I got up, I took Communion to him, all right? Then I said, «Justin, this is Jesus’s body. Eat it». And his temperature was still high at that time. He ate it, and I brought him to my study. I put him on my lap, and we were reading some Bible stories, all right, Jesus healing the leper. He didn’t wanna play, running around, so he just was quiet, you know. I can literally feel with my lips and my hands on his body, which is warm, slowly, slowly becoming cooler and cooler. His fever broke that day.
And thank you for your prayers for those who know about it. He’s okay, amen, no more fever. And I’m telling you, I literally felt the fever go down. And this time it wasn’t me taking, it was him taking. So the thing is this, when the devil comes and says, «See, it doesn’t work,» that’s the time to persevere, my friend. Tribulation arises for the Word’s sake. What is it? Trying to remove the Word. All right, go back to the story again. «Then a man,» it seems the Holy Spirit put these two stories together. One is to combat the answer to the time of famine, the other is provision. Look at this, «A man came from Baal Shalisha, and he brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits».
This is the tithe, B’churim in Hebrew. «twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack». And he said, «Give it to the people, that they may eat». The man of God says, «Give it to the people, that they may eat». And the servant of the man of God said, «his servant said, 'What? Shall I set this before one hundred men? '» It’s not enough for 100 men. The man of God «said again, 'Give it to the people, that they may eat; ' for thus says the Lord: 'They shall eat and have some left over.' So he set it before them; and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord».
Friend, they brought the tithe. That’s the reason why this nation at that time was in a time of dearth, of famine. The tithe was not being brought. It’s not supposed to be brought to even a prophet. It’s supposed to be brought to the sons of Aaron who, at this time, was ousted out of the land. Everything was not in its place anymore. It was all in disorder and confusion. And that’s why there’s a man who was sincere, he says, «I still want to tithe, but where do I go to»? He went to Elisha. And not only provisions float and float, there was leftovers, y’all, leftovers. I love the leftovers. What does God always have?
By the way, does this story remind you of something? Does this story remind you of something and someone? Our Lord Jesus Christ, remember that, amen? And the Bible says… by the way, there are two differences between Jesus and Elisha, all right? One is size of the miracle, the other is the style of the miracle. The size, Elisha fed 100 men. Our Lord Jesus fed 5,000 men, not counting women and children, which probably about 15,000 to 20,000. There’s always more women and children than men. And they had 12 basketful left over. So in everything, he has the preeminence.
The style, notice how Elisha did it. Elisha had to say, «Thus says the Lord». Jesus didn’t have to say, «Thus says the Lord». Why? He is the Lord. Elisha has to use the name of the Lord. He has to use the Word of the Lord. But Jesus is his name. Jesus is the Word of God become flesh. Our Lord Jesus is the Word that Elisha used to feed the people. He was a servant. Our Lord Jesus is in the class, a place, a standing of his own that no one can come to, amen, people? Why, in both cases, there is leftover? Leftover in this story, there’s leftover there. Because God wants you to know his provision always, always, is greater than your need, amen? It’s a story of, in my father’s house, is bread enough and to spare. It always exceeds your need. The love of our Lord Jesus, his love is as large as his power. And there is no measure or end to it. And you can say his power is as large as his love, immeasurable.