KNOW WHERE YOU CAME FROM MATTERS
KNOW WHERE YOU CAME FROM MATTERS
This is quite different from your personal identity. Here, we are talking about your geographical location. It is very important in this life and utmost important in eternal affairs. Do you know where you are from and where you are presently? This message is designed to address these questions.
Jdg 12:5-6 KJV 5 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; 6 Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
This is part of the account of the story of Jephtha in his war against the Ephraim. There was a passage which the Gileadite swiftly took over before the fugitives of Ephraim arrived. So whenever they wanted to cross the Gileadite would ask them where they came from. If he tells a lie they would put him to a test by asking him to pronounce a word. His inability to pronounce that word accurately would make them kill him.
So, there are certain things that are specific and pertain to a place of origin. It will either sustain you or destroy the person. Where are you from?
One of the hatred that Haman had against Mordecai was that he was a Jew. Haman even felt that the whole tribe should be destroyed.
Est 3:4-6 KJV 4 Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. 6 And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.
Where you came from can assist you to get a good favour, job, emplacement, contract and some other things like this. If you are from Oil producing community in Niger Delta, you can easily get a place because of local content and indigenization or being an indigene of that area.
There were about three times that the place of origin did something to the apostle Paul.
In Act 16, Paul and Silas unknowingly to the magistrate were subjected to humiliation and imprisonment and when they were to be secretly let off, Paul made his identity or his country of origin known:
Act 16:37 KJV But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
What was the reaction of those magistrates when they learnt where Paul was from?
Act 16:38-39 KJV 38 And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. 39 And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
They were afraid. How could judges be afraid of a prisoner? They knew they were in trouble because they had bound and beat a Roman citizen without a trial which is against the law.
Paul knew the privileges of a Roman citizen, and at proper times, when the interests of justice and religion required it, he did not hesitate to assert them. In all this, he understood and accorded with the Roman laws. The Valerian law declared that if a citizen appealed from the magistrate to the people, it should not be lawful for the magistrate to beat him with rods, or to behead him (Plutarch, Life of P. Valerius Publicola; Livy, ii. 8). By the Porcian law it was expressly forbidden that a citizen should be beaten (Livy, iv. 9). Cicero says that the body of every Roman citizen was inviolable. “The Porcian law,” he adds, “has removed the rod from the body of every Roman citizen.”
On another occasion Paul was to be flogged again but this time around, he quickly made his place of origin known and he was delivered.
Act 22:29 KJV Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
Paul was both a Jew and at the same time a Roman citizen. His jewish citizenship could not deliver him but his Roman citizenship rescued him. Where are you from?
But much more than a physical place, a Christian has a specific country of origin. A Christian also has dual citizenship. You are from the country of origin but at the same time a citizen of another one.
Phi 3:20 KJV For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
The idea is, that there are two great communities in the universe – that of the world, and that of heaven: that governed by worldly laws and institutions, and that by the laws of heaven; that associated for worldly purposes, and that associated for heavenly or religious purposes; and that the Christian belonged to the latte
The Greek word used for “conversation” there is “politeuma” It means:
The administration of civil affairs or of a commonwealth. The constitution of a commonwealth, form of government and the laws by which it is administered
It is a state, commonwealth or the commonwealth of citizens; a community, that is, (abstractly) citizenship (figuratively): –
It appeared in the New Testament once and it basically means citizenship. In other words Paul was saying that our citizenship is from heaven. Little wonder he said we are ambassadors.
2Co 5:20 KJV Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
And in his letter to the Ephesians, he directly called himself an ambassador:
Eph 6:20 KJV For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
An Ambassador is a representative of a foreign nation in another country. A minister of the highest rank sent to a foreign court to represent his sovereign or country. (Sometimes called ambassador-in-residence).
A Christian country home or place of origin is in heaven because you were born from there. You were born from above.
Joh 3:3 KJV Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
The Greek word for “again” in that passage is “anothen”from above, from a higher place, of things which come from heaven or God.
The Lord plainly told the people where He came from:
Joh 8:23 KJV And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
They taught He was from Bethlehem.
There is one characteristic of anyone from above:
Joh 3:31 KJV He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
And if you will remember, one of the promises of God to the Israelites was that they will be above and not beneath.
Deu 10:15 KJV Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
Deu 28:13 KJV And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Our above nature is further confirmed when the Lord Jesus resurrected. He was set on high.
Eph 1:20-21 KJV 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
The good news is that a believer who is in Christ resurrected with Christ and is equally set on high.
Eph 2:6 KJV And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
So we are seated with Christ at the right hand of God above.
This is your geographical positioning in Christ and understanding of it will put us over every circumstance and situation.
From those scriptures we can bring out those things we are above over:
Above all people
Above only in all circumstances and situations
Above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,
We have to go around with an “above” mentality and refuse to be subjugated or tramped on.
The dictionary defines the above as: over; on top of; worn on top of. Rising; appearing out of reach height-wise. Higher in rank, status, or position. Surpassing in number or quantity; more than. Directly overhead; vertically on top of. In a higher place; upstairs; farther upstream. Higher in rank, power, or position.
A believer is also from Zion. Zion depicts the Church but more than just a church but a place or city.
God Himself dwells in Zion.
Psa 9:11 KJV Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.
Psa 99:2 KJV The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.
The people in Zion has certain characteristics:
Psa 84:7 KJV They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
People in or from Zion are identified:
Psa 87:5 KJV And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.
Heb 12:22 KJV 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,
There is deliverance in Zion:
Joe 2:32 KJV And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Oba 1:17 KJV But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Saviour are from Zion too
Oba 1:21 KJV And saviour shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.
They don’t get sick in Zion:
Isa 33:24 KJV And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
They are forgiven people.
Isa 33:24 KJV And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity..
There are rights and privileges that are automatically bestowed on you by virtue of the country of origin. Paul knew those rights and when the time came he took advantage of them. A Christian is also entitled to certain rights and privileges of heaven where he came from.
We have a heavenly city, the New Jerusalem; we have rights and privileges which are heavenly and eternal; and our society or fellowship is with God the Father, Son, and Spirit, the spirits of just men made perfect, and the whole Church of the first-born
The Lord said you are in the world but not of the world. So a Christian is expected to have immunity or diplomatic immunity from certain things that affect the inhabitants of the earth.
Paul enjoined the Colossian brethren to mindful of where they came from
Col 3:1-2 KJV 1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
We must never forget where we came from. Peter said we are pilgrims and strangers here. Don’t let the world mould you.
1Pe 2:11 KJV Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
The word “strangers,” ( paroikous,), where it is rendered “foreigners.” It means, properly, one dwelling near, neighboring; then a by-dweller, a sojourner, one without the rights of citizenship, as distinguished from a citizen; and it means here that Christians are not properly citizens of this world, but that their citizenship is in heaven, and that they are here mere sojourners.
A pilgrim, properly, is one who travels to a distance from his own country to visit a holy place, or to pay his devotion to some holy object; then a traveler, a wanderer. The meaning here is, that Christians have no permanent home on earth; their citizenship is not here; they are mere sojourners, and they are passing on to their eternal home in the heavens. They should, therefore, act as such persons; as sojourners and travelers do.
Even the writer of Hebrew talks about being a stranger here:
Heb 11:13 KJV These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
When you are above it should be depicted in all areas of life.
Heb 1:9 KJV Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
The Lord is being referred to here. The fellows are His brethren and we are the ones being talked about.
Dan 6:3 KJV Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
Daniel was preferred above all the presidents and rulers. The excellence spirit will set you above your companions and compatriots.
Paul was above his fellows in Jewish religion before becoming a believer.
Gal 1:14 KJV And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
The word “profited” there means to advance, progress and increase.
It is a firm promise of God to set us above all the people.
Exo 19:5 KJV Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Deu 28:13 KJV And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Deu 10:15 KJV Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
In character and attitude, we can be above all men. Such was the classic example of moses:
Num 12:3 KJV (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
We can be above in our families and among people we work with too.
1Ch 5:2 KJV For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s:)
1Ch 27:6 KJV This is that Benaiah, who was mighty among the thirty, and above the thirty: and in his course was Ammizabad his son.
Our honesty and faithfulness should be above all:
Neh 7:2 KJV That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
We can be singled out for favour
Est 2:17 KJV And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
When we face challenges and wars, we can be rest assured that we will be above and prevailed
Psa 18:48 KJV He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
Psa 27:6 KJV And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
The born again experience has changed our location eternally.
2Co 5:17 KJV Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Col 1:13 KJV Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
We are not where we used to be, we should act, talk and operate from our privileged position.
Lastly, it is God’s desire that above all, we should prosper and be in health to the degree that our soul prospers
3Jn 1:2 KJV Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.