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Message Given by Robert Park of the Global Justice Prayer Network on May 6, 2009
Text: Luke 16:19-31
The rich man is a type of South Korea. Lazarus is a type of North Korea, the North Korean people. Here in this parable, we see the crisis of our divided Korea, you see the immense human suffering that result from a divided Korea. We can also see how Satan perceived the Korea divided. Lazarus died because of the rich man’s self affection. The rich man was so affected with himself that he never paid attention to Lazarus who is right outside his gate. In South Korea right now, there is a misunderstanding, people are misjudging the North Korean people and we think that we have time to waste; we think that we have all kinds of time to waste but we don’t have any time to waste. The rich man was living in luxury while Lazarus right outside his gate was starving to death. It is not about eating food, it is about a self indulgent lifestyle, that everything we do is according to what we want, according to our style that we are not doing what God wants!
But there is one thing that God is asking, there’s one thing that God required of the rich man. What God required of the rich man - Open the gate and behold your neighbour, behold Lazarus who is dying at your gate. The rich man has a fundamental misunderstanding just like South Korean people has of the North Korean people. What we have thought is that Lazarus has no God that’s why he is starving to death and that it is not God’s time yet and he might have felt like “I am a religious man and that I am a man who is right with God that’s why I have all these riches and I will wait for God’s time to minister to Lazarus”. The truth was, he went to hell and Lazarus whom he judged was not knowing God went to Abraham’s bosom. While the rich man was in torment, he asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers so that they do not go to that place of torment. But God said, they have Moses and the prophets and if they will not listen, they will not listen even if Lazarus comes from the dead.
In verse 31, what was it that God wants them to believe? The message that God wants them to believe is that he should love his neighbour as himself. He thought that because Lazarus was outside his gate, he was not his responsibility. But in the judgment, he was judged according to Lazarus’ fate. What God is expecting us today, what God is requiring us today is to open the doors to North Korea. There is this misunderstanding that it is not God’s time yet, that they are starving to death because God is allowing it so I am not going to do anything to intervene. We must forsake this kind of thinking tonight because it is from the devil. This is from the devil; God does not want people to starve! God is requiring of us tonight, interrupt the flow of your life interrupt yourself of self life and open the gate, open the gate for the people.
Let’s go to Luke 4. How did it happen? How did we come into such a faith of deception? Let’s read Luke 4:3. We all know there’s problem in the Korean church today. This is why. It began right here. When Satan came to Jesus Christ, the first word he said, “If you are the son of God, he starts to compromise Jesus sense of identity-If you are the son of God prove it to me by turning these stones into bread- but Jesus said to him “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”- He was not shaken however, the church, we have been shaken by Satan’s temptation. They played games to the Korean church to destroy them and the first thing he said which he’s been using to every Christian was “If you are the son of God prove it to me make these stones become bread”. What happen is, we have given in to Satan’s temptation, we have said, I will show you I am the child of God. I will turn these stones into bread even if it will take my whole life. The point is, North Korea’s liberation has not been our priority, and our priority has been doing ultimately what we want to do. The bible teaches us when the children of God set their mind to do something, when they decide to do something about injustice, it will get better, it will get better as soon as they decide. When there was genocide proclaimed against the people of Israel, Esther decided through Mordecai’s help, I am going to end this genocide, “I don’t care if I die” THEN IT’S THE END OF THE GENOCIDE, THEN NOT A SINGLE PERSON DIED!
Let’s go to Esther 4:14
What was happening about this is very serious spiritual warfare. Satan, he attacks our fundamental self understanding. Fundamental things, our sense of identity, sense of responsibility, who we are, what we need to do, he compromises those things, he attacks us.
Let’s read, Esther 4:14. They understand that God loves working with people. When the genocide came, they did not say, let’s just let this happen, let’s all die, they did not say that- what about you, it is not God’s will, we must hate this, just like Esther, if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come from other place, but you and your people will die. This generation will die but the truth will be delivered to set people free. This generation will die if you are silent. Eventually, God will raise up somebody responsible who will take action to end the genocide, but praise the Lord, Esther, Esther she fought against the genocide and it never happened. God’s people’s response will make all the difference, if we want to change the situation, God has given us the authority, God has given us the power, similarly tonight, he is asking everyone of us tonight, if we remain silent, this generation may die but if you arise, I will deliver the people through you. But the thing is, this is not a game, none of this is a game. Esther knew that so she sacrificed her life, it was not for any other reason except to see the deliverance of the Jews. So God is also looking for people, of a pure heart that want nothing more than to see his kingdom and to see the life of the people saved. When we go back to the example of the rich man, Satan’s strategy against him to bring him to hell, was to get him so obsessed with the world, with himself, so that he could not truly love, he could not truly feel what is happening around him. All of his energy, all of his resources were spent in self indulgence. This is not an issue of food, really, the issue is our heart- and I am telling you, the South Korean people, this side of South Korea, I want you to know this, what you have been doing has been fundamentally for self indulgence, even if you say it is something good, it is fundamentally to make you feel better about yourself. We must have no desire for self benefit; it should be completely about His kingdom. Let’s forget this romantic idea about God’s time. All romantic ideas, in God’s timing, Korea will be free, someday in the future, God will reveal His purpose for all those suffering, that’s the wrong thinking, God wants life for all people NOW, that’s His purpose.
Now, we go to Luke 4:5-6
Satan has also come to the Christians in South Korea and he said, I will give you the whole world, I will show you the riches of this world if only you will worship me, not God. I am telling you, we’ve all fallen, we have all fallen we’ve fallen to worship Satan while pretending to worship God. It’s not about material riches, it’s not about money, it’s not about cars, I can tell you that today. The rich man was a religious man. The bible says his five brothers, they have the laws of Moses and the prophets, that means they came from a religious family so he was self satisfied, he was confident in his lifestyle, he thought that he was blessed by God but actually he was an enemy of God! Satan said, I will give you all these if only you will worship me. What we have been doing is using the name of Christ and using it in vain for the devil’s service like the rich man, he was so obsessed with indulging himself that he let Lazarus died and starved to death that it took him beyond the grave to realize what he did. Even a single thought to try to keep material things for ourselves and to try to look good is sin because we live in a crisis- there’s no time for that kind of thinking right now! This is not about partial commitment; if it’s a partial commitment we are doing it ultimately for ourselves. We need 100% commitment to end the genocide. Not just prayer, but obedience in every kind. Through Esther, through her fire, she received a strategy and God led her to do various exploits because of her obedience, God brought complete deliverance. That’s the foundation of our repentance, Jesus said, I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven so when we pray, God, when will you open the doors to North Korea, or when we prophesy maybe ten years later, I am telling you, this is from hell, God said, I have given you the keys, So God is saying when will you open the doors, I gave you the keys so stop telling me when will you open the doors. Open the door now, I gave you the keys!
Let’s read Matthew 16:19.
With keys come authority and with authority comes responsibility. The responsibility He has given to the church is to bind and to lose. The Great Commission, what is it about? It is about people, it is about the world getting saved. What we are to bound is the power of Satan oppressing people. What He wants us to lose are people, to set people free.
Let’s read Matthew 18:19. That’s the key, that if we can come together and agree and pray and commit, it will happen.
Isaiah 58:6, let’s go there very quickly; again, this is the key to the kingdom. That the South Korean church can never again say I am helpless; I have no access to North Korea, God has given you the keys.
Keys to liberation. What is the key to liberation of North Korea?
Fasting implies expectancy. It implies that you believe for change now. When Esther and the people of Susa fasted and prayed for three days, God imparted the strategy, the genocide was destroyed very quickly. When there was destruction decreed upon the Ninevites, the city of Nineveh, they proclaimed a fast and they just laid down everything, and cried out to God and the destruction was diverted. When the army was coming against Jehosaphat, they proclaimed a fast and cried out to God and as a result there was not war. So the point is, fasting implies that you are believing God for a change now, that’s the kind of prayer He wants for North Korea. It implies intercession of the timing of Esther, Jehosaphat and Ninevites. Of the timing of right now I am expecting God’s deliverance, right now. That’s how He wants us to pray, prayer is not a game, and it’s not about praying about little things whenever we feel like it, having a calendar, praying about certain issues on certain days- No, it’s about right now, total liberation, total healing for the North Korean people, every moment, every day, that’s how He wants us to pray. It implies commitment that you wanted to change and you’re going to make sure it changes no matter what it takes. In verse 6, the kind of prayer, the kind of fasting He has chosen is to lose the chains of injustice, set the oppressed free and break every yoke. Loose the people from injustice, set the people free from injustice, set the oppressed free, break every yoke, that’s what He says in verse 6 so we have no excuse for not praying for the liberation of North Korean people in that way- He commands us to pray with expectancy, to believe for a change now, not 20 years later, not when you feel like it God. And in verse 6, it says, He wants us to enter the sufferings of the oppressed people; He wants us to pray for those who are suffering. When you pray for the liberation of the North Korean people, when you pray for the concentration camps to be set out, that is God’s favoured prayer, that’s exactly the kind of prayer God prescribed. As a result of that prayer, verse 7 shows, He will open the door for ministry and as a person commit to this road that God has made, verse 12 shows He will open the door and He will make history and the land will be set free. It happened with Esther, they were praying, they were fasting, they were committed to end the genocide. What is called forth is just a commitment. If we really, really want it, we will see it and we will see it quickly. God said blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice, because they will be satisfied. If you really want justice, through faith in Him, you will have justice. Do we really want justice, maybe we want a kind of, but we never really hungered and thirsted. When will we want the healing and freedom of the North Korean people more than anything? He said that those who hunger and thirst after justice will be satisfied. This is our prayer. This is the pathway to true life; this is the road to true life.
Now we will go to Isaiah 42:6-7. Now we are going to look at what did God say from the cross, what did he communicate, proclaim? The covenant, He is talking about the new covenant that began through His blood shed on the cross. He said that His blood shed on the cross is life for the nation, is a life for the whole world. This is what He wants to do internationally. We see in verse 7, He wants to offer them life. He wants to free the captives and set them free from the dungeon. Through His blood all people has a right to be free. Why has the North Korean situation remained like this for over 50 years? Because of Isaiah 49:8-9. This is an amazing scripture. God is saying, through the blood of His Son that was shed, now we can proclaim to the captives, come out and be free, through His blood they have been free from condemnation, no one has a right to oppress them.
Isaiah 61:1, this is another confirmation of that. He wants the proclamation of freedom for the North Korean people. But in order to proclaim it, we must believe deep within our heart. Jesus knew, the apostles knew that Christ has purchased their freedom. When they proclaimed it, they saw the manifestation of it in the book of Acts. Today, God wants us to believe that He already purchased freedom for the North Korean people and through our faith we will see it when we proclaim it, we will see their freedom.
Go to Jeremiah 34:8-17
Our misunderstanding of what Christ did on the cross- the jubilee that God commanded to proclaim for the slaves, they did not do. As a result, God was very angry. We will compare similarly our generation to this.
That was a generation before Christ came. The way to compare at this current generation is that we have so much more grace and blessing in this generation. We see that God is commanding us to proclaim freedom to the captives when we believed. At the cross, HE proclaimed jubilee to all people and He is not willing that even a single person shall perish. That’s how He wants us to pray, that’s how He wants us to work, that’s how He wants us to commit.
Let’s read 2 Corinthians 6:2, if anybody asks you when do you think God wants to open doors to North Korea , you can show them 2 Corinthians 6:2. God’s time for freedom is now. God’s time for life is ever since the cross, He purchased life for all people of all generation. The reality of what we are dealing with, the reality of our responsibility, the reality of our war of stopping this genocide, you can see it in Esther 4:14. If we are being silent, then this generation will perish, because of your silence, but if you arise, you can end this genocide. You can change this thing NOW.
So, let’s begin with repentance. Let’s all cry out from our heart. Repenting for not having the same commitment like Esther. This is a crisis. This is worst than anything that we’ve seen before. This is worst than the Korean War. It’s an atrocity that we committed, this is brutality, and this is worldwide. We cannot play games any more. We must be serious. We must commit now. We must give our lives for them.
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