The Spies Of The Lord

I was wandering desperately in a dry and arid desert, when I saw a rider on a horse.

His frame was strong, his face radiant; and from his lungs came words of peace: Be still, I know you are afraid. Write of my love for all men, those who are wandering, and those who are found. Let the scoffers deny it, let the proud reject it; but I have a plan for everyone born....

Looking towards the Promised Land, we know the completion of our journey, and what God wants to accomplish in us, is guaranteed. It is not over yet, as He has still "to place all things under his feet," but it is something we can say with certainty will be, in the very near future, and we rejoice though we see it from afar. We exult in Him and his power to do that which he promised. Although the world's inhabitants would trust in themselves, and continue on the treadmill of striving for contentment, bliss, whatever they call peace at the moment, we are conquering the enemies of our lives. We do not share the desire of the multitude, to stay in our comfort zone, and find only relaxation, though he certainly does give it at times. We have a mission, and we have been sent out into the world for this. Sharing in the report, with Joshua and Caleb, that it is a good land he is taking us into - a land of blessings, and of peace, and delights without number- indeed the only land we ever wanted, we find we are whole. The world and the church cannot, and does not, believe this; how can they? if they still maintain that we are only to conquer our foes when we die and when we get to Heaven, And is there not much lost in this life if they maintain there is no victory here, and if they can only advance so far? In one sense, it is true –for Christ has assured us we will have tribulation here; but there is still a progression, and so many blessed heights (most of which came from travelling miserable lows/valleys).

 

Once we have, with Christ, our Heavenly Joshua, entered into thr land of Canaan, we find a new beauty in the Lord, but also a new difficulty. For some, the enticements of carnal religion, our own works, the fleshly desires are quite miniscule, and may rejoice in the deliverance God has wrought there. But it remains, still, that the old tribes we know so well, the Perezites, the Hivites, etc are there, cropping up time and again to test us, and, so it seems, making our “election sure,” with extraordinary force and singular fire. The warfare in the desert, if it taught us anything, it was only that God conquers for us (Num 10:35) –it would seem Moses only had to say the word – perhaps our pastor only needed give us a word “arise, O Lord! And let them that hate thee flee before thee,” and we were well again. Some of us have been compelled to see counselors and priest and pastors for a word, and for awhile this helped; nor were we wrong then to seek ministers whom often God places their for such needs as arise. But now a confidence arises in us, and a new relationship with our God impresses upon us a necessity to fight for ourselves; not with strength born of intellect and fleshly courage, but with our eyes ever on Christ. The errors, mixed with truth, which were bestowed on us by our comforters, may cause a sting of resentment within, as the more noble we become, the more we are averse to deceit - but all bitterness even here must be let go, for all of their limitations were once our own.

 

  Our ark, which was once outside, now lives within us to do the fighting, and we perceive that it is of Christ’s own spirit inside us, we conquer.

 

   The word Ark, from the Latin Arca, means “box” or “chest,”. Many of us will think of Christ being the place where treasure is held –and it is! For Noah, whose name means rest, we have discovered, was wisely chosen to perform a work that so compliments Christ’s work in us. What, then, must we remember to take from this ark of treasure into our daily battles? Rest! When tempted to shout against the Perrezites and Amorites of injustice, disappointment, illness, deceitful and unprofitable conversation, rumors (news of wars and terror) we hold our peace –we rest and bring our thoughts back to God. As wisely expressed by Ray Prinzing –“if we take up with the problem, turmoil ensues.” And we can see it –it is oftentimes so immediate! Often we may murmur or groan about our difficulty and it instantly becomes worse, it enlarges, expands, becomes daunting. It is for this reason I believe Kierkegaard said, “talking about our problem brings suffering.” We would not of course take this as a rule, but there is some truth in it, and anecdotally we can confirm it.

 

  To continue, we cannot take Moses (who we can affirm represent the Law) with us into the Promised Land. We agreed the Law is good, that it helped as a tutor, but in the new territory, Joshua says, “I will not fail you, or forsake you!” Powerful words, which sound exactly like the savior’s –in fact, they are! Having thus told them what Moses no longer could, it is wondered how many supposedly having found life, continue clinging to Moses’ dead body. It is as if, in effect, they are saying, “Yes, you have spied out the land, you have said that it good, but only by taking Moses and the law can we get there, it is not true, Joshua –you simply don’t now the way!” Thus you will find them throwing weak stones of complaint, broken javelins of litigation against their coworkers and adversaries, Molotov cocktails of rebellious ideas for their preservation against government corruption and downfall, paper bullets of wishes for their enemies’ damnation, and a thousand other paltry weapons of the flesh that only intimate their inner unrest.  The spies of the Lord have proclaimed that this land God himself has designated Good. Indeed we seem much more like secret agents now, do we not? since we have moved in secrets of the night and preserved them in our breast.

 

Preston Eby has this to say of The Promised Land:

 

"In this, our generation, a righteous remnant is coming out of their wilderness of trial, testing, and chastisement. Our days of wandering, murmuring, rebellion, immaturity, and vacillation are ending! Our wilderness journey has also ended! There is a specific people in the earth today who witnessed the mighty power of God as He revealed Himself in signs and wonders, and thereby led us out of our enslavement in the Egypt of the world of sin and death. We have also endured the testings and chastisements of the Lord through the provings of the wilderness. Many who read these lines will bear witness that this is true, and now the spirit of sonship groans and travails within you for the fullness of Christ and the glory of the kingdom of God. You have faithfully obeyed in all the deep dealings of the Lord as experienced by all other sons of God, and those experiences made you the overcomer that you are.

 

There are many other of the Lord’s people who have walked with God in the light they have received, and have also walked through testings and wilderness experiences. But unless the spirit of sonship drives and compels them on this journey into the promised land of the fullness of Christ, they will not profit from the unique trials of the wilderness that prepare one to cross the Jordan and possess their land. Rather than increasing in faith and following Joshua-Jesus into the kingdom land, they are of those who perish in the wilderness. We are not critical of them, for they are the Lord’s people and have at least come up out of Egypt and have eaten the manna and drunk from the rock. The primary work of God in this hour is with His elect remnant whom He has called to rise up and take the land so that all nations might be blessed and creation delivered."