God's New Israel

Article Index God's New Israel Page 2 Page 3 Page 3 of 3 THE NEW WORLD Well, the people are out of their bondage in Egypt and are out unto the Lord. What about it? They are in a new place, a place that they have never been in before. They are not accustomed to anything in this place. They are in another world which is altogether different from the one in which they have been living. Yes, they have a real joy in being out and sing the song of redemption: “I am redeemed, O praise the Lord!” But what kind of a world is this into which they – and we – have come? We are strangers in this world! What is it that Peter is saying? “I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims…” (I Peter 2:11). Somehow we do not seem to belong here, and we have to learn everything all over again. Well, in Egypt we could at least see where our bread was coming from. It may not have been everything that we would like but every time we needed food there was at least something to see. We knew that at a certain time someone would sound a trumpet and call out ‘Come to the cookhouse!’ We could see ting in Egypt! Things were such that we could handle them, and we did know that our meals would be provided at the right time, but what kind of a life is this? We cannot see anything here. We just do not know what is going to happen out here! We are absolutely dependent upon supernatural power. This is a most unnatural life! Well, from time to time, God works a miracle. We have a very wonderful experience of Him, and then it is as though He goes away and leaves us, and this unnatural life goes on. Do you know what I am taking about? Is that true to the Christian life? We have come into a new place, and in this place God has to be everything. We have to prove Him every day, and we are tested by the very place into which we have come. We say: ‘We are going out with the Lord.’ All right – but do you know what that means? It is going out to the Lord, and to the Lord only. Out in this new place we seem to be suspended between heaven and earth. What is the meaning of this new place? Well, all our natural abilities and facilities are useless. I have more than once flown over that wilderness in the days of flying boats which did not go very high, and from six thousand feet I could see everything in the wilderness; and I came to one conclusion: it would be a hopeless thing to bring a plough into that, or to sow corn in that! That would soon break any farmer’s heart! Fancy living in that for forty years. Only God almighty could keep you alive in that. So it was for these people – but what did this new place mean? TESTING OF MOTIVES First of all, it was the place where their motives were tested. What is the motive that has brought you to this place? Did you come out to the Lord in your own interests, or for the Lord? If your motive was a ‘self’ motive, you are going to die out here, but if it really was for the Lord, only He will carry you through this. PROBATION FOR A LIFE OF THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT The second thing about the new place was that it was the probation for a life of the power of the Holy Spirit. The book of Joshua is the book of the power of the Holy Spirit, and shows that you will never come into that power if you have selfish, personal motives. Your spiritual circumcision is going to be tested here: Is it all of the Lord, or is there something of myself? In the New Testament there are two books which are set right in this new place, and in them you have Christians between Egypt and the land; and it is all a question of motive. In the first letter to the Corinthians the Christians are with Israel in the wilderness. Their motives art being tested, and in chapter ten Israel’s failure in the wilderness is used as a warning to Christians. Then there is the letter to the Hebrews. There was a time when Israel in the wilderness said: ‘Let us go back into Egypt! Things are too difficult for us this way.’ Stephen said in Acts 7: “(They) turned back in their hearts unto Egypt”. You see, their hearts were not truly circumcised. In the letter to the Hebrews, those Hebrew Christians who were having a difficult time, were inclined to go back, and Israel’s example is taken as a very solemn warning, and the writer says: “They (Israel) were not able to enter in because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). But the word in the letter to Hebrews again and again is: “Let us go on!” “Let us… let us… let us…” “Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience” (4:11). This world is a great power, and that power is set against our going on to God’s full purpose. First it will do all that it can to keep us from coming out to God, and then it will exercise its power to turn us back. But there is another power, what Paul calls: “the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20), and that is a secret and hidden power. You want to feel it, but you do not feel it. What is the evidence of that power? How do you know that there is a power working in you which is greater than all the power of this world? How do I know? I have sometimes thought that the devil has almost exhausted all his schemes to get me back to the old place! I say that very carefully – but how do I know that there is a greater power? Because, after all that the devil has done, and after over sixty years of being out with the Lord, I am still going on! Not by might, not by human strength, and not because of anything in us; we are “kept by the power of God”, and we know that power because today we are still out with the Lord. That is a tremendous thing, because of all that has been against. “What seest thou?” Are you getting a little light? I hope this will explain quite a lot!   Comments Write Comment  Name: Title: Comment: << Prev - Next