He Said unto Them, "Follow Me"
HEADLINE:
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Matthew 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw
two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into
the sea: for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I
will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and
followed him.
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I used to wonder about the calling of Jesus' disciples. Why did those guys stop whatever they were
doing and follow him? They did not
protest or question why should they do that when they were busy with their own
tasks for the day. Jesus might have been
an acquaintance, but surely they did not know him. And yet they all STOPPED whatever activity
they were doing and followed him. When I
read the accounts of the calling of the disciples in the Gospels, I questioned
the "strangeness" of it all. I
thought if Jesus had come in our time, he would have gotten a different
response. If an unknown person walked up
to one of us and said, "Follow me", one response would be, "Who
are you and what do you want"!
"I am working and I can't walk off my job with a person I do not
know"! "Where are you
going? What's in it for me"? Those are the kinds of responses that men in
our time would certainly have replied to him.
It took a little time for me to grasp the fact that Father-God had Jesus
role-playing and "acting out" the very purpose he was created to
do. It seemed bizarre that perfectly
normal and sane men would drop everything they were doing in life and follow a
"stranger" without a quibble or protest. To me that is abnormal.
The problem for the world and for me and men of his day is
Jesus was not an "ordinary man"!
He looked like the Jews of his time period. However he was special to God and to our
Family, but none of that was known to men.
He was "just another guy" as I would have said in my day. You read of Jesus' birth to Mary and Joseph;
how the angels sang at his birth; and Simeon prophesied about his future
works. But none of this was common news
widely held by the people in his time.
In our HEADLINE you see where two fishermen brothers were called by
Jesus, and they dropped their nets and followed him. I thought that was weird. Suddenly their means of income and getting
food for their families and to sell their catch lost its importance to
them. Maybe it was curiosity that got
the best of them. But they had to see
what was to this man.
Little did I know WHO JESUS IS. After years of reading the Bible, Father
finally revealed to me the magnitude and greatness of His Firstborn Son, Matthew 11:25-27. Here is Jesus' JOB DESCRIPTION:
Isaiah 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou
shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the
preserved of Israel
He also was Father's ATONEMENT LAMB through whom He would
"remove the sins of the world" by his shed blood, Isaiah 53:3-11,
John 1:29. For his trouble Father gave
him all the children He created as His personal possession and heritage, but
there is a catch. He has to call them one
by one by their God-given Heavenly names.
They are Father's paycheck to Jesus for his services. After Jesus rose up to Heaven, Father sat him
on His Throne and made him ruler over all things. And Jesus began to do his PRIMARY JOB, to
call the children Home from hell below, John 10:27-28, 5:25-28. Every 24 hrs. Father gives Jesus a list of
names to call out loud. Men on earth are
God's sheep who have those special names no one has heard before, Ezekiel 34:31. Father opens the "spirit ears" of
the children with those names. Each
child hears his true name for the first time and Father IMMEDIATELY TRANSPORTS
HIM TO PARADISE and perfection school Hebrews 12:22-24.
No one knew the exact details of Jesus' appointment. We know now that when the spirits of men hear
their TRUE NAME, Father draws them from their flesh bodies like a flash of
lightning, but the body remains behind to return to dust. When Jesus began his ministry on Earth,
everything that happened when he called his disciples was EXACTLY ACCORDING TO
HIS ROLE. When he calls names, the
living spirit sons and daughters leave their bodies, (ie. Lazarus and the rich
man, Luke 16:19-26), and rise to God's Throne to STAND before Him! When I began reading the Bible, I did not
know the details of how special Jesus is to God, nor was I aware of what he is
assigned to do. Therefore the account of
the calling of the disciples seemed "unrealistic" to me. I bought it, but it did not make sense to my
carnal mind. Now that I know God's
purpose and the work assigned to Jesus, the disciples had to ACT IN CHARACTER
WITH JESUS' ROLE! When Jesus calls one's
true name, the rising is IMMEDIATE.
There is no quibbling or protests, no questioning the decision. The living spirits of men FOLLOW HIM without
protest!
Psalms 22:27 All the ends of the world shall remember and
turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before
thee. 28 For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the
nations. 29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they
that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own
soul. 30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a
generation. 31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a
people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
No man knows the day nor the hour
When Jesus calls, he is merely reading and calling numbered
names on the list Father gives him. All
men on Earth have one of the names of that daily list. Now let me finish that sub-heading. No man
knows the day nor the hour when the spirits of men will return to Heaven! You may be driving on the highway when he
calls. Your car will be mangled by
another car. You may be in surgery having
an appendectomy when he calls. You may
be eating in a restaurant and in the process of swallowing when you hear your
name. Someone might be out jogging when
he hears his TRUE NAME! Another person
will be sleeping in bed when he hears his true name. Here is what happened to me and a friend at
work. He and I were talking and as he
walked past me, Jesus called his name.
He had a heart attack on the spot and died before the paramedics could
get there. THAT EVENT WAS A STUNNER TO
ME! He was my friend, and I had to ask
"WHY" did God do that to me and him.
He showed me HIS AUTHORITY suddenly "in my face", and there
was nothing I could do about it! I know
the answer now. His TRUE NAME and birth
number was next on Jesus' list, and Jesus called it out loud. He had to RISE! I did not know all this at that time. It had nothing to do with hurting me by
taking my friend while we were talking! I had an up close and personal encounter with
the work of the Father and the son! They
do not ask! They just call the name and
you are "out of here"! Then it
is "NEXT" ... Romans 14:7-13.
Isaiah 66:18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it
shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come,
and see my glory. 21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites,
saith the LORD. 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make,
shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name
remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and
from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith
the LORD.
Light appears TOO BRIGHT for the darkened mind, and one
needs a hand or visor to shade down the brilliance of the light beams. No one can understand a BOOK with SEVEN SEALS
on it. When He opens your understanding,
then texts that seemed weird and cryptic come into clear focus and one can see and
appreciate the beauty of God's secret BOOK!
I understand now why the disciples FOLLOWED HIM without a quibble or a
protest!
God is a great Teacher!
He does not give a baby understanding of complex things right away. Would you expect a 3rd grader to understand
the complexities of calculus? Just
because I could read words back in the 1950's and I picked up my Bible and
started reading the Gospels about how Jesus called the disciples, I could not
be expected to grasp the magnitude of who Jesus is. Now I know him and why the disciples had to
follow him the way they did! Praise God! And thank you, Father, for showing me this so
I can share it with your children! Amen!
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