Let us now consider the spiritual fact which decisively shows the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE of this book.
While there was no other way from Egypt to the Promised Land except through the Red Sea, there were ways to reach the Promised Land on dry land from the wilderness after Israel crossed the Red Sea. Despite this fact, Our Father had REPEATED the miracle of the Red Sea and brought Israel to cross yet another body of water and yet another death – river Jordan! WHY? Because…
THE CROSSING OF THE RED SEA REPRESENTS THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF THE BELIEVER’S SPIRIT – HIS REDEMPTION.
THE CROSSING OF RIVER JORDAN REPRESENTS THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF THE BELIEVER’S SOUL – HIS FULL SALVATION.
NO ISRAELITE ENTERED THE PROMISED LAND EXCEPT THROUGH THE RIVER JORDAN WALKING THROUGH DEATH THE SECOND TIME. EQUALLY, NO BELIEVER WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN UNLESS HE DIES TO HIS FLESH IN HIS SOUL ALSO. WE MUST DIE AND BE RESURRECTED IN OUR SOUL BY DENYING ITS NATURAL LIFE LIVED IN “EGYPT AND IN WILDERNESS” AND BY “CROSSING OUR SPIRITUAL JORDAN”. (JOS. 3:17// MT. 16:24,25// GAL. 2:20A// 2THESS. 1:5) THIS RIVER TYPIFIES DEATH. IT FLOWS FROM THE “LIVING” SEA OF GALILEE INTO THE “DEAD” SEA AND OUR LORD WAS BAPTIZED IN THAT RIVER. (MT. 3:13) ANY SOUL THAT DESIRES TO ENTER THE KINGDOM MUST DIE DESCENDING TO THE ARK (CHRIST) WHICH WAS AT THE BOTTOM OF RIVER JORDAN (DEATH-HELL) AND BE RESURRECTED BY ASCENDING FROM THAT DEATH INTO LIFE EVERLASTING.
THE SEPARATE SALVATION OF OUR SPIRIT AND OF OUR SOUL IS THUS CLEARLY SHOWN TO US BY OUR FATHER ALREADY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
WHEN THE LORD SAID THAT “WE MUST BE BORN-AGAIN”, HE DID NOT MEAN JUST OUR SPIRIT, BUT ALSO OUR SOUL. THE SPIRIT OF OUR OLD MIND (EPH. 4:23) AND OF OUR WICKED AND DECEITFUL OLD HEART (JER. 17:9) AND STUBBORN OLD WILL (PHIL. 2:13) MUST ALSO BE “BORN-AGAIN”, RENEWED, RECREATED BY THE SAME SPIRIT OF GOD. (Jn. 3:6,7)
k) LET US ALSO CONSIDER before Our Father another important matter which is described to us in 1Cor. 10:5-15. Verse 11 says:
“Now all these things happened unto them (Israel) for ensamples and they are written FOR OUR ADMONITION upon whom the ENDS OF THE WORLD ARE COME”. How true this is for us especially today when the ends of the world have truly come upon us.
Here Apostle Paul warns the church in Corinth that they may end up in the same way as Israel did in the wilderness and fail to inherit the Kingdom and perish! Yet, we must notice that no matter how the people of Israel murmured, complained, spoke against God, against Moses and Aaron, no matter how they behaved and caused grief to God, He always had mercy on them and forgave them and gave them the way out of the temptations to which they were yielding. So it is today with us. (1Cor. 10:13)
There was only ONE GREAT SIN that the people of Israel had committed which finally brought God’s Judgment upon them and caused them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years and die there and never see the Promised Land. It was THEIR UNBELIEF AND REFUSAL TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND! (Num. 13:17-33; 14:1-33)
Do we, Christians, SEE and understand what this truly means for us today? Do we fare better than Israel did? NO! We equally do not believe God when He tells us or shows us our sinful nature, our unbelief, unwillingness or disobedience toward Him. We equally do not seek the Kingdom first, as it is clearly commanded to us by Our Lord! (Mt. 6:33) We equally REFUSE TO ENTER THE KINGDOM, and give God foolish excuses! (Mt. 22:2-8) I believe that all Christians are bidden to the Wedding of His Son, which is a preparation for the Kingdom, and what is their response? The Word says that THEY WOULD NOT COME! (Mt. 22:3)
Now, why should Christians fare better than Israel? Do we have a good reason for it? Yes, we do; we have the Spirit of God dwelling in our spirit making us His Temple while the children of the Old Testament, Israel, did not have Him dwelling in them. Yet, we are not really better than the Israel which was in the wilderness! That is why the Lord had warned us through His Word in 1Cor. 10:5-15.
It is also written that…
“the believer which knew his Lord’s Will and prepared not himself… shall be beaten with many stripes.” And “unto whomsoever much is given (Holy Spirit), of him shall be much required”. (Lk. 12:47,48)
So, why are we not much different from Israel? Let us go deeper into our spirit and soul and see the true reasons.
OUR HUMAN NATURE IS NOT DIFFERENT FROM THE ONE IN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL! WE ARE JUST AS SELFISH, SELF-SEEKING, COMFORT SEEKING, PLEASURE AND SATISFACTION SEEKING AS THEY WERE! EVEN IN OUR MINISTRY, WE SEEK OUR OWN GOALS AND NOT GOD’S GOALS! IN OUR SALVATION, WE ARE NOT SEEKING THE LORD’S PLEASURE, HIS SATISFACTION AND HIS DELIGHT; WE ARE NOT SEEKING THE WILL OF OUR FATHER, WE ALWAYS SEEK OUR OWN WILL AND DELIGHT.
Had the Lord had delight in Israel, He would have brought them into the Promised Land. (Num. 14:8) Our Lord will equally bring us into the Kingdom of Heaven IF He will delight in us. Does He delight in us? Is He in truth satisfied with us? Can we answer these important questions? Most probably we cannot.
Too many Christians even refuse to be baptized in water by immersion according to the Scripture mostly because they are ignorant of the Scripture or are deceived by their leaders. The result is that their OLD SOUL WILL REMAIN OLD, UNRENEWED AND WILL NOT ENTER THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB. The Lord will say to them “I never knew you, depart from Me, you that work iniquity” (Mt. 7:23// Lk. 13:27) or He will say “I know you not” and will shut the door. (Mt. 25:10-12) What will then happen to these souls?
They will spend their apportioned time in the darkness, weeping and gnashing their teeth. They will be judged by the Lord and cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven into the outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) It will all depend on the Lord’s Judgment of them. Again, a bitter truth, but shall we continue ignoring it and be later unfortunate victims of it? Why are we unwilling to judge ourselves now so that we would not be judged later, and possibly even condemned with the world? (1Cor. 11:31,32) This particular Word was given for the eating of the Lord’s Supper, but it applies generally as well. “Weeping and gnashing of teeth” should also indicate “deep and true remorse, confessions and repentances”.
l) FINALLY, it would be absolutely vital for us to SEE and understand that all the above declared facts and truths lead us to THE VERY CORE OF THIS MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE AFTER OUR REDEMPTION. That is, if we consciously neglect the Will and Purpose of Our Father leading us to deny our self and take up our cross and follow Our Lord (Mt. 16:24), if we consciously refuse to die to our old, natural life, it also means that we consciously refuse to “cross the river Jordan and enter our Promised Land”, that is, the Kingdom of Heaven. (Mt. 22:2,3,5,8) Denying our old, natural self may be compared to overcoming the “Canaanite people and the giants, the sons of Anak” in our soul which are the powers of darkness and evil! They seem to be so strong and mighty and we appear as grasshoppers to them and to ourselves! (Num. 13:33)
The most important and KEY WORD in this story of the people of Israel refusing to enter the Promised Land is only one word – OVERCOME! (Num. 13:30b) Only Caleb declared to the people of Israel saying: “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to OVERCOME it”!
Only a man with this faith is able to declare such things also to the Church of today and say: “We are well able to OVERCOMEthe forces of darkness and evil outside and inside of our soul and establish the Kingdom of Heaven therein.” This is exactly why the Lord, speaking to His Church, gives promises only to “HIM THAT OVERCOMES”. (Rev. 2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12,21). And this is exactly why Our Father says to us the following truth which few Christians have truly registered in their conscience:
“HE THAT BELIEVES IS A BELIEVER, BUT THE BELIEVER THAT OVERCOMES SHALL INHERIT ALL THINGS; AND I WILL BE HIS GOD, AND HE SHALL BE MY SON”. (see Rev. 21:7)
Some believers may be well acquainted with the above Word of God while many others may not have the necessary awareness and understanding of this Word and its impact on their future life and destiny. Is there a believer that had ever asked himself: “What happens to me if I do not overcome, if I do nothing?” And would he have the honesty to admit and say to himself: “I will lose all my inheritance, God will not be my God and I will not be His son… despite being redeemed”! Is this matter sufficiently important to be considered with more than a casual interest and to be also preached to believers and warn them?
Are we going to do nothing just because we believe that all things were accomplished in Christ? If we believe this, we believe truth. But we do not see or understand HOW we are going to get all these “things accomplished in Christ” into our own being and WHEN. Do we? Oh, we have imaginations and reasoning and feelings and our own convictions which may have nothing to do with the Word of God. But do we have the truth about it? Yes, we have. The Lord says: HOW, is by overcoming, and WHEN, is between our water baptism and death or rapture! Do we believe this truth also? To believe any one truth of God which in itself is incomplete and disbelieve other truths of God on which the first truth depends, brings us nowhere and accomplishes in us absolutely nothing!
So, are we going to overcome what God requires from us to overcome? Shall we believe it and do it or ignore it? The choice is ours, not God’s. But I say: LET US DO IT, not just for our sake, but for God’s sake, Who desires us to be His sons and daughters, and Who also well deserves to have us as sons and daughters for He paid for us all with His Own Life!
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To be continued next week in chapter 5 – part 9
brother Hanola
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