Are we borrowing from old ways to build The Great Wall quenching the Spirit?

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A fundamental problem with many churches and Christians is that they think it is okay to “borrow” from the old covenant’s way of man working for God in order to please Him and then incorporate these “borrowed ways” into the New Covenant’s Way of Spirit-empowerment.  They simply don’t understand many verses that talk about the old covenant versus the chadash, kainos New Covenant like Jeremiah 31:31-34.  God says that the New Covenant is “absolutely in no way in possibility or fact, like the covenant that I had made with their (the Jews) forefathers.”  Chadash or kainos means “fresh, completely different-in-kind, unprecedented, sharing nothing with its predecessors, unique, and superior.”

Every term and every practice of the Jews under the ‘old’ was replaced or redefined under the ‘New,’ because the ‘old’ was but a “shadow, model, type, figure, or symbol” corresponding to “substance or realities” in the ‘New.  The Son replaced Moses; the unconditional-favor-of-grace replaced the Torah Law of conditional-favor; Salvation by trusting-relying-faith in Christ’s obedience replaced salvation by trusting-relying-faith in our own obedience; The Light replaced Moses’ veil that hid God’s glory; “The Promise” of the indwelling Spirit writing God’s torah/nomos principles/instruction on our hearts replaced the Torah Law of conditional-favor written on stone and with pen; The “One Teacher” of Christ and His Spirit’s knowledge now given first to the ‘least and last’ before ‘the greatest or firsts’ has replaced a hierarchy of human teachers from the greatest to the least; Christ as the living logos Word/Message of God replaced the graphe scripture writings as the “Word of God”; Christ’s logos gospel message of The Truth as the preached “Word of God” during the church age replaced all gramma writings; Directly-spoken/heard prophetic rhema words from God through “prophecy, dreams, and visions” by a few of God’s servants in the old has been replaced by these now for “ALL of God’s sons and daughters, ALL His men and maid servants,” and the Spirit now gives a “variety of grace-gifts into us, a variety of services through us, and a variety of effectual workings into others through us.”  Radical replacement or redefinition has occurred!

What else changed in Jeremiah 31:31-34?  1)  The Torah/Nomos instruction of God is no longer written on stone tablets or with pen & ink, “but I will put my Torah within them – I will write it on their hearts.” Remember that Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:3 that the “letter from Christ delivered by us” was “written, absolutely by no means with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, absolutely in no way on tablets of stone but instead on tablets of human hearts,” because Paul was referring to those Christians being Christ’s “letter,” just as every Christian is the expression of God’s will in the world – see Logos Word of God – BT20.  2)  Therefore, “absolutely no longer in possibility or fact shall they need to teach one another to experientially, relationally yada/ginosko know the Lord,’ for My people shall actually all eido mentally ‘see’ to perceive/know Me, the word most used for a prophet’s vision, 3)  This dissemination of the knowledge of God via scripture is no longer top-down through a hierarchy of authoritative teachers like Moses to Aaron to his sons to the Levite men to all men to their wives and finally to children, but now “eido seeing God” will be “from the least of them to the greatest.”  “God shows no partiality” per Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Galatians 2:6, but “reveals the secrets of the kingdom to little children and keeps them hidden from the so-called wise and learned” per Matthew 11:25, and finally 4) 613 OT laws don’t have to be exactly obeyed for sin to be forgiven, but instead God says, “Therefore, I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”  Notice that there is no conditions to be met, no resources to acquire, no skills to acquire, no work to be done, and no innate power to exercise.  No more of man’s “might and power” is needed!  God goes direct and eliminates all the middle men.  He does it all!  All that’s left is to fully surrender control to His Spirit’s power!

The 2 covenants are completely different-in-kind, sharing nothing!  A not= B and A not –> B.  There’s 100s of verses in the OT and NT that bare all this out!  Borrowing from the ‘old’ (A) for the ‘New’ (B) is like trying to put “old wine in new wine skins, or sewing a new patch on old garments – both are ruined,” just as Jesus explained in Matthew 9:16-17; Mark 2:21-22; Luke 5:36-38 why He and His disciples weren’t following ‘old’ rules like fasting.  Then why are Christians today?

As Christian musicians, we are building the Great Wall quenching the Holy Spirit every time we borrow from the old covenant and try to mix it into the New Covenant, or likewise borrow from the flesh or this world to further the kingdom.  That includes worship music!

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Why is any of this important to worship musicians?

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Because their music will never be what God intended “by the Spirit” (B) unless they stop using “by the flesh” (A) “might and power” external resources and internal abilities to try “perfecting” the things of the Spirit like worship, just as mathematically A not –> B.  They must surrender control of these “fleshly, natural-man, worldly-success” (A) things.  Neither should “by the Spirit” (B) musicians think they are “free” to now tinker around with things “by the flesh” (A) and still get the same results because they are forgiven and under grace, just as mathematically B not –> A.  They will lose their anointing (B) that fast!  The Holy Spirit wants 100% control, so as soon as we interrupt Him with our “plans, programs, schedules, and pride of our own skill” (A), He will take His anointing (B) away ASAP and “go to the least among us.”  He simply won’t be controlled by men, as He has told me often!  He will not be suppressed or quenched – He will not fight back for He is infinitely gentle, but He simply moves on to those who are surrendered to His control.  Thank God, however, that He will speak to us gently about where we went wrong.  But listening is still our choice!

Many “ministers” are building their churches and music on their own “might and power.” They simply have not seen how the completely different-in-kind New Covenant Way of the Spirit is absolutely nothing like the old covenant way of man’s “might and power,” by definition and language and context of every verse that speaks about this, sharing absolutely no common elements, and that the “ways” of operating in each are completely different-in-kind!

As Christian musicians, we will never get to where God wants us in our worship music until we abandon all that unbelieving musicians rely on to make “successful” music.  Until we surrender ALL of the flesh’s natural abilities, we will never experience the supernatural abilities of the Spirit.  The 2 oppose each other!  Nothing in the old covenant can be “borrowed” for the completely different-in-kind New Covenant.  The Holy Spirit will not compete with man for control.  If we want supernatural results, we will have to “offer our members as living sacrifices, and wait upon the Lord for His filling and empowerment.

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But there is another side of this A not= B and B not= A equation

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Paul said in Galatians 5:17, “The things of the Spirit (B) are against/oppose to the things of the flesh (A), so that ‘you’, that is the Spirit-born, Spirit-kind of person you have become – see Identity, will not be able to ‘accomplish or perfect’ the things that are begun in the flesh.”  In math that looks like: B not–> A because B not= A.  The fleshly things of the natural man without the Spirit of God (A) are simply natural to them.  But they are unnatural to the person in/of the Spirit!  The dominion rule of the Spirit of God is now causing that person to not be able to do what was previously natural to do.  Wow!  Because the flesh and Spirit are opposites, nothing from one can lead you into the other!

That’s why Paul said you have to leave Romans chapter 7 in order to get to chapter 8, which is all about the completely different-in-kind New Life in the Spirit.  After Paul takes a big detour in chapters 9-11 to talk about how God’s sovereign plan fits in with man’s free will and particularly how Israel fits into the plan, Paul resumes in chapter 12 about continuing this surrender of our control to the Spirit for zoe genuine-life.

There is no sliding scale transition from “by the flesh” life, even if it is very religious like Jews are, from chapter 7 (A) to “by the Spirit” zoe genuine-life in chapter 8 (B).  No matter where you think you are on the 1-10 scale of “flesh A” in chapter 7, you can’t decrease “flesh” by simply adding “Spirit” until you finally get to 0 flesh, or mathematically:  A not–> B by adding more B to decrease A.  Also, once you cross over to chapter 8 “Spirit B” life, you can’t simply add “flesh A” ideas to decrease the “Spirit” scale until it finally gets to 0 because: B not–> A.  They are 2 completely different-in-kind births, lives, scales, and you can’t smoothly transition from one to the other in either direction!  You are either “by the flesh A” or “by the Spirit B.”  You can’t mix them in any way!  But that doesn’t keep you from living “by the flesh A” or “by the Spirit B” within either scale.  Paul’s point and the point God was making to me, is that you can’t “finish, accomplish, or end” one scale using “resources” from the other scale.  They simply don’t mix!  Yet, that’s exactly what I see so many Christians and musicians doing – “borrowing” from “the flesh A” success resources of “might and power” to help improve (they think) the “things of the Spirit B” like evangelism and worship.  You can’t use the things of Romans chapter 7 to live in the Romans chapter 8.

Then how do we get from the “flesh A chapter 7” to the “Spirit B chapter 8” in order to switch Identities?  We have to come to the end of our “flesh A chapter 7” rope, to the end of ourselves, to the end of our “might and power” (A) and surrender our control completely to Jesus!  We must agree with Paul as a Jewish-Christian in Romans 7:23-24, 26 “Although I delight in the Torah Law of conditional-favor of God in my inner being (spirit B – see Identity), I see in my flesh (soul and body A – see Identity) another law (a) waging war . . . making me captive to the law of sin (b) that actually, ongoingly dwells in my flesh (A).  O wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this flesh (A) of death?”  Paul isn’t telling us to somehow improve upon the flesh (A) or to use the “might and power” of his flesh (A) to improve upon his dire situation.  He said that he needed to be delivered (c) from it!  Jesus said to proseuchomai conversationally-pray, “Deliver us from the evil [one]” (d).  Paul quoted: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion” (e), and was confident “The Lord shall actually deliver me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom” (f).  We need a way out, not a way to better a bad situation!  <Notes> a) nomos as “principle or instruction”, b) Paul speaks much about the OT Law multiplying sin:  1 Corinthians 15:56; Romans 5:20, c) rhuomai: snatched or drawn up/out from, rescued, d) Matthew 6:13, e) Romans 11:26 citing Isaiah 59:20, f) 2 Timothy 4:18.

Until we get this revelation of ourselves and cry out for the answer, and until we are willing to “let go and let God” by surrendering we will never get to Romans 7:25:  “Thanks be to God – it is through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  But Paul knows exactly where he is at as a Jewish-Christian, even though he has just now confessed the source of his deliverance!  It hasn’t come yet, because “I myself actually, presently/ongoingly serve the Torah Law of conditional-favor of God with my mind (a), but with my flesh (b) I actually, presently/ongoingly serve the law (c) of sin.”  Surrendering our control is the only way out!  It’s absolute! <Notes> a) he often uses mind interchangeably with heart and spirit, b) soul and body, c) nomos as “principle or instruction.”

Surrender doesn’t just happen once to get you into the Spirit B chapter 8, but must happen routinely to keep you in Romans 12:1 to keep the “Spirit” scale rising:  “I appeal to your brethren . . . to definitively/wholly present your soma bodies (A) as a living sacrifice, holy (consecrated) and acceptable to God, [which is] your logikos logical/rational latreia liturgical ritual service.”  Instead of going to the Jewish temple or today’s church services to go through a bunch of rituals for God to please God, we can take the “shell” of our person and definitively/wholly offer that to God as our liturgical service of sacrifices.  This is exactly what “let go (A) and let God (B)” means!  That’s how we get from A –> B.

As Christian musicians, you just can’t make fleshly things more spiritual or can you somehow better spiritual things using things of the flesh.  They belong in different worlds and the 2 world oppose each other.  The only way to get from one world to the other is to abandon where you are.  A big part of The Great Wall quenching the Holy Spirit in today churches is borrowing from the ‘success tools’ of the world to further church growth.  It may look like it’s working, but it’s just making those churches worldly!  You also can’t improve the world by giving it a little bit of church.  Christ calls for total surrender on a routine basis if you routinely want the things of the Spirit!  It all starts by dying with Christ in water-baptism before you can be resurrected to a new life with Him.  But you have to routinely offer your bodies as living sacrifices in Romans 7 if you want to live by the Spirit in Romans 8 as Romans 12 makes all too clear!

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Then God showed me:  “A not –> B and B not –> A” because A not= B and B not= A

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I remembered this formula from my math days.  I had to look up why.  It’s a law of the universe He created!  I asked why He showed me this.  Then He said, “That’s why both of the things I said are true” from Might & Power – BT2. Anything of the flesh (A) absolutely cannot lead –> to Spirit (B) just as anything of the Spirit (B) cannot lead –> to the flesh (A).  That’s what God really was showing me in the equations!  Or in set theory: “Anything in the circle called ‘flesh’ absolutely cannot lead –> to anything in the circle called ‘Spirit’ and equally, anything in the circle called ‘Spirit’ absolutely cannot lead –> to anything in the circle called ‘flesh.’”

The “old A” not –> the “new B” and equally, the “new B” not –> the “old A.”  Remember that “old” comes from Hebrew belo:  “worn-out things, rag-like from balah: old, worn-out, decayed or yasha’n: old in time, dated or no longer used, withered, flabby like a lifeless plant or attiq: aged, ancient.” However, “old” can come from Greek palaios:  “not just old, dated, or ancient in time, but also worn out by use, or worse for wear or palaioo the verb.”  And “new” comes from Hebrew chadash or Greek kainos:  “fresh, completely different-in-kind, unprecedented, sharing nothing with its predecessors, unique, and superior.” Can you see why the old and New simply can’t mix!  They are oil and wine, but Christian religions are always trying to shake the bottle to see if they can get them to mix!

So, the Lord brought to me another verse to illustrate this – Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh (A) lusts/craves [things] against/in opposition to the Spirit (B), and the Spirit (B) against the flesh (A), for these are against/opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things ‘you’ want to do.”  Mathematically, this A not= B and B not= A is called the “symmetry of equality” law of mathematics viewed “in the negative.”

Now if you are the natural man “by the flesh” (A) who has been exposed to the Torah/Nomos Law of conditional-favor of God either in scripture or their “principles or instruction” in your conscience that says, “Do not covet/lust after a woman,” even if you agree that the Law is “good” (like Jews would say) or that it is “of/belonging to the Spirit” (as a Messianic Jew or Christian would say), the “you” that you are (see Identity) will absolutely not in fact be able to “accomplish or perfect what was begun in the Spirit” (B).  In math, A flesh not–> B Spirit because A not= B.   That’s exactly what Paul says in Romans 7:7-25!  You simply can’t add more “might and power” flesh (A) to “accomplish, finish, or perfect” in the Spirit (B) because the flesh (A) and Spirit (B) are opposed to each other or A not= B.  You can’t work hard enough to perfect the things of the flesh to reach the perfection of the things of the Spirit!  Religion keeps trying!

That’s what fasting and asceticism does – until it kills you!  It is simply an “appearance or form of godliness devoid of its Spirit-power” (a).  “They actually have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are absolutely in fact of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (b).  That’s why Jesus and His disciples never fasted (c) and again Jesus explains why:  The completely different-in-kind “New” can’t be put into the “old” or sewn together with the “old.”  They are 2 completely different-in-kind circles that cannot even touch!  But the Christian religion hasn’t stopped trying!  And neither has much of Christian music!  <Notes> a) 2 Timothy 3:5, b) Colossians 2:23, c) Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22.

As Christian musicians, the flesh can’t lead us closer to the Spirit, nor the Spirit to the flesh – they oppose each other!  The old things of the flesh simply don’t mix with the new things of the Spirit, like water and oil.  If you try and store the New wine of the New Covenant Spirit in the old wineskin “self-imposed old covenant rituals of bodily disciplines, asceticism, fasting, and the like that are common to so many religions, although it sounds wise, both the wine and wineskins will be ruined.”  The ways of religious flesh are “weak, feeble, useless, and of no advantage” and simply oppose the ways of the Spirit with are strong, useful, powerfully-enabling, and genuine-life.  The two can’t be mixed or both are ruined.  And neither can fleshly music be mixed with the Spirit’s music.  You can’t improve fleshly music by playing it for God, nor can you improve the Spirit’s worship music by using fleshly methods to make it more successful.

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A prophetic rhema word regarding “flesh” in worship music

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On 11/17/2020 at 6 pm while listening to worship music during drumming on my practice pad while cycling at the same time, the Lord said: “You have heard it said that you cannot perfect in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit.”  Yes, I remember Paul saying that, so I looked it up later in Galatians 3:3-5 where Paul was criticizing the Jewish-Christians for going back to obeying the Mosaic Law to be “more right” with God, saying:  “Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh . . . Does He who supplied the Spirit to you and/coupled works miracles among you do so by works of the Torah Law of conditional-favor or by hearing with trusting-relying-faith?”  Yes, Paul, Jesus, and others refer to following the OT Law as “by the flesh” – see Identity.  That’s religion!

Well, what the Lord reminded me of while listening to so many bands playing worship music is that most of it simply is not anointed, even if it sounds good musically!  As Christians they have “begun in the Spirit” – and in some cases their song was originally anointed – but now their performance is “by the flesh” as they try so hard with all their “might and power” external resources and internal ability to epiteleo “bring it to completion, accomplish it, perfect it.”  Man, I’ve seen this a 1000 times in 15 worship bands over 40 years!  They really believe they can bring their “external-resource” thousand-dollar (even million-dollar) sound, lighting, and musical gear, and all their “internal-ability” skill to put on an amazing worship experience for their church or for God.  They may say something else, but their actions betray their words!  That’s the burden I’ve carried for so long that birthed SpiritMusicMeetups.org.  We desperately need to surrender our control by “letting go and letting God.”

Well the next thing God said to me really blew me away because I’ve never heard this:  “What you haven’t heard before that is equally true is that you cannot perfect by the Spirit what is begun by the flesh.”  Wow!  So you can’t “accomplish, finish, or perfect” by the means of the Spirit the things that were started by the means of human “might and power.”  Yikes!

After pondering this for a while, I remembered some ‘on-fire’ Christians who once as unsaved men played “dark metal.”  So, they took almost the same songs they knew so well, the same chord progressions, the same licks, the same drumming and decided they would play it for God.  It sounded nearly the same but if you could actually hear the lyrics you would find they were talking about God and “Christian things” instead of Satan and “demonic things.”  They went nowhere because it just wasn’t anointed!  There were also very popular Christian singers/bands that simply weren’t anointed after a while, so they crossed over to secular music, got divorced, etc.  There are a ton of Christian songs out there, but few do very little to bring you into the presence of God.  That’s because, although done with good intentions for God, they are still “by the flesh.”  Then there are songs like Dara Maclean’s “Yours Forever” that seem to be anointed every time you play it because these songs were made with God – see the Media page.

As Christian musicians, are we trying to keep one foot in a fallen world and one foot in heaven when it comes to our choice of music, especially worship music?  Are we trying to take worldly songs or melodies and give them a Christian “twist?”  Are we trying to make our fleshly songs godly by devoting them to God?  Or will we finally just surrender completely to the Lord and let Him play through us?

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Zechariah 4:6’s prophecy about the New Covenant is key to true ministry

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Zechariah’s prophecy about the completely different-in-kind New Covenant that was to replace the old covenant says: “Absolutely by no means by might nor by power but instead by My Spirit, says Yahweh, ruler of all hosts (or armies, ruler of all).”  The negatives “no” and “nor” are originally ou me double negatives, which are absolute in fact and in possibility.  This is like God speaking with all CAPS, underlined, and bold-faced!!!  The dative-case prepositions are most often translated “by the means/instrument of,” but grammatical arguments can also be made for “in the sphere/location of” or “within the company of.”  The Lord showed me in a dream that all three options are true throughout biblical writings regarding Himself, saying: “You are safe and have power when you dwell in My fortress of solitude, together with Me, within My company, and I make this all possible by the means or instrument of My Spirit.”

Now, “might” in Hebrew (a) and Greek (b) refers in context to man’s “naturally inherent dynamite-like capacity or force of strength, ability or efficiency as derived from external resources that are both human (c) and physical (d).  Now “power” in Hebrew (e) and Greek (f) refers in context to man’s “endowed (g), already-possessed, ‘held-onto,’ combat-ready power that stays or ‘holds on,’ which is thus an internal capacity of firmness, vigor, strength, might, ability, efficiency, force, and power or control over external things.”  Man’s “inherent might derived from his external body and other outside resources and internal power of mind, emotions, and will to immediately control their external world” is what all religion consists of, even the Jewish religion under the old covenant.  So essentially, “might and power” refers to all of man’s external resources and internal abilities.  <Notes> a) chayil, b) dunamis, c) like companies or hosts of people, soldiers, forces, or armies, d) like possessions and riches, e) koach, f) ischus, g) originally from God when the soul was created.

But in 518 B.C., Zechariah was told of a coming day when God’s covenant with man would no longer depend on this, when things would be completely different-in-kind because it will be “by My Spirit, says Yahweh, ruler of all hosts.”  Earlier in Zechariah 3:1-10, Jesus as the pre-incarnate “messenger of Yahweh” watches Joshua the high priest, representative of Israel standing before Him with “filthy garments,” stained by the iniquities of Israel he was representing, thus being rightly accused by Satan according to the Torah Law of conditional-favor.  However, Yahweh rebukes Satan solely on the basis of Israel being chosen by God.  So God takes Joshua’s/Israel’s filty sin away and clothes him with a pure vestment including a turban.  Then the messenger/Jesus authoritatively speaks of Himself as the Voice of Yahweh of hosts that “I will bring My Servant, The Branch and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day” and He then speaks of great celebration.  It’s not a coincidence that this “Servant” is the very “messenger/Jesus” that Yahweh speaks through!

We know this prophecy already occurred when “The Servant or The Branch or The Shoot or Root of Jesse” spoken of throughout the bible miraculously turns out to be the Jesus or Yeshua the Messiah (a).  The prophecy occurred by the “New Covenant in My blood” just as Jesus also promised (b).  Then the “messenger/Jesus” showed Zechariah more about that coming day:  A gold, super menorah of 49 lamps would be continually feed by 2 olive trees.  From Zechariah 4:14, these 2 trees are symbolic of the 2 anointed ones or 2 sons of/providing fresh, shining, pure oil (c) who stand before the Supreme Authority ‘adown, kurios of the whole earth, and we know from so many bible verses that this “gold” (f) or “golden” [oil] (g) of verse 4:12 is the Holy Spirit (d) continually bringing Christ’s light (e) into the world!  <Notes> a) Isaiah 4:2; 11:1-5, 10, 42:1, 52:13; Zechariah 6:12; Matthew 12:18; Acts 4:27, 30; Romans 15:12, b) Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25, c) the usual word for anointed mashach wasn’t used but instead yitshar meaning “fresh, shining, pure oil.”  This is very similar in meaning to chadash to describe the fresh, completely different-in-kind New Covenant, d) 1 Samuel 16:13, e) John 8:12, 9:5, f) Hebrews noun zahab, g) Septuaging Greek adjective chrusous.

Commentators say that 1 of these anointed “trees” represented the Aaronic priesthood, here by Joshua/Yehoshua (a) the high priest whose father is Yehozadek, meaning “Yahweh righteousness.”  Do you think it is a coincidence that “Yahweh righteousness” is essentially the meaning of Melchizedek as “king of righteousness,” who Jesus as The High Priest is descended from (b)?  The other anointed “tree” represented the Davidic line of kings, here by his descendent Zerubbabel the son of king Yehoiakim, an ancestor of Jesus’ father Joseph (c).  Jesus is the only person in history to be both a High Priest (d) and King of kings (e), who alone can supply an endless supply of the Holy Spirit’s “gold” or “golden [oil]” to produce Christ’s “light of the world” (f).  The man Jesus was “given the Spirit without measure” (g) for His ministry.  Only Jesus “baptizes, immerses, or fills to completion by the means of the Spirit” (h), and that uniquely defined His ministry (i) – the NT doesn’t even say it was Christ’s teaching!  This really disppointes bible students! <Notes> a) Yehoshua or the shortened Yeshua is the name of Jesus in Hebrew, b) Genesis 14:18; Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 5:6, 10, 6:20, 7:1, 10-11, 15, 17, c) Matthew 1:12-16, d) Hebrews 2:17, 3:1, 4:14-15, 5:5, 10, 6:20, e) 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14, 19:16, f) John 8:12, 9:5, g) John 3:34, h) see Spirit-baptism, i) Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16, 11:13; John 1:33, 7:39; Acts 1:5, 5:32, 8:18, 11:16; Romans 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; 1 John 3:24.

In 1985 I was Spirit-baptized again and this time I saw a shower of gold flowing into my head and rushing through my body out my fingertips like electricity and down through my legs pinning my feet to the floor.  I always thought this was the Holy Spirit’s “living/flowing water” but it was definitely bright yellow, translucent gold, which means it could very well have been this “gold” or “golden [oil]” described by Jesus in Zechariah 4:12.  Interestingly the only place the commentators say that the Hebrew noun zahab “gold” could simply refer to the color of oil is in this verse, but everywhere else it’s actually the metal “gold.”  I think they just couldn’t conceive of that the “oil” flowing from the 2 olive trees could actually be the metal “gold” flowing from “The High Priest – The King of kings” Yeshua Jesus!  The Septuagint Greek simply has the adjective chrusous “golden,” which again simply means “made of gold.”  I think the LXX was more accurate as in many cases the LXX texts we have are much older than the Masoretic Hebrew text.  The ‘oil’ of Jesus may very well have been translucent gold!  Extremely pure, supernatural and priceless!  And this is what created the pure fire that lights up the world!

God is showing Zechariah that absolutely nothing, by the use of the rare Greek double negative ou me, from the world or previous religious activity – whether from man’s external resource “might” or internal abilities “power,” even that of the old covenant – will be acceptable in God’s future completely different-in-kind New Covenant.   It will ALL be done by Him by His Holy Spirit.  This is in stark contrast to 613 Torah Laws of conditional-favor of the old covenant that are completely dependent upon man’s obedience of works “If you do ____, then I will do ____.”  God wipes that all out!  He eliminates man from the equation, exactly because of man’s weakness – his “might and power” simply isn’t good enough!  But God’s Spirit can do it all!  Now the gospel’s message is all about “the obedience of faith” as we see in Romans 1:5 and 16:26.

As Christian musicians, are we going to be satisfied by the natural man’s fleshly “might and power” external resources and internal abilities when it comes to worshipping the Lord, or are we going to put our trusting-relying-faith in the “by My Spirit” of God?  Are we going to approach God with our own “filthy rags of righteousness” or surrender it all to God’s grace and wait for Him to pour His gold anointing over us to play supernaturally for Christ’s light to shine brightly?

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