Programme: Anamnesis 2023 (Day 1 - Evening Session)
Date: Wednesday, 6th December 2023
Anamnesis is a meeting for the Lord. Not all meetings in the church today are for the Lord because most meetings are centred on us. But the Lord has a need which is to come to man. There is a longing in His heart for Him to be found amidst His people and to return to those He died for. These are also the people whom He is purifying unto good works.
Sometimes, it looks like the Lord does not want to come but He actually wants to. Anamnesis is a meeting that is specially centred on the Lord and His needs, and we need to understand that He wants to come. This coming of the Lord is different from rapture; this coming is even more important to Him than rapture, unlike what is believed in the church. This is because Jesus’ return to His bride is more important to Him than rapture. If the Lord comes and raptures the Church the way she currently is, the agenda of heaven would not have been achieved. Jesus’ bride is yet to appear to manifest because the Church still has spots and wrinkles. This is why light comes in seasons to expose wrong natures within us. It is just to show us we do not yet love God as we ought.
“That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:27). This scripture is in line with the agenda of heaven. There has to be a spotless bride; one without wrinkles, blemish, or any such thing. If the present Church does not bear the fruits that God wants, He can wait for another generation. There is a generation that must enter and there is a requirement for entrance. We ought to desire that it is in our generation that the Lord will come indeed. This issue of His coming is something that the early church knew. When we read about His coming in the epistles, one would think they were talking about rapture but that is not the case. The early Church Christians lived with the consciousness of a coming.
“And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20). This scripture shows us that the Lord came to these people whom John wrote to. It means that these people were admitted into a realm where He came into. Jesus was only with those who loved His appearing. We must be like John and Paul who both loved His appearing. When one loves His appearing, there is a way such a person will live. It will show in the lifestyle of such a person that their anticipation is His coming, not rapture. There is something the present church is missing in this end time concerning the coming of the Lord. The men Jesus came to were those who were journeying and their journey was a representation of their inward change. For the Lord to come, there is a place He must meet us.
If Jesus is coming as the Son of the Living God, there is a place He must meet us. The Hebrew church journeyed to a point where Paul had to say to them, “Ye are come to Mount Zion…” (Heb. 12:22). This should also be said about us. We are not where we used to be; this is evident because our thought patterns have changed. Such thought patterns are not found everywhere.
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ…” (Philipp. 1:6). If we are not living and thinking the way we were some years ago, then something has happened to us (change). Our confidence is that He who began this good work did not bring us this far to abandon His work. He brought us this far and He has been patient with us. He endured our infirmities and inabilities and He carefully kept on cleansing us. Even though we sometimes resisted Him, He never gave up on us but He kept on helping us. There were times we ran away from the Lord, but He always came after us, and He is still running after us. His love was endless unto us and His mercy was tender towards us. He did not leave us alone. He is surely not going to leave us here; He is coming for us. We know He did not bring us this far to abandon us and leave us to die in the wilderness.
The Lord has invested a lot in us and this community. He has carefully mid-wifed this community, and He is jealously guarding it. Our backs (strengths and confidence in ourselves) had to be broken and our lives had to be patterned in such a manner that we could accommodate a large number of people who would journey this far. The Lord, with His angels, are constantly working in this community and are also keeping us safe from harm.
Paul was telling the church in Hebrew that they had come to Mount Zion. They did not know where they were and some of them were tempted to go back because of contradictions. Paul, by the Spirit, told them that they had come to Mount Zion. He did not tell this to other churches, for these Churches had journeyed. They had done charity; this is why He told them to let brotherly love continue (Heb. 13:1).
We have come to Mount Zion. How we know we have come to Mount Zion is by the table that is set before us. We cannot hear the teaching of everlasting life without being close to Zion. Zion is a meeting place of God and God, as the Living God, will not come lower than Zion (Psa. 14:7). Men need to ascend to Zion.
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels…” (Heb. 12:22). When He comes to Zion, He is coming to take those who are in Zion. This is why we are having angelic visitations. There is a place where we can journey to, and angels will come to us (Heb. 1:14). You cannot look for salvation and not have angelic visitations. You cannot come to the city of the living God and not meet them; they are eager to minister salvation. If their Lord wants to come, how much more eager are they to prepare for His coming? The essence of their preparation is to bring things to us.
Christianity is not a ‘walk in the park’ where we can do whatever we like. When we come to this realm, there is a level of fear we ought to have because it is a zone of the Living God. There ought to be a level of reverence and godly fear because the Person we are serving is a Consuming Fire. There is an order for Him to come, as such, there has to be a preparation for His appearance. God wants to prepare us for His coming. The book of Hebrews is littered with ordinances of His coming (Heb. 1:1-2. Heb. 2:3)
“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; [2] Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.” (Heb. 3:1-2). If we are considering Him, it means there are things that He has. We have been appointed to salvation but we have to be faithful. Faithfulness is being able to hold the work of God to the end (Heb. 4:1).
“For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; [2]To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace…” (Heb. 7:1-2). This verse shows us how we ought to come — firstly, righteousness, then peace, and then we continue unto the Priest of the Most High God. This is the order of coming and we cannot overlook anyone. The early church actually knew about the coming, they anticipated it, and He came to them. Even in our time, He is coming.
“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Heb. 9:28). The first appearance is to take away the sins of many. One reason the church does not look for Him is because many sins have not been taken away. One sin that must be taken away for us to look for Him is this world. This world does not allow one to look for Him, for it steals away hunger and desire from men. This world does not want us to look for Him because it wants to remain in us. There is the world inside us, which is sin. The world is a kind of life that does not want us to come to Him. It will take comings of Jesus to remove the world.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, [12]Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; [13]Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; [14]Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Tit. 2:11-14). The world has to be taken away from us for us to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. This was how the early church was living and this is what it means to anticipate His coming. Men who are living like this are those who are looking for the blessed hope. If you love His appearance, you should be living like this.
“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Heb. 9:28). This verse talks about the Lord appearing the second time. It means that there was a first time, which was to bear the sins of many. The second time is locked in the cup and its essence is to make the things in the blood known to the church.
“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. [29] But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” (Matt. 26:28-29). What the cup brings to us is an understanding. Understanding upgrades our souls and changes us. There is an understanding of everlasting life, there is an understanding of Eternal Life, and there is an understanding of Christ. One should not joke with understanding. The purpose of His appearing is to give us an understanding which would help us understand what is contained in the blood.
We ought to be looking and longing for Him to come, for His coming is salvation. His coming is for our upgrade and to make our names be written in heaven. As our souls change, nothing on earth can satisfy us because we are longing for something higher.
One of the things that the Lord will desire us to have in this Anamnesis is hunger. Hunger differs. If one has not been given a kind of food before, one will not hunger for it, but if one has had a taste of it, you can be hungry for it. In the heavens, there is corn that will be given to us to eat, and the corn is Him. He will be given to us to eat.
May the Lord grant us mass hunger that will make His coming not to be withheld from us. Heaven will be eager to give Him to us when we are hungry for Him. Our hunger will show by how much we are willing to receive the things that He is giving and also pattern our lives accordingly, and we will receive Him. Amen.
Blessings!
Femi Olayemi - 4 months ago