The Wilderness Experience: Wandering or Worshiping?

The story is told of a couple who invited several people to dinner.  After all of the immense amount of work, the wife sat down at the table and turned to her six-year-old daughter and said, “Would you like to say the blessing?”  “I wouldn't know what to say,” the little girl replied.  Her mother answered, “Just say what you hear Mommy say.”  The daughter bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did we invite all of these people to dinner?”

Oh, how sometimes the “truth” slips out!  The time comes when our cover-ups don't accomplish what we expect.  But when Jesus puts out an invitation, He really means it and never regrets it.  All through the gospel accounts, He invites fishermen and tax collectors to follow Him, sinners to come away from their sin and live in His holiness, and for the coming together of a bride to a glorious wedding feast.

In Revelation 19:7-9, we read, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.  And He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb...”  What a blessed invitation!  And yet, all through the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, we find the essence of this blessedness—the call to true freedom in Jesus Christ.  In recent weeks, our church has been focusing on two parallel pathways to freedom, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.  First, the people of Israel were freed from bondage in Egypt, and set on a path through the wilderness.  In fact, repeatedly Pharaoh was told why God wanted His people set free—to serve Him in the wilderness after a three day journey.  Specifically, it would be a time of sacrifice and worship—they were to be worshipers in the wilderness.  But so  far, every time the people hit a bump in the road, worship was the last thing they felt like doing—they complained and became obstinate!

That, of course, was not God's intention for His people—not then, not now!  In Numbers 11, the people had just complained about the food supply.   To help Moses and Aaron deal with this troublesome lot, seventy men were appointed as elders.  Verse 25 tells us, “And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him (Moses), and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.”  The word for prophesying doesn't just suggest a telling of the future, but a speaking forth of the Word of God, which the people would need right then.  It was a word spoken for the benefit of another.  But then this happened—”But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.” (vs.26)

Wycliffe's Bible Commentary suggests, “Rather than assuming that these two are disobedient members of the seventy, who had not gone out with the rest, these were two of the many registered princes-over-the-thousands, responsible for leader-ship and transcription.  This gift upon them was entirely unexpected.”  You see, the context of the situation suggests that besides the seventy blessed with the Spirit, now two more were found to be so blessed.  And then it happened—when Moses was told about it, Joshua, his trusted assistant, declared, “My lord Moses, forbid them.  And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His spirit upon them!” (vss. 28,29)  Praise God—Moses was not a demagogue or an elitist—he knew the blessing of spirit-filled worship was calling all out of the grasp of a wandering mentality.

Matthew Henry reports that Eldad, whose name means “God has loved,” and Medad—referring to a sense of loving and affection,  were, “found then in the camp, and there they exercised their gift of praying, preaching and praising God; they spake as moved by the Holy Ghost.  The Spirit of God is not confined to the tabernacle, but, like the wind, blows where it listeth.  And they that humble themselves shall be exalted; and those that are most fit for government, are least ambitious for it.”  Yes, Joshua  thought it was best to nip this in the bud—not because he wanted to see the two new prophets punished, but to avoid a schism.  His zeal was for unity, but Moses understood that God was calling for worshipers, not wanderers.  Almost immediately, the wind brings in the quail—millions of them.  They spent days gathering them, but without any repentance for their complaining or gluttony.  And then came a plague as their punishment for ignoring the invitation to a precious intimacy with the Holy One!  They had been endowed—by virtue of the seventy men, not to mention the other two—with the power of the Holy Spirit for worship, but preferred a wandering spirit.

A little later, at Mt. Sinai, God laid out the future and its blessing, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him.” (Deut. 18:18)  Praise God—this Prophet—capital “P”—is clearly Jesus Christ! (John 6:14;7:40)  During His ministry, when the disciples were asking which of them would be considered the greatest, John spoke up and said, “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.  And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.” (Luke 9:49-50)  Now, of course, this doesn't suggest that there should be unity at any cost, just to get along with everybody.  No, true unity must be in the Holy Spirit, and the purity and holiness He alone can bring.

Praise God—wandering stops and worship starts as we allow for the fullness of the Spirit in our hearts and in our lives.  Chris Tiegreen raises the issue in one of his devotional books—”The question we must all consider is how much intensity we will accept in our relationship with God.  He sent Jesus to us, and Jesus sent His Spirit into us.  What are you asking of the Lord?  God will draw you as close as you want to get.  If you ask Him to back off, sadly He will—for a time.  If you ask for a deeper, closer relationship, you'll find that He wants it even more than you do.”  Jim Elliot, one of the five martyred missionaries in South America back in the 1950's, knew this blessing—”Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth!”   Praise God—and now he knows an even greater blessing in Heaven!  Missionary to China, Hudson Taylor, once said, “All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”  The  indwelling Holy Spirit will bring an end to the wandering in the wilderness with the joy of worship!  Henry Blackaby once wrote, “Jesus prayed that you would have the same joy that the Father had given Him: a divine joy, a joy that comes from a deep and unwavering relationship with the Father...that no change in circumstance could ever shake it.”  When Father's Day rolls around, don't forget this truth!

Three days in the wilderness; the tomb was empty!  Luke 24:36-37 tells us, “...Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.  But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.”  In a sense, they had, for they had met the One who would send them the Holy Spirit, even in the midst of their fearful times of wandering.  In John, we are specifically told, “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (20:22)  The late David Wilkerson once declared, “It touches my heart deeply that Jesus' last words before He left His disciples were words of blessing.  Luke says, 'Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures'..and then, '...He blessed them.'”(24:45,51)  As with the seventy elders, Medad, and Eldad, the disciples are now touched by the Spirit—now born-again and invited to Pentecost; an immersion into that Spirit for holy worship in this life. Andrew Murray once wrote, “Let us ask Him to show us what Holiness is, His Holiness first, and then our Holiness; to show us how He has set His heart upon it as the one thing He wants to see in us, as being His own image and likeness; to show us, too, the unutterable blessedness and glory of sharing with Christ in His Holiness.  Oh! That God by His Spirit would teach us what it means that we are called to be holy as He is holy.  We can easily conceive what mighty influence that would exert!”  Can we?  What an invitation!!!  He, and we, will never regret it—both Moses and Jesus didn't want to be the  only ones filled with the Spirit—it is for all!  Oh, what freedom!!!

What Goes Around, Comes Around! (Apr12)

The story is told of the Roman emperor Charlemagne, and the rather unusual request he had made concerning the details of his own burial. He asked to be buried sitting upright on his throne. His crown was to be on his head, his scepter in his hand, and his royal cape draped around his shoulders. He would also have an open book placed on his lap!

That was in 814 A.D. Almost 200 years later, Emperor Othello was curious if those very explicit directions were followed. So he ordered the tomb to be opened, and, lo and behold, they found it all just as the ruler had requested. Only now, the scene had become quite gruesome, and even disgusting. The crown was tilted on the skeletal head, and the scepter was quite tarnished. And not only that, his mantle was moth-eaten, and his body was totally disfigured!

But there, open on his lap, was the very book that Charlemagne had requested—the Holy Bible! One bony finger pointed to a very specific passage—"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mt. 16:26) In one of the nursing homes we minister to, this was the very text with which we began our Lenten preaching series, "The Call to the Cross." You see, immediately prior to this verse, Jesus began telling His followers about His upcoming death, burial, and resurrection. Quite frankly, the call to the Cross will draw us away from a focus on our own lives and what we can gain in this world. Instead, if we truly answer God's call, we will soon have an eternal perspective that sees far beyond death and the grave. Paul wrote, "It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him." (2 Tim.2:11) You see, what goes around, comes around! All through Lent, we have been delving into the plagues that God sent to Egypt in order to get His own people set free—a freedom that can ultimately be found at the Cross and the empty tomb. One plague that truly struck me was the one concerning the boils. We read in Exodus 9:8-9, "The Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt."

The ashes, in the Hebrew, "piyach," refers to a powder that is easily puffed away. Virtually, a dust that was produced in the furnace—the furnace of affliction. For over 400 years, the people of Israel "slaved" away making and baking bricks for the Egyptian building projects. Now the tables would be turned—the by-product of their captivity would now be used to produce their freedom. Following God's specific direction, Moses tossed the ashes to the wind, and it blew over all of Egypt—settling on man and beast alike in the form of boils. Before long, those sores were seeping and painful. Disgusting, huh? It was meant to be, and so were all of the plagues.

They were all difficult times—on purpose—to draw Pharaoh, in particular, and all of the Egyptians, in general, away from a focus on themselves, and onto eternity. What goes around, comes around! This plague was a direct attack on their god, Isis, the goddess of medicine and peace. You see, cleanliness was paramount in Egyptian society, and this plague pronounced all of the people to be ceremonially unclean. The same would have been true for the people of God, if they had been afflicted—but they were not; only the Egyptians. Verse 11 tells us, "And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all of the Egyptians." These sorcerers and healers, being unclean themselves, could not help anyone else. If only they had seen the plague for what it was—a call to the Cross of the Great Physician, the pure and holy One. As it was, the magicians are never heard from again!

Remember Job? One day, God came to Satan and asked him if he had considered His servant Job. To prove Job's loyalty to God, He allowed him to be tested with great losses in his life. Job's response? "...the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (1:21-22) When this attack failed, Satan was allowed by God to go after him physically—"So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes." (2:7-8) And this wasn't even for punishment or to bring him to repentance, like with Pharaoh, for God, at the very beginning, had declared Job to be perfect, upright, and one who truly feared God. So, what was it all about? The whole thing would take this godly man even deeper in his faith and trust. What goes around, comes around! Later, he would declare, "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." (19:25-26) And even at the end of it—"I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (42:5-6)

Dust, ashes, and boils—it is the call to the Cross of repentance, surrender, and submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ—not just in words, but in every aspect of life. So many today have chosen a different cross, and therefore, a different church. As A.W. Tozer once put it, "...the old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it." The late David Wilkerson, the founder of World Challenge, had called it "the Church of Forgiveness Only." He referred to the illustration in Isaiah 4:1—"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." Pastor Wilkerson suggested that, "The seven would-be brides...are clearly a type of many in the last-days church. They are seeking to lay hold of one man, whom I take to be Christ. Yet these brides are not interested in loving Him. They do not want intimacy with Him, but rather, to only get relief from the guilt and condemnation of their sin. They want nothing more than forgiveness, to have the reproach of sin removed. These self-centered, would-be brides have no desire to submit to the authority of a husband. They do not want to know His heart, nor do they desire to obey." I agree!

You see, the church has made up some new definitions—forgiveness is just claiming to be O.K. without any real heart change. In fact, newer versions of the Bible have even cut out "remission of sins," and replaced it with a wimpy "forgiveness." Remission, in the original Greek, speaks of hating sin, standing against it, and turning from it. This, my friends, is at the core of true forgiveness, and without it, there is no forgiveness at all! So many today are only wanting to feel peace, but without a true experiencing of it—as God Himself defines it. They want to feel free from guilt, without actually dying to self and being free from it. Henry Blackaby once wrote, "Don't discount the power of God as described in Scripture simply because you have not experienced it. Bring your experience up to the standard of Scripture; never reduce Scripture to the level of your experience."

Oh, and there is also something else—"And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh..." (vs. 12a) Previously, the king had hardened his own heart; now God does it for him! All along, he had wanted to have his own way—to save his own soul, so to speak. God wasn't about to let him do the right thing, but for the wrong reasons, and thereby, think he was O.K.—born again. Without a true repentance and a turning from sin, there can be no true freedom. What goes around, comes around! Being buried sitting on a throne, with a crown, a scepter, and even a Bible, doesn't make one a Christian. Years of pointing to a Scripture doesn't do it either. Its a matter of the whole life—changed because of the blood of Jesus! Three days after the cross, Jesus was not found with a tilting crown, a tarnished scepter, or rotting flesh. No, on Easter Sunday, the Lord of all was found very much alive—He had been very dead, but now, He is alive forevermore. Yes, alive to live the resurrected life in you and me, through the power of the Holy Spirit! Indeed—what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? I, for one, know that my Redeemer lives, and that even after death and the grave have done their worst to me, I will see my Lord—in the flesh! Praise God—what does go around, comes around!!!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow: The Call to the Cross? (Mar12)

A very telling story comes out of the 2^nd World War about some marines who were ship-wrecked in the South Pacific. After days of floating in a life raft, without food or water, finally—they see land! "Land ahoy!" someone shouts. Their fear and anxiety begins to fade, and they make their way to the shore. They all kiss the ground and say prayers of gratitude to God for saving them. But their adventure was not over yet!

Very quickly, they see signs of life on that island—it's inhabited, but by whom? Are we safe here? We're weak and hungry, and have no weapons for self-defense. Will the people welcome us or kill us on sight? And their fears return! Will they even live to see tomorrow? One of the marines climbs up a tall palm tree to try to get a clue as to what to expect. Suddenly, the man calls down, "It's O.K., fellas! It's more than O.K.! We're saved! I see a steeple with a cross on it! Praise God—a cross!"

To him, it was a sure sign of safety and rescue. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, "For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." (1:18) You see, only those who are truly born again will understand just how precious the Cross is, while those who choose their own strength can do nothing but consider the Cross and its purposes as foolishness. It's a matter of a calling—a calling to the Cross! Paul went on to write, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many nobles are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (vss. 26,27)
In other words, people, who are full of themselves, thinking they are too smart and sophisticated for these things, will not even be able to answer the call to the Cross, until they repent and forsake their sin. Jesus not only pointed His followers to His Cross, but also to their own—and ultimately, us to ours! "He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that taketh not his own cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Mt. 10:37-39)

We must hear the call to the Cross—hear it and follow it; not tomorrow, but right now! Isn't that just the response of so many in these days of self-will and procrastination? Tomorrow! In a sense, we are in a similar situation as those shipwrecked marines—at first, we think we are fine; yes, even saved! But it is not until we truly embrace the Cross and its significance, that we have a sure sign of safety and rescue! During this Season of Lent, we are going back to when Israel first found deliverance from bondage in Egypt. When the enemy—Pharaoh himself—refused to let God's people go and live in true freedom, the Lord proceeded to make clear Who was really in control. The first plague He sent their way was a matter of turning the water of Egypt into blood, but, even then, the king's heart was hardened, due to pride, and he refused to turn them loose.

Right now, I'm going to focus on the next miracle—the plague of the frogs. Frogs? Why frogs? Well, like the first miracle, honing in on one of the Egyptian gods, Hapi, the god of the Nile, this second plague is revealing the sovereignty of the One True God over yet another of Egypt's gods—Heket, the goddess of fertility, water, and renewal. In pictures found of her, we see a human form, but with the head of a frog. This is how it happened—..."the Lord spake unto Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt." (Exodus 8:5,6) In fact, they were everywhere—all through their houses, all through their bedrooms, and even in their beds—thousands of them! Can you imagine! They would go to knead their bread, and frogs; go to cook their meals, and open the oven doors—frogs! Like with the first plague, Egypt's magicians copied the feat through demonic powers, and there were even more frogs!

What an unbelievable mess! It is a rather graphic picture of disgusting reliance upon the self-life to get us through. This goddess of fertility, water, and renewal, represents a world view of reproducing its own version of prosperity; a life that can only be lived in the murkiness of stagnant water; and, last, but not least, a renewal based on worldly success. It points to a total ignoring of the Spirit-led life, and complete dependence on living by the dictates of the flesh—what we want, and not what God wants! It is the uncrucified and unsanctified existence. A.W. Tozer, the great 20^th Century preacher, put it this way—"Our uncrucified flesh will rob us of purity of heart, Christ-likeness of character, spiritual insight, fruitfulness; and more than all, it will hide from us the vision of God's face...Why do we build our churches upon human flesh, for we teach men not to die with Christ, but to live in the strength of their dying manhood."

Indeed, why? It is simply because we often want to be the one in control, following our own dreams and plans instead of His. Or, at the very least, to put Him off until tomorrow. Many do not want to take the chance of true fertility—having reproduced in us and through us the transforming life of Christ; or true regeneration by the spiritual waters of regeneration; or true renewal by the resurrection power of Jesus. Years ago, our children's ministry involved puppet shows, one of which focused on Barry McGuire's song, "Bullfrogs and Butterflies." You see, frogs are not just for judgment, but a promise. In part, it declared, "There's old tad pole in a fishin' hole. He couldn't croak or jump to save his soul, but then one day—the funniest thing—you know he started growin' and turnin' green. He jumped up on a lily pad, croakin' out a song—he gave it all he had—yes, he did! He's singin' 'Bullfrogs and butterflies, they've both been born again!'" Even nature is a picture of the true believer's transformation. Acts 2 gives us a clear depiction of that fruitfulness—"...they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship..." (vs. 42) So if this "fruit" of salvation is not evident, one would have to question being born-again! Inspect the fruit—not tomorrow, right now!

You see, a very strange thing happened when Pharaoh wanted the plague of frogs to be gone. When Moses asked him when he wanted the disgusting things to go away, you would think that the obvious answer would have been, "Immediately!" or, perhaps, even more appropriately, "Yesterday!" But that is not what Pharaoh said—he said, "Tomorrow!" I always assumed it was nothing more than strange, but a little deeper look at it reveals something more—"And he (Pharaoh) said, Tomorrow. And he (Moses) said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God." (vs. 10) In other words, it was God who led Pharaoh to request such a thing, and then, when it actually happened, He, and He alone—God—would be known to be in total control, even over the hard things of life! Not only would the frogs be hard, but not having them would be hard, too—"...the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died...and they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank." (vss. 13,14) Pharaoh refused to learn from the stench of his own ways, but what about the people of Israel? We are not told about them being exempt from this affliction, as with some of the other plagues. Perhaps the people of God would learn—the Psalmist writes, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." (119:71) Yes, they test us, but, more than that, we learn to walk rightly before Him—"Many are the afflictions of the righteous." (Ps. 34:19)

The late David Wilkerson, of "The Cross and the Switchblade," fame, once told the story about one of Times Square's missionary couples who learned this lesson the hard way. Traveling towards the borders of a desperately poor and needy 3^rd world country with a truck load of supplies, about five miles out, their engine started to act up. When they reached the border guards, it gave up altogether. As they watched the car in front of them go on ahead, they were greatly disappointed. Suddenly, the guards started to run around frantically, shouting, "Big explosion not far from here—one of the warring factions blew up the last car through here!" If the missionaries' truck had been working properly, it could have been them! The next morning, it started right up—God's purposes had been accomplished through this affliction. Always remember—God is calling every heart and life to the Cross. Yours and mine—not tomorrow; right now!