People Who Were Ready for Christ's Coming: Part 2 — Zac Poonen

We were looking last time at some of the people who knew about the birth of Jesus, the first coming of Christ. And we tried to learn from their example how to be ready for the second coming of Christ.

You know, the vast majority of people in Israel, though they read their Bibles, and many of them are great scholars in the Bible, and they went to their Sabbath synagogues, the synagogues every Sabbath, just like most Christians go to church every Sunday.

But 99 .9 of them and more didn't have a clue when Jesus was born. I didn't even know about it. They didn't even know who he was. And it's going to be like that with a lot of Christians. They think, they know the Bible, they go to meetings, they sing and they praise and they worship, but they're not ready for the coming of Christ.

God's Revelation to Those Who Are Ready

But the Lord revealed that to Zacharias and Elizabeth, that they're going to have a son who's going to be the forerunner for the coming of Christ. And we saw how he, there were an old couple, and then he revealed to a young girl called Mary and a young man called Joseph.

There's no difference between old and young. We can be ready for the coming of Christ. But there were certain qualities we saw in Zacharias and Elizabeth that made God reveal to them and in Joseph and Mary that made God reveal to them something he could not reveal to all the others.

And that's what we saw last time. So we want to look further at some other people to whom the Lord revealed that birth of Jesus. These other people knew about the birth of Jesus before he was born. But now we look at some people in Luke chapter 2 to whom the Lord to God revealed the birth of Jesus after he was born.

And from them also, we can learn something of God's ways, how God, with God, there is no partiality. All people are the same to him. And we will see that very clearly. Some people think God cares only for the poor.

Some people think God cares only for the rich. Both are wrong. God cares for both of them. There were extremely poor people who came to see Jesus. And there were extremely wealthy people, millionaires, who also came and worshipped Jesus.

And there were old people like we saw last time and young people. There were men, there were women. And it's wonderful to see how right at that time of the birth of Christ, God has shown his absolute impartiality.

Men, women, young, old, rich, poor. It makes no difference. There were all types of people who came to know of the birth of Jesus. So it's going to be like that in the last days. That there will be young, and old, and men, and women, and rich, and poor who will be ready.

But there'll be a very, very small number. That's the point. So here in Luke chapter 2, we read about some shepherds. We are familiar with the story in verse 8. In the same region, there were some shepherds staying in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them. And the glory of the Lord shone before them. In verse 10, the angel said to them, don't be afraid. I'm bringing you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people.

For today in the city of David, there's been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You'll find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts saying, glory to God in the highest, and earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.

And when the angels had gone away, the shepherds began to say, let's go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened. See, they were looking out to sheep. They were out there faithfully doing their job.

They were poor people. They were not great scholars. People would have looked down upon them and despised them. You know, they were employed by some rich man, perhaps, who employed them to look after sheep.

And they were doing that job faithfully at night. And the angel appeared to them. There must have been something in their heart, though they were simple people, that God saw. They were not preachers. If you put them in a pulpit, they would probably stumble even two, three minutes.

They didn't know what to say. But there must have been something in their heart that God saw. They were not gifted. They were not famous. In fact, we don't even know their names. These are some of those nameless people who will be ready for the coming of the Lord.

Simple people who have no gift of speaking, who would stumble if they stand in a pulpit for two or three minutes. But in whose heart? Maybe some of you are like that. In whose heart the Lord sees a longing after Him.

Maybe others look at you and don't think you're very spiritual because you don't have the marks of religious people, you know, always talking about the Bible and scholarly, etc. These were simple people.

You may be like that. And I want to say to you, here is a word to you that God takes note of such people. If they have a sincerity and a humility, they don't think high thoughts about themselves. And they don't even expect that anything special will happen to them.

And yet for 2 ,000 years, people have been talking about them. That's how God rewards faithfulness among very simple, ordinary, poor people. What can we learn from them? One thing I would say that when this angel appeared, and there was a whole host of angels saying this, they didn't say, hey, I don't believe all this.

Let's go and check with some of the scholars. Whether this any such thing is supposed to happen. And God spoke to them. It says, immediately, they said in verse 15, let us go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that the Lord has made known to us.

It's one quality I see in them. And then you got it spoken. They did not consult with flesh and blood. They obeyed immediately. See, there are certain type of believers like that. As I said, they're not great scholars.

They can't speak in any great way. They're probably poor, simple, but they have this quality that when they know God wants them to do something, they do it. Even if others are not doing it. It doesn't matter if other people are going to Bethlehem or not.

The greatest event in the history of the world was happening in Bethlehem and nobody knew about it. There should have been a great rush over there, but nobody was going. But they said, we go, God's shown it to us and we're not bothered whether other people are doing it or not.

And that's the type of thing, brothers and sisters, that'll make sure that you're ready for the coming of Christ. That when you know that God has spoken something, you know, if you're not sure, you know, there are many things where we're not sure whether that's God or whether it's our own voice.

And certainly if somebody else tells you that, said the Lord, you've got to put a hundred question marks on that. But if you yourself are sure in your heart that that's really God, especially if you see it in his word, you don't have any doubt at all.

See, those days people didn't have a Bible like this to be absolutely sure what God has spoken. So God spoke to them in external ways. When God spoke to Abraham, it was in a vision and many, many people like that.

You know, God always wanted to speak to people. And when he knew that people didn't have a printed Bible with them, there was a need for that type of external revelation. We don't have so much in those days because God's given us his word.

So we got plenty. I mean, if you want to hear God speaking, you can hear God speaking to you every day, but it's up to you. It's there in your home and you can read it. You don't have to wait for an angel from heaven.

Testing Claims of Angelic Revelation

Today, there are lots of people who claim that angels appear to them. Most of them, I'll tell you, are Satan appearing as an angel of light because of one difference. I'll tell you what, when the angel appeared to these people, they didn't testify about it to anybody.

They didn't tell people, hey, let's go and tell folks at home, we've seen an angel. They didn't wait for the next meeting to talk about the angel they saw. No, they went to see Jesus. Now I'll tell you something else.

After they met Jesus, and this is how you know whether these people who talk about angels are in the same category of these shepherds, because a lot, most of the people who talk about seeing angels today are hoaxes of the first order.

And I hope you will remember that. I'll tell you why, because these folks saw angels and they did not talk about the angels. They went straight to Jesus. And we read that when they saw Jesus, it says here in verse 17, when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child.

And all who heard it wondered. They did not talk about the angels. They talked about the child Jesus. And I know whether God has spoken to you or not, you'll talk about Jesus. You won't talk about yourself.

You won't talk about your experiences. You won't even talk about being taken up to the third heaven. Paul was taken up to the third heaven and he never spoke about it for 14 years. We read in second Corinthians 12.

And even then he said it only just to prove to these guys who wouldn't believe him that he was indeed an apostle. There was a need for that because those days there was no Bible and he needed them to know that what he was writing was scripture.

So Paul must, and he says even then, he says I'm not permitted to speak about the things I saw. Gee, there was a godly man. If a man tells me he was taken up to the third heaven and doesn't speak about it in the next meeting, like most people would, but waits 14 years and even then is very reluctant to speak about it and still doesn't tell us what he saw, I'd believe him.

But these guys who tell us that they went to heaven and saw Moses and David and talked to them, I don't believe one bit. And if you're wise, you wouldn't believe them either. So these people talked about Jesus and that's very important for us to know because in the last days there's going to be a lot of deception.

People say the angels appeared to the shepherds and appeared to us, but whom did the shepherds talk about? That's my question. And who do you talk about? You talk about the angel. They talked about Jesus.

It's a very simple way to find out. Jesus said, I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. So they went around talking about him. The other thing I want you to see here is, you know, this chapter begins with a decree, verse 1, that went out from Caesar Augustus.

Caesar Augustus was the greatest man, humanly speaking, on the face of the earth at that time. He was, there was only one superpower, Rome, and he was the king. But God didn't reveal anything to him. It's very interesting to see this.

About five, seven hundred years earlier, Micah had prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. That is a clear prophecy. But Joseph and Mary were living in Nazareth. How is Jesus going to be born in Bethlehem?

It's very interesting. You know, today if you go into the villages of India, particularly a few hundred years ago, when transportation was more difficult. I know, even the days of my own grandfather, or earlier ancestors, and all of yours too.

If a man came from a village, you can be almost 100 certain that his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and all his ancestors were in that village. Because people didn't move around. That's true even today in many other remote villages of India.

And so, if Joseph and Mary were in Nazareth, the chances are 99 .99999 that Jesus would be born in Nazareth. But the Bible says, but the prophecy was he has to be born in Bethlehem. How in the world is God going to do it?

I mean, the Lord could have looked around for some young girl who lived in Bethlehem, but there wasn't any, like Mary. And the one girl he found suitable to be the mother of his son was not in Bethlehem, it was in Nazareth.

Okay, nothing impossible for God. He makes Caesar, now listen to this, he makes the greatest power on earth to issue an order, which I think is a pretty stupid order, that when you take a census of the people, now when you want, you know, to take a census of the people, we take census of the people in India, you don't tell everybody to go to the place where you were born before you take a census.

And can you imagine if the government of India placed, made an order like that? All of you go to the place where you were born and we'll take the census from there. That government would be overthrown in a few days, that's crazy.

Can you imagine the confusion that'll be in this country? Just think of it, you've got to think about these things when you read this. Caesar gives one of the craziest orders I've ever heard, one of the stupidest orders I've, nobody probably ever did before or after, because of one reason.

And the reason was the godliest woman on earth at that time, young girl, was found in Nazareth and she had to go to Bethlehem for Jesus to be born. Do you know the power of God? You're afraid of what your boss will tell you?

You got to learn something from these places. When you're on God's side, when God is on your side, he'll move heaven and earth to show his support for you. I've seen that through many, many years in my life.

The eyes of the Lord are not looking for those whose hearts are totally his. 2nd Chronicles 16 .9 says he already knows those whose hearts are totally his, but his eyes are moving around the earth to see how can I support this man, this woman over here, over there, over in the other place.

How can I support them? How can I get Mary to Bethlehem for my son to be born? Okay, if Caesar has to give a crazy order, he'll do it. So he said the census is to be taken and this is the first census.

When Quirinius was governor of Syria, God didn't bother about him. He didn't know that what is happening. And everyone, listen to this, everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.

Joseph went up from Galilee from the city of Nazareth because, I mean, Joseph himself may have been born in Nazareth, but his ancestor David was down there from the city of Bethlehem. So he had to go back to his hometown, you know, and be there.

And then only they'd take a census to register along with Mary. And that's how they went. And how did these shepherds identify Jesus? There's only one sign they gave. The angel said to the shepherds, this will be the sign for you.

Verse 12, you'll find a baby wrapped in cloths. Every baby is wrapped in cloths. Now probably many babies born that night in Bethlehem, that's not a sign. But this baby is going to be found in the eating trough of a cow shed.

You'll never find another baby like that in Bethlehem. All the other babies will be born in more convenient surroundings. But there'll be one baby, the shepherds go looking around. It's not difficult for them.

They'll just look for the cow sheds. Go to Bethlehem and look for all the cow sheds and see, look into the trough. There's no baby here. Look into another trough. There's no baby here. Finally, they come to a cow shed.

But there's a baby lying in a trough, which is meant for the animals to eat. The most unusual thing. I wonder if in the history of the world, any beggar gave birth to their baby in a cow shed. There's something I learned there about Jesus.

When he was born, he became the lowest of the low because he came underneath people. That's the only way you can lift somebody up. I'll tell you something. You can't lift a person up if you don't go underneath him.

That's the way he lifted humanity up by getting underneath the lowest of the low and lifted them all up to heaven, those who wanted to go to heaven. That's why Almighty God, when he planned from all eternity, the birth of his son.

You know, many of you, when you have babies going to be born, how you plan for it and you plan which hospital and you make a selection and so many things. We have noticed only a few months to prepare.

Almighty God had time from eternity, from the creation of Adam, thousands of years to plan the exact place, the birth of his son. You think it would have been difficult for God to keep an empty room for Mary in some hotel in Bethlehem, if you got thousands of years to plan for it?

You can book a whole room in a hotel even without thousands of years. No. God planned it such that because of this rush of the census, there'd be no rooms available in Bethlehem. Otherwise, there'd have been plenty of room.

A lot of people were turning up for the census and I have a feeling that God made that donkey carrying Mary slow down a bit so that it wouldn't reach when a room was available. It would reach when the last room was gone because in God's wonderful plan, he had to deflate the pride of people who think greatness is in big buildings and wealth and pomp and show and show them that Almighty God, when he came to earth as a baby, would be born in a cow shed among the animals.

Have you learned something from that? Jesus needed to die for our sins, but at least why couldn't he die a decent death? Why this horrible, humiliating death where you hang in your underwear before your whole crowd of people in the most horrible way of killing that man has ever invented, crucifixion.

That was God's plan too. That he had to die in the most humiliating way that any human being was ever put to death. He had to get underneath everybody in birth and in death. So you'll find the angels told shepherds, the way you'll identify this baby is different from all other babies.

It's going to be found in a cow shed. Now, what do we learn from this? I'm not saying that you got to get your babies born in a cow shed. That's not the principle. We got to learn principles from Scripture, not try to literally follow something.

The principle is this. That was the first manifestation of the body of Christ on this earth. The physical body of Christ. Today there's a spiritual body of Christ. Where do you think you'll find the spiritual body of Christ today?

The Body of Christ in Humble Gatherings

Not in the big cathedrals and huge auditoriums with 30 -40 thousand people. Not likely. It'll be in some small place, probably despised, some little house where two or three people are meeting together because they love Jesus and want to be an expression of his body on earth.

That's the principle I learned from Jesus being born in a stable. So people are looking for the big and the great will miss the body of Christ. You see, that's the mistake the wise men made later on. They went to Herod's palace thinking, oh, the King of the Jews is going to be born there.

They were mistaken. The shepherds were not mistaken because, I mean, when the angels told them this baby is going to be found in a cow shed, in the eating trough of the cows, they could have said, that can't be the body of Christ Almighty God being born in a cow shed.

It can't be. This must be fake. No, they believed it. How many people have eyes to see today that the birth of the body of Christ in a town, maybe with three or four people meeting in a small house? I think most people don't have that idea.

They wouldn't believe it. They think that can't be the body of Christ. The body of Christ must be some big huge thing. So there are a lot of things we can learn from the shepherds in the way they obeyed these and, you know, we don't know who they are, but I'm sure they became believers and we'll see them in heaven.

Praise God for their example. I want to now move on to another example of a man who knew about the birth of Christ. You read in verse 23, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. Now this is an old man.

Simeon and Expectation for Christ's Coming

God makes no distinction between the young shepherds and the old Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout looking for the consolation of Israel. See this is the type of person who God reveals himself to.

That when they're old, they're not waiting to die. Some old people are like that. Oh Lord, I've had enough of living on this earth. I want to die. I tell you, if I live to be a 90, I will not want to die.

I'll wait for the coming of Christ. You know that song we sing, it is well with my soul. One line goes, the sky, not the grave is our goal. What's your goal? To be raptured with Jesus, even if you're 100 years old.

Or you say, oh Lord, I've had enough of this earth. I want to go. I don't want to go. I want to be raptured. Paul said that. We who are alive, he said in 1 Thessalonians 4, we, not you or those, we, 1 Thessalonians 4, we who are alive will be taken up to be with the Lord.

Paul expected to be raptured in his lifetime until a few months or weeks before he was going to be killed. The Lord said to him, no, Paul, I have many more names in the book of life who have to be saved and you're not going to live till then.

I'm glad Jesus didn't come in the first century. Aren't you? I certainly am. So Paul, you've got to die. So he says in 2 Timothy 4, okay, I'm not going to be alive. The Lord shown me my time is over. I'm going to go.

But until that, the Lord showed him that. He said, I'm waiting for the coming of the Lord. And I want to say to all of you in Jesus name, don't look for death. Don't fear death. Look for the coming of Christ.

I promise you, I'll be an example to that. Even if I live to be a hundred, I will not look for death. I will not fear death. I've looked for the coming of Jesus Christ, my Lord from heaven. Yeah, he was waiting.

This was an old man and such people, the Holy Spirit was upon him. Do you long that the Holy Spirit will be upon you and the Holy Spirit's upon you? You're ready for the coming of Christ and you don't have to be a great spiritual person for the Holy Spirit to be upon you.

A Clear Conscience, Humility, and Thirst for the Spirit

I'll tell you two simple things. If you keep your conscience clear, but three, let me say three things. If you keep your conscience clear, that's very important. You know, the Holy Spirit's picture like a dove, a dove can be frightened away by a little noise.

And there's a picture there. The Holy Spirit just hates sin. His name is Holy. Spirit. And anything defiled in your spirit, you don't forgive somebody, you watch some internet pornography, you have a wrong attitude towards someone, you spoke some wrong word and you didn't apologize for it.

Brother, it's that easy for the Spirit of God, not for you to be lost, but the Spirit of God won't be upon you anymore. I fear that. I feared it so much that I've said, Lord, you can take away everything I have, but I don't want the Holy Spirit to go away from me.

Never. I value him more than house, property, land, even health. You can take everything. But if you value the Holy Spirit like that, the Holy Spirit will show you things which other Christians never see.

The Holy Spirit is upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. You see, when the Holy Spirit is upon a person, he reveals things to him, which other people don't know. There were great scholars in Israel.

How is it Simeon knew something which the others didn't know? They read the same Old Testament. They had the same Bible, Genesis to Malachi, but Simeon got a revelation from the Spirit. Seek for such a life.

The New Testament begins like this with men who had a revelation from the Spirit. It ends with John in Revelation also who had revelation from the Spirit. And it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.

Just like Paul was told, you're not going to live to the Lord's coming. Simeon was told, you will not die till you see the birth of the Messiah. Now, I believe he had a longing for it. And that's the other thing.

Good conscience. Secondly, humility. God's Holy Spirit rests upon humble people. Three things I told you. One, keep a good conscience. Second, always humble yourself. And third, have a great thirst in your heart.

Jesus said, if you thirst, come to me for the Holy Spirit to be upon you. That's all. If you keep those three things in mind, I guarantee you'll have the Holy Spirit upon you all the time. A good conscience, humility, and a thirst for the Holy Spirit.

Do you have that? You'll be ready for the coming of the Lord. The Holy Spirit will be upon you. And He will reveal to you things which others don't know. I mean, I'm only preaching what I've tried to practice.

I've tried my best for many years now to keep my conscience clear, even towards those who hurt and harm me. I've tried my best to humble myself in whatever situation I see. And I've tried to have a thirst for the power of the Holy Spirit.

I mean, even today, before I get up to speak, I say, Lord, give me the gift of prophecy. Give me words according to the need of people. We must live like that. It was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he wouldn't see death before he had seen the Messiah, the Lord's Christ.

Reading Scripture Slowly and Coming in the Spirit

And one day he came in the spirit into the temple. You see something there? Brothers and sisters, read the Bible slowly. It's one of the exhortations I've been giving to people many places nowadays. Read the Bible slowly.

Don't be in a hurry to go through the Bible in one year. It's much more important for the Bible to go through you. A lot of people boast they've gone through the Bible 20 times, 30 times. I don't know.

I may have gone through the Bible only two or three times in the last 50 years. Does that surprise you? I'm more interested in the Bible going through me. Not all parts of scripture are equally important.

Don't think that's blasphemous. To read the genealogies in 1 Chronicles is not as important as reading John 14 and 15 and 16 and 17. There are certain portions which are more important. The truth is like a body.

There are certain parts of the body, like the heart, that are more important than the fingernails. It's not that I don't want the fingernails. I want all of it. The heart is more important than the fingernails.

Certain parts of scripture are more important than the others. That's why I devote myself more to certain parts of scripture because I want to be ready for the coming of Christ. I don't want to win a Bible quiz competition.

No. I want the Bible to go through me. So read it slowly. He came in the spirit to the temple. Do you come in the spirit to the Sunday services or the Wednesday evening meetings? I seek to do that. You know you may never open your mouth.

Let me give you an encouragement. Those of you who don't have the ability to speak. God has not given the ability to preach. You can bless this church as much as I can. You know how? By coming in the spirit to a meeting.

I believe that I can come in the spirit to a meeting and be silent throughout the meeting and influence the spirit in that meeting. According to your faith, be it unto you. That's my faith. I believe it will be according to my faith.

You know you can influence a meeting without opening your mouth. Shall I prove it to you? Now the way some ladies put perfume nowadays. You can sit 10 feet away from it and you get it. Haven't you felt that?

Hey that's a lady approaching. You mean the Holy Spirit is less powerful than some perfume invented in France or somewhere? I don't believe that. If you come in the spirit to a meeting, you can influence the whole meeting.

Remember that. Come in the spirit. Don't worry if you speak or not. If you get an opportunity to share God's word, that'll be even wonderful. You can bless the meeting. I told you those three things. Remember that.

Come in the spirit to every meeting. He came in the spirit and said you know these are the people who are ready for the coming of Christ. These are the people whom God revealed something. He said you're going to see Jesus before you die.

He came in the spirit and every day the babies being brought into the temple from because there was only one temple in all of Israel. It's not just the babies born in Jerusalem. From all over Israel on the eighth day babies had to be circumcised and on the 40th day after they're born they had to be presented in the temple.

And it's not just one baby. It's not just Joseph and Mary coming with Jesus. There were so many parents bringing their children babies on the 40th day to keep the law. To present them to the Lord. How do you think Simeon identified Jesus?

He did not have any halo around his head like all these false pictures we see. He looked just like any other baby. Joseph and Mary were very poorly dressed and very poor people. And in the midst of the crowd the Holy Spirit says go there.

Go to that person. Jesus is there. I've prayed that type of prayer many times in the last years. I say Lord lead me to people who want Jesus. Who are seeking a God-fearing life. Lead me to such people.

By the Spirit in your own way we've taught elders in our churches to pray. Lord if there's someone seeking a God-fearing life in this area. We're not talking about every Tom, Dick and Harry. No we're not interested.

We're not interested in church growth of people who just come to be namesake Christians. There are two commands Jesus gave. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And when you go into all nations make them disciples.

It's the second part of it which has not been obeyed. And that's what I want to do. Make disciples. So we're not saying Lord show us all the people who want to go to heaven. There are millions who want to go to heaven.

Show us all the people who want to be rich. Who want God to bless them. Jesus to heal them. There are millions like that. But Lord show me the people who want to follow Jesus. Who want to learn from him.

Who want to be humble like him. Who want to be holy like him. Who want to love their enemies like he loved. And who want to have divine nature. Lord lead me to one person like that. Any day I'd rather choose that than meet a thousand people who want to be healed of their sicknesses or who want to go to heaven.

No. There's sometimes I thank God that he never gave me a gift of healing. I think a whole lot of wrong type of people would have been attracted to me. I prayed for it many times. Lord said no. It's not my calling for you.

It's one of the gifts. And now I understand why Paul said if you ever seek for a gift seek for prophecy not for healing. I can understand that. But there it is you know. The Holy Spirit led Simeon to that one God-fearing couple in the midst of many.

Another God-fearing man. And how the Holy Spirit brings them together. I've seen that happen in the last 25 -30 years in different parts of the world. In amazing ways. Once when I missed a bus and got on the wrong bus.

Lo and behold I come in touch with some young man who is now leading one of our churches in Kerala. If you have a longing. If you have a longing. Lord lead me to God-fearing people. I don't mind missing a bus to be the God-fearing person.

Lord lead me to some God-fearing person. I want to build fellowship with people. I want to encourage them to build little fellowships here and there. And we've seen that happen. So here these two are brought together.

The Spirit showed him this is Jesus. And he took Jesus into his arms in verse 29. He blessed God and said Lord now you're releasing your born servant to depart in peace. I've at last seen. I have no doubt this little baby who looks like any other ordinary baby.

This is Jesus. This is the Messiah. You need a revelation from heaven to know that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. That all religions do not lead to God. I never argue with people about that. I mean if somebody had argued with Simeon.

Hey this looks just like any other. That baby is also the same. That baby is also isn't that baby. Simeon wouldn't argue with them. I don't believe in arguing with people. No never. You'll never get me into an argument.

It's a matter of revelation. How could Simeon explain to these people who got no revelation. Who don't have the Holy Spirit upon them. This is Jesus man. How can I explain to people when I say to them this is the body of Christ not that.

I wouldn't argue. This is a matter of revelation. How do you know one group of people is really seeking to please God when there are thousands of groups that call themselves Christians. I say how can I be led to the place where God wants me to be.

You got to have the Holy Spirit upon you. And I told you those three conditions. So Lord this is your this is your. I know this is it. This is it. This is the Son of God. My eyes have seen your salvation which you prepared in the presence of all people.