The Book of Ephesians is unique as, unlike any other Pauline Letter, it sets forth the mystical and eternal relationship between Jesus and His Church. The passage before us is then dynamic, thrilling and humbling all at the same time. It is therefore most worthy of our careful and prayerful meditation. It has three ideas:

1.    Our Condition V1-3
“And you he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins
in which you once walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who
now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we
all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature 
children of wrath, just as the others.”

We were dead in sins and trespasses: That is, we were fully corrupted by intentional and unintentional sins. These have cut us off from God and made us slaves to the world and the Devil. We are thus dead, dominated and doomed! Dead because, having been severed from God, our natures have become fully incompatible with His. Paul, writing to the Galatian believers tells us what a dead nature looks like. (Galatians 5:19-21)
Dominated because we slavishly adopted the conduct of the world while all the time thinking that we were “cool” and we were more under the influence of dark unseen powers than we thought. And………doomed because we once lived under the wrath of God! All this leaves us without hope; meaning that our very best efforts could not rectify the position we were in or save us. Paul elsewhere calls this state of being, “wretched.”

2.    Our Deliverance V4-9
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with
which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made
us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by
Grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

But God……, because of His mercy, kindness and great love for us has given us an opportunity in Christ, and by His death and resurrection, to start life again. We can be born again! Jesus died for us and as us and so with Him we came out of the grave a totally new, transformed and perfected. The awful consequences of our sins and trespasses have been forever removed from us. This is our deliverance from death! Note: In Him you were born again and went to Heaven. This means that His life in you guarantees an all new sin-conquering dynamic in your body. By grace you have been saved and thus you are no longer a slave to sin! You are truly alive!

3.    Our Transformation V10
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works
Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

By Christ’s work on the cross we have been transformed from incompatibility with God to compatibility with God. You are not saved by works but for Godly works that will spring from your new life; now and throughout all the ages to come. Here is a hint at the eternal purpose that God has for us. Death has been abolished by Jesus and now the focus is on our eternal usefulness to God. You can begin that journey today!

Our pilgrimage on earth as a Christian is an opportunity to experience the transforming power of Jesus in us. In this process, through challenges good and bad, we prove the faithfulness of God, the love of God for us and His sovereign care over our lives.

Malcolm Hedding

©Malcolm Hedding Ministries

“….with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering,
bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Ephesians 4:2-3

There is nothing more important to God than the unity of His people. This gives testimony to the power of redemption and that this redemption has been sincerely embraced by those that testify to it. The hallmark of sin is alienation and so the hallmark of salvation is reconciliation or unity; unity (harmony) with God and with those who belong to His family. When this unity is damaged our testimony is left in tatters and the Spirit of God cannot and will not work amongst us.

Moreover, as will be noted from this passage, unity is not something we have to struggle to attain to. No, when we embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior unity is given to us and so our calling is to preserve it. We have to “keep it” and not get it! This business of keeping the unity that God had given us in Christ has challenged the Church down through the centuries and no less today. Also this unity is not silly in that it does not mean that we all have to unite in one big church. No, rather it means that Christians in local churches remain united and that these churches, given that they are Bible believing etc, are united by their leadership and the cross pollination of ministry between congregations. Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia not the Church. (Galatians 1:1-2)

This passage in Ephesians tells us how to keep what God has already given. Given our divisions we would do well to heed its advice.

1.    Unity of belief. (V4-6)
In these verses Paul gives us the basic doctrinal beliefs around which we are to unite. They are all vital and important and to abandon any of these is to disqualify ourselves from being Christian. In other words we are called to major on the essentials of our faith and minor on the non-essentials of our faith. Sadly we have too often done the reverse in that we have majored on the non-essentials and minored on the essentials! Consequently we have disagreed on styles of clothing, head coverings, end time phenomenon and a host of relatively unimportant things. By contrast we should uphold the unity of the Godhead (Trinity), the importance of the Body of Christ, the significance of Baptism and the nature of our calling because of Christ’s work on the cross. These matters are not negotiable and yet today almost all of them are under assault.

2.    Unity in diversity. (V7-12)
The Body of Christ is unique because, by His ascension, Jesus has multiplied Himself by giving His ministry gifts to men by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why we must be in a local church because none of us have all the ministry gifts of Jesus. He has distributed these amongst us and thus as we submit to one another so we expose ourselves more fully to the ministry of Jesus. He has therefore given us Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers. These ministries, united in diversity, equip the believers so that they can themselves become effective ministers and all of this will edify the body of Christ. We should encourage such unity and look for it to be manifested in our communities!

3.    Unity in faith. (V13-16)
The goal of the unity of the Spirit and the unity in diversity is that we should embrace the unity of the faith. This means that we are all transformed into the likeness of Jesus in that our natures come to the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”  Paul warns that if we fail to embrace this unity we shall ultimately be like children “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.” There are far too many people like this in the Church today and all because we have not attended to Paul’s exhortations about unity in this passage.
Unity is important to God and we should strive to keep it because by it God will do great things amongst us. This means that every believer should recognize that, how he lives his life impacts on the blessing of God in his church. We cannot hide from Him with whom we have to do and therefore, whether we like it or not, we are all making a contribution to our church. The question is; what is it? Is it one of unity or division? I sincerely hope that it is the former.

Malcolm Hedding

©Malcolm Hedding Ministries

The Season of Light and Festivity  2012

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14

Scripture declares that the world is in the grip of a demonic fist. (1John5:19) Generally speaking the human race walks, “according to the prince of the power of the air,” (Ephesians2:2) and indeed, as Paul affirms, the devil is the “god of this age.”(2Corinthians4:4) We should therefore not be surprised at the darkness and evil that envelopes our world and sadly, sometimes even our own hearts!

Nevertheless, at this time of the year we remember, with much joy, that God’s light dispels the darkness and will ultimately conquer it. The Feast of Dedication (John10:22) or Hanukkah reminds us that the Lord of Glory, by His love ,penetrates the darkness by the strength of His love and therefore by His saving light, does great things for Israel and all those who love Him.

The very first Hanukkah celebration took place some 160 years before Christ. Israel was overrun by the evil Seleucid Antiochus Epiphanes who committed the abomination of desolation by placing a statue of Zeus in the Temple in Jerusalem. After a great struggle, which raged for three-and-a-half years, he was finally defeated by the Hasmoneans and by Judas Hasmoneas in particular. The Temple was cleansed and rededicated with a miracle that kept the Menorah burning for five days until oil obtained from the Galilee, was able replenish it. Jesus celebrated this miracle and thereby recognized the intervention of God on behalf of Israel. (John 10:22-23)

The message was clear; God’s light will deliver Israel and save her. Today Ahmadinejad of Iran and others threaten Israel as Antiochus did but they will also fail because they have not reckoned on Israel’s light! Time will most definitely prove this to be true! We thank God that He is the same, yesterday, today and forever and we can then pray with confidence about Israel’s protection and deliverance. Scripture affirms this when it states that the nations will increasingly fall into intense darkness but God’s light will increasingly shine brighter over Israel. (Isaiah 60:1-3)

Also, at this time of the year, we celebrate the birth of the Light of the World. The incarnation story is simple, beautiful and worthy of annual celebration. God became man and dwelt among us so that we could perceive who He really is. John the apostle declares, “No one has seen God at anytime, the only begotten God in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (John 1:18) What a beautiful way of putting the essence or nature of Jesus. The Father is fully reflected in His life and this reflection is nothing short of glorious! By His death and resurrection Jesus has dispelled the darkness in countless millions of lives down through the centuries and in the world today. In short, His star has brought real hope and joy to the world. Rightly then do we celebrate His birth and thus join the choir of Angels in their songs of praise. This we do with the great expectation that very shortly He will inherit the throne of His great grandfather David and rule forever and ever. (Luke1:30-33) When this happens light will at last cover the whole earth as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)

May the God of Israel shine His light on you and your loved ones at this special time of the year and fill you with His love and joy! Even so Lord Jesus come quickly!

Merry Christmas!

Malcolm and Cheryl Hedding.
Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will not speak
on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He
will tell you things to come.”
John 16:13

The Vision Imparted
Ten years ago, and just two weeks before 9/11 I returned home from my office in Jerusalem and as I walked into our beautiful home, which looked over Jerusalem, I was overcome with a great urge to pray. I went into my bedroom, closed the door, and as I began to pray the presence of the Holy Spirit came upon me and I was subsequently “removed” into another realm that I now call “Visions of the Future.” To be quite honest I am not too sure of what really happened but I was taken up somehow and given, what I call, a systematic view of the continents and great nations of the world. Not all of them but some of them.

As I moved from place to place in this vision God gave me, two things became immediately evident; one the presence of the Kingdom of Jesus on the earth was symbolized by little yellow dots or buttons and; two, a voice from time to time gave commentary on what would happen to the nations and peoples that I was looking at.

The Vision Unfolds
I was first taken to Europe and here I saw very few yellow dots or buttons,  and the continent was in the grip of a black fist. Thereafter I was taken to Scandinavia where there were quite a few dots scattered throughout this region. However, as I watched, dark clouds, approaching from the West, covered Scandinavia and the little yellow dots were no longer observable. My understanding of this is that persecution in some form is coming to this part of the world and may even be there already evidenced by laws that limit and restrict the voice of the Church in the region. This will no doubt escalate.

Next I saw the United Kingdom and as I gazed upon it a voice said, “The United Kingdom will be divided.” I then saw the Isle of Great Britain divided by intense darkness and light. The darkness went from the midlands above London to the north and the light radiated from the same divide and southward. It therefore seemed to me to be a spiritual divide and not a political one but I could be wrong. I was thereafter taken to see the United States of America and, as I gazed upon a nation full of yellow buttons or lights a voice proclaimed, “America is My storehouse but a day of lightning is coming and the just will live by faith.” Lightning is fire from the sky and just two weeks later fire fell from the sky and descended upon the nation as Islamic radicals flew planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and other targets. We shall never forget those awful images of the burning towers as they melted down and finally collapsed from the intense fire and heat.

According to the vision, this “fire from the sky”, would designate the beginning of a time of great financial difficulty for the USA. American Christians have in the twentieth century financially empowered much of God’s work in the world. Their generosity has been amazing but, according to the vision, this would change and henceforth the “just would have to live by their faith.” That is, the people of God would have to trust God more than they ever have!

After this scene I was shown Africa. Here I saw a great and terrible black spider eating its way through Africa. In Southern Africa I saw many yellow dots but as I watched they began to leave the region and went into all the earth. Some years later a friend of mine living in Cape Town, sent me a picture of a sculptor placed in a significant spot in the city. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that it was a great black spider!! More horrifying is the fact that a war has raged for years throughout central Africa that has hitherto claimed the lives of near on 4 million people. It is rightly called the “Forgotten War” and no one really cares about it or even, for that matter, knows about it.

In addition, over the last decade and more approximately 2 million people were murdered in Christian South Sudan by the Islamic jihadists of the north. This is entirely separate from the killing fields of Darfur where some 250,000 black Muslims were murdered by the Arab Muslims of the north. As I write the Black Spider of wickedness continues to ravage Africa.

After these things I saw Australia. There were yellow buttons or lights in the nation but the commentary I heard simply stated, “Australia will dwell alone.” I am not sure what this means but we will wait and see. Gazing then at South East Asia I heard the voice speaking with me proclaiming, “I will remove the tyranny of the face from South East Asia.” Again, I am not entirely sure what this means but I do know that the region is held hostage by false religious systems that all have faces some of them grotesque to say the least. Whatever it means one thing is sure; ten years ago the God of the Bible told me that He was about to do great things in this region and consequently millions of people would be delivered from false gods and saved. Included in this region is China and as I gazed upon this nation the voice traveling with me said, “China will become a menace.” Some years later when traveling through an international airport with my wife we noticed a magazine on sale, like that of Time or Newsweek, which had emblazoned on its front cover these words, “The Menace of China.” Through the last decade the shadow of this communist state has loomed over the whole world holding it financially hostage while all the time abusing human rights on a large scale, manipulating its currency in order to undermine that of the West’s and employing a labor force that is so badly paid that it can be deemed slave labour. Coupled with China’s emerging military power she has indeed become a problem. Ten years ago none of this was really so evident as it is today.

Finally, I was over Israel and here I saw the country filled with yellow lights. God is going to do something amazing in Israel! As I looked a prism coming down from Heaven engulfed Israel, however to the east I saw a very wicked eye that was fixed on Israel with destruction in mind. This was August 2001 when no one really knew the name Ahmadinejad or Osama Bin Laden for that matter. Al Qaeda was also a non-entity and the Iranian nuclear program was certainly not center stage in the world if at all an issue. Today Iran is fully intent on Israel’s destruction and is pursuing a war against Israel through its proxies; Hamas and Hezbollah and developing a nuclear weapons program with which to further threaten Israel and the wider world.

The Vision in Perspective
Immediately after this “visitation” and before 9/11 I shared the contents of this vision with my staff at the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. This is on record but the Holy Spirit forbade me from sharing it in any public forum. I did try once or twice but felt so uneasy about it that I refrained in the end from doing so. That is, up until a week ago. I have waited for over ten years to say something about it but now finally the Lord has released me to do so. This I believe is because much of it has come to pass. These things can become sensational and entertaining for the people of God and I have never been one to claim anything like this but certainly this vision has enjoyed some remarkable fulfillments.

Why would Jesus want me to share it now? I believe because of the following:

1.    His work, and that is His kingdom in the earth, must be our priority. The yellow dots or buttons need to increase and we must now more than ever preach the Gospel to the world.

2. These “visions’ are not fatalistic. (Jeremiah 18:7-10) That is, they are given that we may cooperate with God and thereby deter evil. So, we need to be aware of what is happening in Africa for instance and at the very least get involved with our prayers. The march of the black spider must be stopped!

3. He wants us to know that He remains sovereign over the nations of the world and therefore though great and awesome events may overwhelm it He is still in control and we, His followers, have nothing to fear. It is the hearts of the ungodly that will fail because of fear of what is coming upon the earth. (Luke 21:26)

4. He loves Israel, has returned her from the nations and will save her but her enemies are great and very powerful and we must take a real place of urgent and persistent intercession on her behalf. There are many peoples, nations and organizations across the world that are intent on her destruction. The “evil eye” of Iran is at the forefront of this struggle and we must not minimize this conflict. It is going to grow in intensity and we must become part of that heavenly and protective prism that is all around her by our prayers and actions on her behalf. God is watching us but He is going to be greatly glorified by His deliverance of Israel.

5. He is reaching out to America because she has played such a crucial role in the pursuit of world missions. God has not forgotten the USA and has allowed her to pass through hard times, including those that are financial, because He wants His people everywhere to trust Him more. The vision concerning America was astonishing and just goes to show that He knows, cares and is giving her time to return to Him.

6. He wants us to think deeply about what has happened in Europe, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. The Christians there should weep, repent and pray for their nations as never before. It may be that our dear Lord will do something amazing yet amongst them.

7. He desires that we should all examine our own lives with this in mind: That we have not lost our first love! This is no time to point fingers but rather to make sure that we are walking in true fellowship with Jesus.

These “visions’, to some degree, give us God’s perspective of the world and so for Him what matters is the light that He brings into the world by Christ. The little buttons  or lights shine brightly but they must increase in number and in intensity. I was most certainly left with a feeling of great awe when this encounter passed but I certainly knew that I, and all those who follow Jesus, am involved in a spiritual battle of great proportions. In the light of this we must attend with some urgency to our priorities.

Malcolm Hedding.

©Malcolm Hedding Ministries

“Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God. And behold, you
will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and
shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will
give Him the throne of His father David. And He will
reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His king-
dom there will be no end”
Luke 1:30-33

Here in this simple passage of scripture we have a proclamation that changed the world forever and gave it hope. This passage dispels the gloom of human existence and assures us that God loves us all and has stepped down into this world in His Son to save us and fill us all with eternal hope. The work of Jesus is “forever” and those who travel life with Him will never die since His kingdom will have no end. Good news indeed and worthy of celebration. We should note the following and meditate upon them this Christmas time:

1.    A Son whose mane is Jesus
Jesus, or Yeshua in Hebrew, means Savior. The Bible most certainly defines the human being as being “fallen.” That is, lost in hopelessness and gloom because they have rebelled against God and have been banished from His eternal presence. This rebellion against God is called sin. This sin has impacted our natures and consequently our actions in a way that we cannot find our way back to God. We cannot attain to His righteousness and we cannot escape His penalty for our state of existence but God has sent us a Savior whose mane is Jesus. We may ask, “Why did He do this?” The answer is clear; because He loves us!

2.    A Son who is the Son of the Highest
Jesus was born of a virgin in order to escape our fallen natures. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit! However, this means that He was begotten and was therefore God in the flesh. That is, perfect God and perfect man, truly a Godman. He lived His life out in a broken, sinful and dark world, resisted temptation, never sinned and then atoned on the cross for our sins. So, by the power of an indestructible life He saves us and reconciles us to God. We are declared righteous and made righteous by His life in us. Rightly do we worship Him and give Him praise.

3.    A Son who is King of Israel
Jesus is of David’s line, is the King of Israel and will come back to reign over the house of Jacob. He will not abandon His people Israel and the promise of her deliverance and blessing is bound up in His soon coming. He will not fail His people Israel and even in this dark hour when anti-Semitism is on the rise everywhere Jesus is getting ready to defend a Jewish Jerusalem and take up His throne. What wonderful news to meditate upon at Christmas time.

4.    A Son who will reign forever
Mary’s boy child will rule the universe forever! This is the promise of the Angel sent from Heaven. It is a sure promise and will not fail. Not everyone will share it with Him as only those who have linked their lives to His will go into His eternal kingdom. The world has a King and by Him can live forever but sadly too few embrace and love Him. Upon this simple response hangs the eternal destiny of all people. Quite a thought!

We will shortly celebrate the Son of God’s birth into our world so many years ago and as we do let us meditate on these things and hold them dear and close to our hearts as Mary did. Merry Christmas!

Malcolm Hedding.

©Malcolm Hedding Ministries

“And without controversy great is the mystery Of Godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.”
1Timothy 3:16

The greatest event of all time was The Day when God became man and dwelt among us. This altered our world forever and that of the destiny of every human being whether they acknowledge it or not. There is of course great mystery to the incarnation but the facts of history affirm it.

Therefore:

1. The Incarnation punctuates history.
A decree went out from Caesar Augustus requiring all people in the empire to be registered. (Luke2:1) This was the law that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and the rest is indeed history. From that time to the present the world generally orders its affairs according to the birth of the Son of God. This alone is amazing!

2. The Incarnation unveils the nature and character of God.
John declares that no one has seen God at any time but the, “the only begotten God in the bosom of the Father has declared Him.”(John1:18) Jesus is nothing short of God in the flesh and He clearly affirmed this especially when He addressed the doubts and misgivings of His followers. For in John 14 and verse 9, in response to a question asking Him to show them the Father He said, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me……” Not only is Jesus a godman but He is also The Creator! (John1:1-3; Colossians1:16-18; Hebrews1:1-3) All of this is quite literally mind blowing but true!

3. The Incarnation has purpose.
This purpose may be summed up in three ways: Firstly; to satisfy the demands of God’s character by the cross. (Hebrews2:14-18) Secondly; to defeat the powers of darkness who dominate our lives by the cross. (Hebrews 2:14) And, thirdly; to reconcile us to His Father by the cross. (Hebrews2:8-10)
Thanks be to God for His wonderful gift!

4. The Incarnation is instructive.
That Jesus left the glory and splendor of Heaven to become man and dwell among us in this veil of sorrows as a servant is amazing.  This truth should challenge us, by His grace, to walk in similar love and humility. He had status and gave it away in order to serve us! (Mark10:45) We, because of sin, have no status but we falsely seek it and claim it in our pride and arrogance forgetting His incredible example by the incarnation. (Philippians2:5-11)

Who will be like Jesus?

Malcolm Hedding.

©Malcolm Hedding Ministries