Stay tuned for the latest message excerpt from JosephPrince.com
Right now, we have a Man (Jesus) in Heaven representing us.
He's praying for us.
He is calm.
He is far above the COVID-19, the coronavirus.
He is far above every principality and power.
And listen carefully, He's not there alone.
The Bible says He went there to be YOU.
When Jesus went to the cross, He went to the cross to be YOU.
To represent YOU.
It was not like Jesus went to the cross by Himself.
There was no reason that Jesus had to go the cross.
There was no reason that He had to be executed.
There was no reason that He was judged.
He went there on your behalf.
He did no sin, knew no sin, in Him is no sin.
He went there as YOU.
So as far as God is concerned, not only are our sins borne away at calvary, but your sin
factory.
Your sin nature has all been removed.
There is no more factory to produce sins anymore.
Jesus finished it at the cross.
He went there as YOU.
So whatever happened to Him at the cross happened to you and I.
And when Jesus was buried and went to the grave, again He was buried in the grave as
YOU.
That's what it means when the Bible says "We are buried with Christ."
And when God raised Jesus from the dead, hallelujah, we were all raised with Him.
And that's when resurrection life started flowing in your body!
If His flesh is healthy, why is ours sick?
We must reject that and declare that: "As He is, so are we in this world."
Amen?
We must understand that we have a new identity.
We are actually on the other side of the grave.
"But Pastor Prince, I'm still on earth!
You know, Pastor Prince, you are preaching at the STAR PAC..."
Yes, and yet no.
I am seated with Christ.
He is there as me.
He is there as YOU.
You are seated with Christ!
Can you understand that?
Alright, let us go one step further.
Everything about Psalm 91 is contingent on this— the very first verse.
"He who sits."
The word "sits" is yashav.
"He who dwells"— that is the translation from the King James Version.
But the Hebrew word there is actually "he who SITS in the secret place of the Most High."
What is the secret place of the Most High?
It is Christ!
Back in the Old Testament, it is called a secret place because the conditions were not
yet fulfilled for Christ to come, amen?
So it was called the secret place.
But now, it is no longer the secret place because we are all seated with Christ in Heavenly
places.
So, the very first verse of Psalm 91: "He who sits in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
Shadow in the Hebrew mind speaks of protection.
Are you listening?
So when you go about your day, I want you to see this about yourself.
Amen?
Although your foot is walking on Earth, you are seated with Christ.
And you must have this mentality.
The reason why it says: "A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right
hand, it shall not come near you." is because you are far— alright in God's eyes.
No one sees reality the way God does.
We only see things superficially.
"If I can see it, it's real."
Then you are missing a lot on life.
There are a lot of things you cannot see.
This coronavirus/Covid-19 virus— you cannot see.
There are 3 letters in the Hebrew for "heal".
Rapha.
Jehovah-Rapha, right?
So it's 3 letters, reading from right to left.
Hebrew reads from right to left, facing you.
There's a root word for every Hebrew word.
They call it the etymology.
The root word for Rapha (Heal) is Raphah (Relax).
So the root to your healing is to relax.
The Bible says: "He who sits in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the
shadow of the Almighty."
Before you leave the house, it is not a matter of claiming and claiming.
"I claim this in Jesus name!"
And there is a restlessness about it.
"I claim this in Jesus name!"
"A thousand shall fall..."
No no no, you are claiming it out of fear, it isn't out of rest!
You need to stop for awhile.
It is good to memorize, yes.
It is good to claim God's promises, yes.
It is good to speak it out, yes.
But more than anything else, you need to know that you are THERE in the secret place (in
Christ).
The longings of the Old Testament saints was to be in the secret place.
Right now, we are in that place.
Their dreams is our reality.
Amen?
We are enjoying the reality of what they dreamed of.
Amen?
And God says He will do this to provoke Israel to jealousy.
That Israel might see their Messiah that we accept as our saviour and Lord.
So when you want to pray, stop for awhile, whether it is in your bed or while you're
bathing or getting ready for work, stop and say: "Hey, relax.
You're not trying to be there, you are there."
When we sit down, we throw the weight of our body onto the seat.
Amen?
Right?
There were no seats in the Tabernacle of Moses in the Old Testament.
There was a table, but no seat.
Because their work is never finished.
The priests are always walking around.
But the Bible says: "Having purged our sins, Jesus sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on High."
And think of why He sat down.
We could say: "Well, He sat down because He is the Son of God."
True, but that wasn't the reason He sat down.
"He sat down because He is God in the human flesh."
That's true, but that also wasn't the reason He sat down.
At any time, at any time, Jesus could have sat down but God would not let that seat be
a seat where He's sitting down because He is God or because He is perfect.
God wanted it to be this reason: Having purged our sins, He sat down.
Like the priests of the Old Testament, the work was never finished because our sins cannot
be atoned with the blood of bulls, and lambs, it cannot.
Those things were symbols of His blood.
His eternal blood.
These things are temporal sacrifices.
So their work is always constantly serving.
Every year, they have Yom Kippur.
Every year, they had the Day of Atonement observation.
Why?
Because their sins were never atoned fully.
But Jesus once and for all, paid for all our sins.
Amen.
And if one sin is left on you, He cannot sin down.
You must rest knowing that your sins are fully forgiven.
In Isaiah 53:4-5, it says: "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted."
Who is this?
Jesus.
In the English translation, it says Jesus carried our griefs and sorrows.
But in the Hebrew, the word "griefs" actually is "kholee" which means disease.
If you ask any Israeli today what the meaning of kholee and makov is, they would say "sickness
and pain".
It means Jesus borne our sicknesses and carried our pains!
Surely!
The word "aken" in Hebrew is a positive assertion.
It is almost like— look at the next verse "He was wounded for our transgressions".
Most believers know that Jesus carried our sins.
Amen?
But they have a problem believing Jesus carried also, in the same atoning work, He carried
our diseases.
So for extra measure, God placed the word "surely" in Isaiah 53.
So the position that we have is a position that the world dreams of.
Amen?
In terms of our relationship with God, we are now seated because our sins are all forgiven.
What about the terror at night?
Well, when you're seated in the secret place, the terror is under you.
What about the pestilence that walks in darkness?
You know, these are diseases that you cannot see.
Right now, maybe your body is developing a disease, they tell you.
You know?
But you don't know it.
You have to go for all kinds of check ups.
There's even a pre-disease check up nowadays.
Amen?
So how do you know?
But the Bible says: "You don't have to be afraid of the pestilence that walks in darkness."
Even if it is creeping in darkness, God knows about it.
Psalm 91 says: "You need not be afraid of the pestilence that walks in darkness."
By the way, this coronavirus/COVID-19 virus is walking in darkness!
You don't know where it is right?
Right?
You don't know where, but the Lord does.
Safety is in the Lord.
And this is not for every Christian.
This protection is not automatic for every Christian.
It is for the Christian that says: "Under your wings I take refuge."
Some Christians will say: "Well, I don't believe that."
There are Christians who say: "You can't claim Psalm 91."
You ask them: "why?"
They say: "Well, it is for people who meet all the requirements."
You say: "What requirements?"
They say: "Those who abide in the secret place of the Most High."
You say: "What is that?"
They say: "I don't know."
So don't talk to me like you know we don't qualify when you don't even know whether you
do.
My friend, the secret place is in the Old Testament language.
Today, we are seated with Christ.
We are THERE.
We are there.
The youngest believer is there!
The believer that has not much knowledge about the Bible is there!
Amen?
It is not a position of merit because you have earned it through much prayers, and you
are an extra holy person, then you get that place.
These things are important, it is important to be growing in holiness but true holiness
is unconscious.
And Moses wist not his face shone.
It is not this idea.
So don't let anyone come and tell you: "Are you sure you qualify?"
Amen?
Tell them: "I don't know about you, but I do."
It is not because of me and what I did.
It is because of Jesus and what
He has done.