10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the Ling back? 11 And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the eldersof Judah, saying, Why are ye the Ist to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel ix come to the king, even to his house, 12 Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my Mesh: wherefore then are ye the st to bring back the king? ‘We know that the Second Coming of Jesus is the glorious hope of the Church, but let us ask ourselves this question: Can we hasten the event? One who has just casually read the Bible will say, "No, God is working on a timetable, and when the time comes, Jesus will return— but not until then Wrong, ‘That isnot what the Bible teaches at all. That kind of “religious” teaching spills over on us. from church teachings we have had in days gone by. It is unscriptural In our text we find that Absalom, who had led an insurrection against his father, King David, is dead, King David sends word to his kinsmen in the House of Judah, asking, "Why are ‘ye the last to bring the king back to his house?” He reminds them that they are his brothers—his bones and his flesh, ‘The questions in this text con- cerning King David also apply to the greater Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ: Why are ye the last to bring back the king? Ye are my bones and my flesh. Ephesians 5:30 says con- cerning Jesus, “For we are members by Kenneth E. Hagin of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” Our text also asks another question: "Why speak ye nota word of bringing the king back?” (wv. 10). My King James translation reads in the margin, "Why are you silent about bringing the king back?” Other translations make such statements as: "Why do you keep still about bringing back the king?” "Why are you deaf to the need of bringing back the king?” "Why do you let the ‘matter drag about bringing back the king?” "Why do you lag behind in bringing the king back?” “Why do you procrastinate about bringing the king back?” All of these meanings certainly are insinuated in the statement “Why do you remain silent about bringing back the king?" (as one ‘marginal note reads). As we study further, we find yet another translation reads, "Why do you hinder the coming back of the king?” You see, simply by being silent about it, they hindered the ‘coming back of the king. This is talking about King David, but all of these statements can apply to bringing back our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why does He delay? Why doesn’t He come? Why does Jesus tarry? Iam going to prove to you from Scripture that it is an absolute fact—whether you realize it or not—that we are largely to blame for the fact that Jesus has not come yet! 2PETERSS.12 9 The Lord is not slack butis longsuffering to us-ward,not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thietin the night; in the which the heavens with ayreat noise, and the lt with fervent heat, the » and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 1 Seeing then thut all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ‘ought ye to bein all holy conversation und godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the wvens being on fire shall be. dissolved. e elements shall melt with fervent Verse 12 says, “looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.” In my King James translation, there is a numeral by “hasting.” What it actually says in the Greek, according to the marginal note, is “hasting the coming.” ‘Well, can we “hasten” the coming of Jesus? Evidently we can, The Holy Spirit wouldn't have told us to do something we couldn't do. ‘Two other Scriptures pertaining to this subject are: REVELATION 197 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, uhd his wife hath mate herself 1 JOHN 3:3 2 And every man that hath this hope in |him purifieth himself, even as he ix pure. ‘The hope John is talking about—if you were to examine it closely—is ‘the return of the Lord Jesus. What can we do, then, to hasten the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? Continued on next page‘Kinglfvom page 2 ‘There are at least three things: 1. We can see to it that we are ready ourselves. Notice, in references to the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Lamb is the Lord Jesus. His wife, the Bride He refers to, isthe Church. She has made herself ready. ‘That almost sounds like a con- tradiction, because we know man cannot save himself; it takes the Lord to save him. Nevertheless, there are all these years,” he replied. “T've been faithful coming to church—and I know that fellow hasn't been to church for 12 years! I've been here every time the doors opened. Here he comes back, and in just a nightor two God gives him the Holy Spirit. Why doesn't He give it to me?” (it would be funny if it weren't so pathetic, but they are so deadly serious about it, almost weeping and asking, "Why doesn’t God give me the Holy Spirit?” “It is an absolute fact—whether you realize it or not—that we are largely to blame for the fact that Jesus has not come yet things you can do to get ready for this event. You have a part to play. Did you notice it does not say the Lamb made His wife ready? It says, “his wife hath made herself ready” (Rey. 19:7). There is a God-ward side and a man-ward side. The Bible tells us to fight the good fight of faith. That's the part we have to play. Often, people think if God says something is theirs, it is going to happen automatically. No, God gives ‘you His Word so you will know what is yours, But then you have your part to play: You must accept what belongs to you; you must receive what belongs to you. ‘That is the reason so many people Judge after the sight of the eye (or human reasoning) instead of judging righteous judgment (according to what God's Word says). And often people blame God for things He is not responsible for at all. They question why someone got saved or received greater things from God than they did. Inone of my meetings, aman who had been backslidden for 12 years was gloriously reclaimed like the prodigal son of old. Several nights later, he was filled with the Holy Spirit One of the church members came whining to me, “Idon't understand it! | just can’t understand it at all!” "What is it you can't under- stand?” Lasked, "Now, God knows I've lived right "Yousee, tis not amatter of God's giving them anything. The Holy Spirit has been here ever since God sent Him to this earth on the day of Pentetost. So it's not a matter of God's giving the Holy Spirit. He didn't give the Holy Spirit to this backslider. The backslider came back home and received what God had for him. Ttaught it to the church member, but he didn't believe it. He said, " just believe when God gets ready, in His own good time, in His own good way, He's going to give me the Holy Spirit. “Well,” I said, “He's not.” I saw him years later, and he never had received. He still was blaming God. We have a part to play, and God has a part to play, but people blame God for everything. On another occasion, a backslider came back to God and then got healed. Soon three people from the church asked to have a talk with me. One of them said, “Well now, God ought not to have healed him—that's all there is to it! He has been wrong all these years!” (They wanted to blame me because God healed the backslider.) . It's strange the ideas people have about God. I know they don't mean to do it, but unconsciously they are lying about God While holding a meeting in 1954 in Oregon, I preached one night on “Laying on of Hands.” Then I gave the invitation, and asked the people tolline up for salvation and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. T came to one woman who had come to be filled with the Spirit, and the minute I laid hands on her, I ‘knew all about her. Nobody had told me. I knew it by revelation. (I never allowed pastors to talk to me about people in their churches. I always told them, "The Lord will tell me everything He wants me to know.") T stopped. I knew the woman would be filled with the Holy Spirit and would speak with other tongues right there in front of the whole crowd. But I also knew this by rev- elation: When she did, the crowd would “put the brakes on me” if I didn't stop and explain it to them. Did you know a crowd can “put the brakes” on you? They sure can. ‘They did on Jesus in His hometown of Nazareth. They put the brakes of unbelief on. The Bible said He could there do no mighty work, and He ‘marveled at their unbelief. So I said, "Now, folks, when I lay hands on this woman and minister to her, she is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues.” T wish you could have seen some of those people when Isaid that. They looked at me in disbelief. Some of their mouths fell open. Isaid to them, "Now, I know some of you think this woman couldn’t possibly be filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't want to embarrass her, Continued on page 10 THE WORO OF FAT pam ney fara Base sort tar ones oe ava. oe oe, | cine on gon fort re nk cs ‘ons ee Prt ows ony sy Bouman ert Signe cane ‘omen tus Oma Fone | (Wieeawasonse mpnsioonmaaty wei seace seuter FO ween rs wseur0e 3Kingirom page 3 but I'm going to say this to you. I don't know her. I don’t know her name. The pastor here never said aything to me. Idon'tknow ifshe’sa member of this church or not, but I'm sure she attends some. “Tee by the Spirit that she does not live a consistent Christian life. She's up and down (more down than up). She's in and out (more out than in). She lives such a carnal life that nobody has much confidence in her Christian experience.’ ‘And the woman said with tears, “Brother Hagin, you're exactly right. I'm ashamed of it, but it’s the truth.” So I said to the congregation, "You think because of her past that she cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit. “While T was preaching about laying on of hands and being filled with the Spirit, I saw this woman in the spirit. I didn’t see her physically, because I wasn’t looking her way. But she bowed her headon the seat in front of her and said, ‘Dear God, I'm Just the worst person here, I guess, nd I've made such a mess of trying to —ve the Christian life, but I repent of every sin, and I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, With the help of God, A tw" Powerful UNITY: New 5 Uae 4 Mini-book by Kenneth Hagin Jr “In this last day before Jesus Christ comes again there is going to come a unity among the Body of Christ that the world hhas never seen before, and the power of God is going to be demonstrated oa never before,” Kenneth Hagin Jr. writes in his newest book. Unity of doctrine, unity of ministries, tunity of churches, and unity of believers are explored | Presse send me ‘Key tothe Age of Power Thave eros 80 | foreach eopy ordered 1 ame [-apbanas | erry Pm going to live right from this ‘moment on.’” I said, "Sister, did you do that, or didn’t you?” She said, "I did. Idid.” I said to the crowd, “I want to ask you a question. When she bowed her head there and said, ‘Lord forgive me and cleanse me,’ did He forgive and cleanse her, or did He tell a lie about it and say He would, but didn't?” made them answer me. “Speak up. Did He, or did He not?” God. But we have to put on the wedding garment—the "bride” has to put on the wedding dress. Thank God, God furnishes it. We can be robed in the righteousness of Jesus— but we have to put it on. How do we put it on? We put it on by getting into the Word and finding out what righteousness is, by laying aside everything that is wrong, and by putting on everything that is right. “His wife hath made herself ready. “When is the end coming? When the gospel of the kingdom has been preached in all the world as a witness to all nations.” —— opies of Unity: | ‘Somebody said, “Well, now, ifshe was honest and sincere about ieee ‘They still didn't want to accept that He forgave her. I said, “Let's just ask her. Sister, were you mocking God, or did you really mean it?” With tears she said, “Oh, Brother Hagin, God knows I meant it!” “Well,” I said to the congregation, “I want to ask you something else Did the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse her from all sin, or did it not? Did He cleanse her from all unrighteous- ness?” I made them answer me. Some of them sat there and looked angry— they wouldn't even answer me—but the majority of the crowd smiled and said, “Yes, He did. He did.” T said, “All right. Watch this, then.” I laid hands on her and she started talking in tongues. The pastor said afterwards, “If you hadn't explained that to’ the crowd, I guarantee you we would have had to close the meeting.” Do you see the wrong ideas people have about God? Do you realize that those things really hinder the Lord | from coming? People like thatare not in a position to make themselves | ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Do you recall the Scripture we noted earlier? It said, “His wife hath | made herself ready.” Now we know that being born | again is what makes us right with 2. We can hasten the coming of Jesus by telling the story of Jesus worldwide. desus Himself said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached inall the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14) When is the end coming? When the gospel of the kingdom has been preached in all the world asa witness toall nations. That's when the end is going to come, Well, who's going to preach the ‘gospel unto all nations? Jesus? God? ‘The Holy Spirit? No. We are. ‘You can readily see by obeying Him and doing what He said to do— or not doing it—we're either going to hasten or delay the coming of Jesus. Every time we send out another missionary, we are hastening the coming of Jesus. Every time we send someone to another nation to tell them about Jesus and the kingdom of God, we are hastening the coming of Jesus. Every time they go, thank God, we know we're doing two things! We're winning the lost, but we're also hastening the return of Jesus. We have a number of students who are going to the Philippines this summer; some will stay permanently as missionaries. Others are going to Africa, Australia, the British Isles, Japan, and other countries. Continued on next paxees Kingifrom page 10 Remember what Jesus said in ‘The Great Commission (Mark 16:15): "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” That's all nations, isn't it? Are we obeying that fully, or are we obeying it half- heartedly? If we're not, we're hin- dering and delaying the coming of Jesus, because He said when it's done, the end will come. ‘You can readily see that by our speeding up sending individuals to bringing back the king, glory to God! ‘Men of praise led in the great battles of the Lord, and won the greatest victories, When they began to sing and praise, the victory was won (see 2 Chron. 20:14-22). A New Testament example is found in Acts 16, where Paul and Silas "prayed, and sang praises” at midnight in the Philip- pian jail, despite their wounds, and the jailer and his household got saved. “If Paul and Silas had been like most Christians today, they would still be in jail.” EEE every creature and all nations, we hasten the coming of the Lord. Can you also readily see that by not doing it we delay the coming of the Lord? So then we do have something to do with it, We do have our part to play. Returning to our text from Sec- ond Samuel 19, we notice David sent word to Judah because he was of the tribe of Judah. He said, “wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the ing?” (v. 12). ‘As Ephesians 5:30 says, talking about Jesus, we are members of His Body. Therefore, let us not be the last to bring back the King. Let us be the first. Let us be on the firing line. to dominate our lives, we will hasten the return of Jesus. Notice who were the first to bring back and welcome King David. This isa type for us. 2SAMUEL 19414, 15, 14 And he bowed the heart of all the men. of Judah, even as the heart of one man; 80 that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy servants 15 So the king returned, and came to Jordan. And Judah eame to Gilgal, to goto meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan. Who was it? Who were the first to bring back and welcome King David? It was Judah. In the Hebrew, Judah means “praise.” ‘Men of praise led the way in ‘You know Paul. This happened in Philippi. We know he established a church down there, because he wrote a letter back to them (we have it in the Bible). I like to think that that Philippian jailer was the pastor of the church. He could have been. But the thing I want to, impress you with is this: At midnight Paul and Silas did more than pray. Praying is important—don't misun- derstand me—but if praying is all ‘you do, you can go down. I've often thought if Paul and Silas had been like most Christians today—even born-again, Spirit-filled Christians—they would still be in jail. They never would have gotten out, because they would have begun to bemoan their situation. “Why did this ever happen to me? can't understand why God let us get whipped. Why didn't God do some- thing about it?” ‘And about midnight, instead of praying and singing praises to God, Silas would have nudged Paul and said, “Til tell you one thing, Paul. You sure did miss God, didn't you? Don't you know that if God leads somebody to a city in a supernatural way, like that so-called vision you had in the middle of the night, by now you'd have had the whole city con- verted? Paul, you just ate too much for supper; that’s what happened to you. That couldn't have been God.” P've had God supernaturally lead me places where I never had one convert, nobody got the Holy Spirit, and nobody got healed. I didn’t un- derstand it at that stage of my spiritual growth. (I was like some of the rest of you.) ‘And as I drove away from one such place after preaching two weeks, I was crying, “Lord, You led me here supernaturally, and nothing hhas happened. Not a thing in the world has happened. Nobody got saved; nobody got filled with the Holy Ghost; nobody got healed. One 12-year-old girl lifted her hand for prayer—she was a backslider—but she didn't even come to the altar. Besides that, I've gone in the hole financially.” ‘The Lord said, “You're in the will of God, Ted you exactly step by step. ‘That was supernatural guidance. I knew you weren't going to have any converts. I didn't tell you that part of it, because you probably wouldn't have gone. I knew nobody was going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I knew nobody was going to be healed. But you see, the pastor's wife is going to die in just a few months, and she can’t come up here and tell Me, ‘T didn’t hear it. If I had known...’ because Isent you by totell her. Now, don't worry about your finances, Decause I'm going to make it up to you at the next place you're going to.” ‘And He did. You see, you can't always judge the results by what is happening at the moment. If you judge like that, ‘you will conclude that Paul was out of the will of God from the beginning to the end of his ministry! But Paul and Silas knew the way of victory in the midst of what seemed to be defeat. They didn't just pray. The Bible says, “at midnight they prayed, and they sang praises unto God.” ‘Who was first in bringing back King David to Israel? Judah, men of praise. ‘And soit is now. Lf we will let that spirit of praise dominate our lives, dominate our services, and dominate everything about us, we will hasten the retum of Jesus. Praise God for the hope of His coming! Praise God for the privilege we have of hastening the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ! . T