The Form and the Power
The Form and the Power
By Bud Hancock
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2 KJV)
“But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?” (Exodus 32:11 KJV)
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5 KJV)
Introduction
In the first two paragraphs above, the power of God is referenced, both in the initial Genesis creation and then in the miraculous acts that God used to free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. In the third paragraph, the Apostle Paul speaks of the ‘last days perilous times’, describing the nature of men who are physically alive but spiritually dead. In addition to the many adjectives, all bad, Paul uses to describe them, he says they will have a ‘form’ of godliness’. In the 3rd verse of II Timothy 3, the word ‘form’ in the Greek is mor’-pho-sis (Strong’s 3446) and it means a semblance, or fashion. So the evil men of the perilous last days, which we happen to be in, will appear to be godly, having some fashion of religion, but will be totally devoid of any power which denotes true godliness. Unfortunately, this description fits many mainline denominations today, those who are more concerned with the size of their congregations than they are with introducing the God of Power to those in need.
Contrary to what many Christians believe, Christ is NOT the last name of Jesus. Until His earthly ministry began, he was likely known as the son of Joseph of Nazareth, but when He began His earthly ministry, He assumed His God-given identity as ‘the Mashiach, or Messiah, a title nearly all Jews would have been familiar with. Our English word ‘Christ’ is the transliteration of the Greek word Christos which is the translation of the Hebrew word ‘mashiach’ whose meaning is ‘anointed’. Mashiach, the word we translate into English as ‘Messiah’ refers to the person prophesied by God to ‘bruise the head of the serpent’ (Genesis 3:15 KJV).
Jesus, All God and All Man
What made Jesus so different from other persons born when He was? Other than His complete perfection, the fact that He never once committed a sin and never broke one Mosaic law, He forsook His previous form as God and took upon Himself the likeness of a mere man. He was God in the flesh, the form of a human being. Though He retained all His divine attributes, He placed Himself always at the disposal of the Father, allowing Himself to be guided by The Holy Spirit, only doing what He saw His Father do (John 5:19 KJV).
We know from scripture that Jesus walked the earth in the form of a mere human man, but there was one thing that made Him very different: the anointing of The Holy Spirit. Because He was God and lived a perfect sinless life, He was/is the epitome of Godliness, but he displayed the power of that Godliness only when moved to do so by The Holy Spirit. Just as the Spirit of God ‘was hovering over the waters’ in Genesis 1, the power to recreate the earth was present at that moment, but until God spoke, the power was not displayed. However, when God spoke, whatever He said came into existence. One moment it was not, the next moment it was. The Spirit of God is the ‘power of God’, also known as ‘The Anointing’. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word that most clearly speaks of God’s power is ‘koach’, ko’-ach, (Strong’s 3581); it is used in many scriptures speaking of God’s power, for example, the power that God displayed when He miraculously brought the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. The equivalent Greek word found often in the New testament is ‘dunamis’, du-na’-mis, (Strong’s 1411) and it refers to the power of God, especially the creative power He used when the Spirit of God moved in response to the voice of God. This is the power that is resident in ‘The Anointing’, the same power by which Jesus performed all His miracles during His earthly ministry.
We are told that Jesus had ‘the anointing’ without measure, meaning the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit was on Him and with Him every moment of His life (See John 3:33-35 KJV). Even though that anointing was upon Him constantly, the power was activated by the voice of the father to Jesus, or whenever a person exercised faith and drew that power from Jesus (Read Luke 8:43-48 KJV). The anointing that was drawn from Jesus through faith is the same anointing (power) that was displayed when, after the initial creation of earth, the Spirit of God, (the Holy Spirit) ‘moved upon the face of the waters’. Whatever God spoke became reality as the Holy Spirit moved at the voice of God.
True Godliness
We might say that Jesus always displayed true Godliness during His life on earth. But what does that mean? Dictionary.com defines godliness as “conforming to the laws and wishes of God; devout; pious; coming from God; divine. The Free Dictionary defines it as “piety by virtue of being a godly person”.
William Law, author of “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life”, emphasized ‘devotion’ to describe the lifestyle of a person who displayed godliness:
“Devotion signifies a life given, or devoted, to God. He therefore is the devout [godly] man who lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God; who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life parts of piety [godliness], by doing everything in the name of God, and under such rules as are conformable to his Glory.” To me, this says that a person exercising or displaying godliness is ‘god-like’ in every action he undertakes in his life.
Now, applying this narrative to Jesus, we can see that every moment of His life was a moment of Godliness, in that, He only did what He saw His father do, and said what the Father told Him to say. His devotion to His Father was absolute, complete. Everywhere He went, He fulfilled the prophesy found in Isaiah 61, speaking of the ministry of the Messiah. He publicly claimed the fulfillment of a part of that prophesy when he read in the synagogue in Nazareth. Recorded in the gospel of Luke:
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? (Luke 4:16-20 KJV)
During His ministry Jesus preached the gospel, the Good News, exactly as His Father gave Him the words to speak. Furthermore, He demonstrated the power of that gospel every time He healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, raised the dead, brought deliverance to those who were possessed by demons and set free those who were oppressed. In other words, He displayed the ‘power of God’, or the ‘power of godliness’ through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Note that Jesus stated several times that He could do nothing of Himself, it was the ‘power of God’ or the ‘anointing of the Holy Spirit’ by which He did the mighty works. He was telling us that just as He did mighty works, acts of godliness, ONLY through the power of the Holy Spirit, so could we when we become filled with and led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not have a mere ‘form of godliness’, he walked constantly in the ‘power of godliness’. Though he physically displayed the form of a man, He spiritually displayed the Power of God.
Where is That Power Now?
After His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus’ disciples went forth proclaiming the same gospel as did Jesus. They preached the good news, healed the sick, cast out foul demon spirits and did it all just as Jesus did: through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Through them, the good news spread far and wide and many were added to the Body of Christ through their testimony and their lives of godliness. Through the succeeding centuries, the ‘Power of Godliness’ that was used by godly men and women drew sinners and those needing healing by the millions so that the Church, the Body of Christ, grew and the gospel of Christ spread nearly around the world.
Now, here we are in the year 2020 and my oh my, how things have changed. Many mainline denominations call out to some of the most despicable sinners on earth, those who practice all manner of sexual sin, to come and join their congregations. And by the way, they say, “We won’t require that you decide to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, no. that kind of commitment no longer has any place in religion. You can continue just as you are because, you see, God loves everyone, just as they are”. These religious denomination leaders even make some of them preachers, pastors, deacons, bishops, etc., in their churches, allowing them, even encouraging them, to spread their abominable acts to all the world, and all in the name of ‘Christianity’, albeit a phony one. These phony ‘Christians’ are playing a dangerous game, one that will cause millions of people to be thrown into the lake of fire, prepared for Satan and the demons.
Fortunately, many of those who initially accept the deception and lies that sounds so easy, are faced with the fact that they are no better off than they were when they had never seen the inside of a place of worship. Those who need healing never experience the power that Jesus and His disciples displayed during their ministry on the earth. They are still empty inside, still lacking something that fills a void in their lives, something that makes them realize there must be more. What they are lacking is the ‘power of godliness’, the power that a true believer walks in day by day. What they are seeing instead is a ‘form of godliness’ with the power lacking. Many of them turn away from that empty form and seek the true God, the God of Love, Mercy, Forgiveness and yes, Power. Those who truly seek God find that He is still in the ‘Power Business’, that He has never changed nor has His power decreased. As they grow in grace and truth, they themselves become some of the most powerful voices speaking the gospel around the world.
But there are precious few of them compared to the religious phonies who are only trying to fill the pews in their 501c3 church buildings and grow their revenue so that they can reach that much sought after pinnacle of ‘Megachurch’. Meanwhile, the commandment that Jesus gave to His disciples: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” (Mark 16:15-16 KJV), goes by the wayside, replaced by that all-consuming search for the mighty ‘Megachurch’ pinnacle.
Is the Power Still Available?
We are told in Malachi 3:6, For I am the LORD, I change not. If that statement was true when the prophet Malachi penned it, sometime around 500-450 BCE, it is true today. The word Malachi means ‘messenger’ and God was sending a powerful message through His servant. He wants the entire world to know that, though men constantly change, though religious groups constantly change, though human governments constantly change, God does NOT change. The same God who spoke and then watched as the Holy Spirit of God, the Power of God, moved over the waters and brought into existence whatever god spoke, is still the same today, Jesus is still the same, never-changing, always constant. The ‘dunamis power’ that created the universe, the earth and all that is in it, the power that healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead and changed entire nations is still available; in fact, God is waiting for people to desire the demonstration of His power, the life-changing power that only comes from a life dedicated to God, His Word and His Will. Meanwhile, millions are dying in their sins because there are so few willing to seek God and allow Him to work that power through them.
This lack of Godly servants must break God’s heart. Since He has not changed, His desire is still as the Apostle Peter said: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 KJV).
The lost souls of Israel ran to the desert to hear this miracle worker called Jesus of Nazareth, looking for the answer to their problems. They may have gone to the desert, or wherever Jesus was, wondering if they would only find more of the ‘form of godliness’ that was exhibited by the Pharisees and the Scribes, the Jewish religious leaders of that time. They already knew there was no power coming from that hypocritical bunch and they were looking for something real.
They heard Jesus proclaim the words that He spoke in the synagogue, quoting from the prophet Isaiah, and they became hopeful that He could actually do something to provide what they needed. And without fail, Jesus patiently and compassionately ministered to their every need. All manner of sickness was healed, the blind were made to see, the deaf were made to hear, those possessed with evil spirits were cleansed and set free. Those who received from Jesus, walked away knowing that they had been in the presence of deity, the presence of the power of the God they had long sought for.
What is the Answer to the World’s problems today?
This question is asked many times every day all over the world. It is discussed, debated and argued over by secular people, philosophers, politicians and government officials in most every nation on earth, yet no one seems to actually have a good answer. Every religious act, every political process, every government policy that men have tried to ‘solve the world’s problems’ has failed; in fact, those problems only seem to grow and get worse. Meanwhile, the lost world runs around looking for something real, something that will work. They chase after every ‘pop-up charlatan’ who now claims to have THE answer, only to discover that the “Answer People” are as lost as they themselves, and so they walk away more disappointed and frustrated than ever. They become more and more willing to follow after anyone who offers the slightest hope of relief.
Does this mean the answer to their problems is only a pipe dream? Can there actually be a way that true peace, true joy and true happiness can be attained? Yes, and the answer has been present all along. God is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (everywhere in the universe). HE has not changed, nor will He ever change. He is still patiently waiting for those willing to commit their lives to carrying His power to the lost masses
Conclusion
Only when the Church realizes that its failure, OUR failure, is allowing millions of lost souls to go to hell, and only when the Church seeks after the God of Power will there be an answer that works. The world is still seeking ‘true godliness’, the kind that displays the power of that godliness. They are fed up with the ‘form of godliness’, that empty form that denotes dead, empty religion. When the Church finally realizes just why we are in this world, what our purpose is in this life, and make the commitment to seeking God and allowing Him to display His power to the lost world, those who have been seeking the answers to their problems will turn themselves inside out to get to where the power is being seen and felt.
Blessings!