FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part
146
THE WOMAN IN THE
WILDERNESS
(continued)
And the
woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God
and
to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into
her place (Rev. 12:6,14).
I would again
draw your attention to the fact that the woman flees into the wilderness, the well-known one,
spoken of from the book of Exodus all the way through to the book of Revelation. The great types of the wilderness
experience are first met in Moses who for forty years lived in the desert, under the big
sky, where his brash points were worn down by the immensities around him: the star-studded
sky at night; the empty, echoing canyons; the days of seeming unending silence, broken
only by the howling winds and blowing, choking, blinding dust. Deserts diminish a person. Surrounded by lifeless rocks and sand, beaten by
howling winds that make skin leathery, a person learns his or her true measure. Deserts purge, purify, prepare. They downsize, humble, empty, break. For forty years (for God is not rushed) the desert
did its carving, chiseling, sculpting work on the gifted but proud and impetuous young man
Moses. Then, finally, he is ready for
the
fire! And it comes! The strange bush flames up like a dried-out old
Christmas tree on fire
and just keeps on burning and burning. Moses is captivated.
He leaves the sheep, forgets his work, stops his routine, steps out of the
ordinary
and gazes. He does not know it
yet, but here is a symbol of the next forty years of his life: he will be like this bush,
filled with the fire of God, so fully, so constantly, that he will never burn out. And he didnt.
Forty years later, when he died at age 120, his eyes were not weak nor
his strength gone (Deut. 34:7). Desert,
fire. Desert, fire. Thats the pattern of the pilgrimage. God empties us; then fills us with His fire. Thats the way of the wilderness!
As God through
the fire-consumed Moses delivered His people from the fury of Pharaoh in Egypt by bringing
them into that very same wilderness, so also now He brings His woman-church into the
wilderness to escape the rage of the dragon-spirit. But
the difference is that in Israels case it was a natural, physical wilderness into
which they were led, whereas in this case the figure is employed to signify something
spiritual. The wilderness signifies a place of
safety and liberation; and it is to such a sanctuary that the woman is taken to be protected and sustained by God.
In the literal and natural sense of the word the wilderness is a place in the world, but not of the world. It
is a place in the midst of the world, yet it is absolutely separated from the life of the
world. The key word here is separation. This
depicts a people as described by our Lord who are in the world, but not of the
world. A people separate in every
respect from the life, spirit, and ways of the world.
In the wilderness they are not only separated from the world, but are indeed separated unto God!
In our text the
wilderness is called her place
a place belonging to her which God has specially prepared for her. As we have already pointed out the types of this
spiritual experience are found in the desert to which Moses fled for safety from the wrath
of Pharaoh; to which Israel fled from the tyranny and rage of the Egyptians; to which
Elijah betook himself for refuge from the wrath of the bloody Jezebel; to which the
faithful Jews retreated from the persecutions of the Syrian kings in the Maccabean times. Having served as a place of shelter for Gods
faithful ones on so many occasions, it may well be called her place the one locality out
of all places on earth specially prepared and consecrated as a place in the world but not
of the world, a separated place where the Lords people find refuge from the fury of
the adversary, to experience in solitude those unique dealings of God which humble, empty, break, purge, purify, and prepare
them for His further and higher purposes. Her
place is thus spiritually a state of being
and a dealing of God appointed and ordained for
her growth and development in the spirit. She
is nourished there, indicating that provision is made for her to be not only
sustained, but strengthened and enabled to grow and increase. Arent you glad!
Some in our day
have missed the spiritual import of this wonderful scene and have sought for some supposed
physical safe area to flee to in the day of trouble. We have known many precious ones who fearing
nuclear war, Y2K, the tyranny of a one-world government, the great tribulation, the beast,
or some other imagined calamity have searched for a place of safety. There is a group just north of us in New Mexico who
came here many years ago from California. They
believed that fearful disasters were to befall the state of California. Their prophet told them that they were the woman
who was to flee to the wilderness, and a particular area of New Mexico was the wilderness. They have certainly been prospering there for
nearly fifty years, but their visions have so far not been fulfilled.
We know some who
went to remote wilderness areas of South America, Canada, Alaska, etc. Many have now come home. I visited one such wilderness farm in 1970 on the Cacataw
River in the jungles of Columbia, South America. It
no longer exists. In fact, the drug-lords have
taken over that area of Columbia and one cannot even travel there anymore! One couple we knew had found a place of
safety in a certain mountainous area of the state of Arkansas. But before they could get moved there a missile
blew up in its silo right in the middle of their safe area! They never have gone.
I prophesy that many who carnalize and literalize this precious wilderness
message and run to what they believe are safe areas shall experience that of which
the prophet Amos spoke when he prophesied that it would be as if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met
him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him (Amos
5:19).
Certainly God
can speak to people to locate in a particular area for whatever purpose, but the only
safe place is IN THE SPIRIT, not a geographical location. David put it this way: He that dwelleth in
the secret place of the most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say
of the Lord, HE IS MY REFUGE AND FORTRESS: my God, in Him will I trust. Surely HE shall deliver thee
He shall cover
thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust
thou shalt not be afraid
for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that
walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand
at thy right hand; BUT IT SHALL NOT COME NIGH THEE. Only
with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. BECAUSE thou has made the LORD, WHICH IS MY REFUGE,
even the most High, THY HABITATION (Ps. 91:1-9).
Ah there is safety indeed! Yes,
my beloved, there is her place which
God has prepared for her, a place in the spirit, a place of separation unto God, where the
protection, nourishing, and sovereign dealings of God accomplish their wonderful work!
NOURISHED IN THE WILDERNESS
she
hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed
her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days
and to the woman were given
two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly
into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and
half a time (Rev. 12:6,14).
It is in the
wilderness that we need to be fed. The idea is that of a miraculous feeding, and the
past is prophecy of the future. It was there that God supernaturally sent the manna to
feed the fugitive millions of Israel. Elijah
was miraculously fed by an angel, and received a meal from heaven, in the strength of
which he went forty days, in his flight to this mount of God. It was in the desert place, where the multitudes
followed Jesus, that He multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed five thousand faint
people. In the seasons of blessing there is
abundance, but in the wilderness food and water are not available and must be in some way
supplied. Before entering the wilderness you
readily partook of the abundance of spiritual food of gifts, and ministries, and
movings of the Spirit. But in the wilderness
the Lord separates you from even that! The
feeding of the woman here, indicates the depth of her straits, and her utter helplessness
in any resources of her own. She is in great
need, and no amount of activity on her part can supply her with sustenance. Yet, one doesnt need to spend a long time in
the wilderness if he truly understands and appropriates what is provided for him there. Oh, yes, provision is made in the wilderness! Israels experience in the wilderness is the
blessed type. In the wilderness He set a
table before them. If you can truly
understand that the Rock smitten in the wilderness (Ex. 17:1-6) is Christ in your spirit, you will soon receive the
vision and strength that will deliver you out of your wilderness! If you can somehow see by revelation that the
Branch cast into the bitter waters of Marah (Ex. 15:23-25) is a picture of the Christ within, then by forsaking all other
means you will cast the spirit of Christ into your bitter experience and by the
overflowing of His grace and love be enabled to get rid of the bitterness of your carnal
thinking and fleshly emotions then you
will receive faith to arise and depart out of the wilderness! When you can catch the vision by the Spirit that
the Manna (Ex.16;14-22) is not just What is it? but that Christ Himself within you is the true bread that has come down from heaven,
then, dear one, you will be quickened to arise, hasten, and leave the wilderness behind! If you are in a wilderness, Christ as life is what you must feed upon in order
to get out of your wilderness! Those who fail
to feed upon Christ as life, the only food provided in the wilderness, can never get out
of it; like Israel of old they continue to go around and around in the desolation of the
same dry desert, making the same mistakes, struggling with the same old problems,
weaknesses, and limitations again and again, dedicating and rededicating, getting revived
from time to time, but never fully gaining the mastery, overcoming, maturing and being
made perfect. And in the end they perish in their wilderness!
I have been
encouraged and edified by the following words from the pen of Art Groesbeck. There is a place in God that is to the
exclusion of all else; a place where there is no struggle; a place of entering into rest. The Lord brings us to this place by way of the
wilderness where He humbles us and tries us that we might see whats in our hearts. And
thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the
wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou
wouldest keep His commandments, or not. And He
humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live
(Deut. 8:2-3).
It was
also said of Israel, I remember thee, the
kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the
wilderness, in a land that was not sown (Jer. 2:2). God takes His called out ones first to a place of
separation; a place of preparation, if you will; a place of processing where we forget
everything the Egyptian, and the type it represents, has taught us; a place of temptation
where we learn to depend totally upon the Lord our God.
And we learn not to tempt Him by saying, Is the Lord God among us, or not? (Ex.
17:7). It is a wilderness, a no mans land in that no man can
survive there, only God can sustain life in this place!
Man will have to die there, because no natural seed can grow in this
environment. It is a place not sown. It
is a place of the supernatural only, a place of no longer looking to the natural or carnal
realm of reason. The temptation that must be
overcome is to do so. It is a place where Gods
higher thoughts and higher ways must prevail. It
is the beginning of the laying aside of every sin that so easily besets us that we might
run this race with patience. It is the place
of growing in grace, and in the knowledge of HIM. It
is the place of entering into His kingdom.
This place
is desolate, in that it must be a place not sown, a place where the seeds of mans
carnal reasoning and mans ways which have gotten him much recognition in the flesh,
will not prosper. It is a desolate wilderness,
but through kingdom principles sown by God, it blossoms like the rose. The only thing that grows there is that which comes
from heaven, even the Word of God. Man does
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This principle was seen in the manna rained from
heaven. Notice it did not come up from
the earth, which was desolate, which even if it were able to produce bread, could only
sustain temporarily. But the Word of God
sustains life eternally! Bread speaks of the
earth-realm, the realm of man what we have so long preserved as life, but the ends
thereof are death.
God has to
remove us from our familiar surroundings, all that we have come to know life to be, even
as He did starting with Abraham. Abraham was
removed from the land that he was familiar with, and from his kin from whom he had taken
counsel all his life, to a place that God would show him a place apart where God
would become his counselor, his sustainer, and his reward, based upon Gods promise
and not on Abrahams merit. Moses
experienced the same thing in that when he realized his calling to deliver his brothers
from the hand of Pharaoh, his attempt at doing so ended in failure. He first had to be removed to the backside of the
desert for a time of emptying out of all that he had become in Egypt. We, too, must experience a separation, a wilderness
experience, an emptying out of all that we are, that
we might be filled with all that He is. We
must experience that time of testing even as our Lord was driven into the wilderness and tempted of the devil forty
days. Remember His words to Peter,
for thou savourest not the things that be
of God, but those that be of men (Mat. 16:23).
So Satan tempts us to think even as we
have learned as man to think, not in some way that is unfamiliar to us at all.
God is
taking us in a way we have never gone before! This
why we must learn the way of life in the
wilderness. Life in a place where life is
not possible without God being the source. The
way we have known, the way of man, was a way whereby we established ourselves; the effect
being pride and self-exaltation, envy and strife, works of the flesh, all the result of
not knowing God as our source through the subtle deception of the evil one. The key reason for our removal to the wilderness
and its desolation is that we might see how we relate to it.
This aspect of the wilderness and how it pertains to us individually, is
that we and the wilderness must become one. We
must become barren in order to become fruitful! I
have heard it said, and know it to be true, that Abrahams greatest asset was Sarahs
barren womb and their inability to bring forth life. So,
any fruitfulness out of their dry ground had to be the result of the promise of God and
Abrahams belief in the God who promised. You
see, a woman being barren was considered to be a curse from God. Woman is a type of the earth, the place where the
seed is sown. God cursed the earth in Adam, thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee,
and to the woman, in sorrow thou shalt
bring forth children, more thorns and thistles!
When the Spirit of the Father planted that heavenly seed in Mary, He
brought forth life out of death. She saw the
impossibility of it in that she said, How
shall this be, seeing I know not a man? (Lk. 1:34). This could have nothing to do with man; it must be
a virgin birth! The best Mary could do is to
say, be it unto me according to thy word
(Lk. 1:38). The best we can do is to say, be it unto me according to Thy word, and
know that the ability to bring forth life out of our barren wasteland is not of man, but
of GOD. To God be the glory!
When I was
a boy growing up, I remember the phrase God helps those who help themselves. It sounded reasonable to me in my unregenerate
state, but I have found that scripture knows nothing of it.
As a matter of fact, more rightly put, God helps those who cant help themselves but only when
they have come to realize it and cry out to Him. Surely
there is a no mans land and it is a people
established by God in God, to the praise of the glory of His grace. The
wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice,
and blossom as the rose (Isa. 35:1)
end quote.
I mentioned
earlier the manna which was the Lords provision for the nourishment of His people in
the wilderness. There is no doubt that the
manna perfectly pre-figures the nourishment provided for the woman in the wilderness! When the people of Israel first saw the manna they
asked what it was that strange substance lying on the early morning ground. Moses told them, It is the bread which the
Lord has given you to eat
gather of it, every man of you, as much as he can eat; you
shall take an Omer apiece, according to the number of persons whom each of you has in his
tent. It is described in the book of
Exodus as a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoar-frost. Significant is the fact that during the period the
children of Israel subsisted on manna they were to eat their daily allotment the same day,
and eat of it fully, for if anyone would not eat all of it, or if he attempted to hoard
his surplus, it decomposed with supernatural rapidity.
Only enough for the day, gathered morning by morning, was the divine order. It was natural for some of them to want to put away
a little for the coming days, but God arranged it in such a way that it could not be done
the manna spoiled and bred worms within hours.
The only exception was on the sixth day on that day they could gather
twice as much for both the sixth day and the Sabbath, tomorrows bread today, and it
kept fresh through both days.
As in the
natural, so in the spiritual! The supply of
yesterday will not do for today, anymore than yesterdays dinner will suffice us for
todays work. You cannot live on yesterdays revelation, for it was strength
only for that day. You cannot live on the
memory of past spiritual experiences. You
cannot live on the lingering aroma of blessed fellowship you had with the Lord in days
gone by. You cannot live on the recollection
of mercies and miracles received in previous moves of God.
For every day you need fresh grace and a new dimension of glory! The manna of old only held good for one day. It had to be gathered fresh every morning. The manna of one day grew corrupt and worthless
before the next. And we wonder why the glory
of yesterdays visitation has faded! We
are disturbed because the move of God of yesterday has been polluted in the hands of men! Yesterdays visitations of the Spirit are a
stench in our nostrils today. Already (in such
a short time!) they have become a weariness to our spirit.
They have been taken over by the flesh and
it pains me to say it, but one and all have settled into stagnation and
death. None has pressed on to GO ALL THE WAY
WITH GOD. Oh, they still go through the
motions of yesterdays visitation, but the so-called gifts of the Spirit they tout
are most often a pitiful sham. People are
slain in the Spirit through psychological inducement and mass hypnosis, and
sometimes even pushed.
Worship has become soulish and mechanical, people having learned
to sing the song of the Lord after the song has ended.
The prophesyings bear the distinctive sound of a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal. Numerous groups have been brought
under the domination of false apostles, while others have fallen victim to a sectarian
spirit We, and we alone, are the
body of Christ; we, our group, are the sons of
God; we are the manchild company; we are the kings and priests after the Order of
Melchizedek; our movement is the select of the elect that will bring in the kingdom
and rule the nations with a rod of iron. There
was a great move of the Spirit beginning in
1948 called Latter Rain. Its days
were like heaven on earth, its glory unspeakable, its power earth-shattering. Within a few years the rain ended, yet to this day
there are people out there dancing in the rain, not having noticed that the
clouds have dispersed, the sun is burning, and the rain is over. They go through the motions, but the
glory has departed. The memory is sweet, but
the body is dead, lifeless, empty. All the
great moves of God of bygone generations are become the swaggering harlot, a cesspool of
corruption. All the filthiness of the Babylonian
church system is but the worm-ridden manna
given by God for another time, preserved by man unto today.
The worms are obvious to all who can see by the Spirit!
Well did brother
Carl Schwing write: Allow me to write
freely and I would speak gently and lovingly
my brethren, if your soul still feeds
upon the left-over manna
finding nourishment in the past message
you
fall short of your calling and cannot see afar off. You
are pressing backward rather than pressing on
and you are still following man rather
than the Lamb. All that we hope for, hunger
for, and moan for is found in sonship, and sonship comes forth from the Father
sonship
is the very image of the Father
and who but He has the words of life? I do not write of tomorrow or someday
I write
of today
for it is today that the Father walks among us
sonship is part of Gods
Now
we are being born by Him, from Him and for Him
this miraculous delivery is
in the process. He is offering us eternal
life
alas, some shall be offended
others will turn and walk no more
but
there are the faithful few who will know that He alone speaks life-giving
words.
You see, my
beloved, every day you need a new gift of grace, a deeper dealing of God, a fresh word
from the throne, a further revelation of the Spirit, a greater dimension of life. The manna is only good for one day for one
step in your forward journey into God. You
must get it fresh every day! This is the
prayer for you and me, for all who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship Give
us this day our daily bread. GIVE! Yes, this is a gift.
You cannot buy the bread of life. Its
price has never been quoted in the markets. No
money can purchase reality. God never sells. God is a King, He gives. Buy? No,
you cannot buy. You may buy books and sermons
and papers and tapes and CDs from preachers who havent learned the ways of the
kingdom. You may even buy a prophecy
or a blessing from the false prophets who peddle them in return for your
offering. But you cannot buy the Word of Life!
Can you buy
pardon? Can you buy peace? Can you buy righteousness? Can you buy sonship?
Can you buy the mind of Christ? Can
you buy the image of God? Can you buy the
kingdom? No, you cannot buy; but what you
cannot buy God will give. Listen, It is the Fathers good
pleasure to give you the kingdom. Listen again, Everyone that thirsteth, let
him come and take of the water of life freely. Listen yet again, The gift of God is eternal life. Giving! This
is royal giving. And so it is said of this
woman in the wilderness, she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her
her place, where she is nourished
The expressions that they should feed her
and she is nourished denote her passiveness.
No amount of self-activity would supply her with food in the desert. She is fed as food is procured for a child, not by it. A
number of actions on her behalf cluster around
this woman. Her child was caught up.
Two wings of a great eagle were given her.
That they should feed
her. Where she is fed. Oh,
yes, this is Gods provision in the
wilderness! What assurance and expectation
this inspires within our hearts!
Someone may ask,
Why dwell on the woman being nourished in the wilderness we are not the
woman, we are the manchild, and the manchild has already been birthed and caught up unto
God and to His throne at the time when the woman is fed
in the wilderness! True,
but never forget, dear one, that the woman is simply coming by the same route that the
manchild has already come. The one hundred and
forty-four thousand, who are also the manchild, are the firstfruits unto God
and the Lamb! We have already traced the
revelation of Gods dealings with His firstfruit company all the way from chapter one
through chapter twelve of the Revelation. Those
who follow are required to walk the same route as those who
go ahead! And just as the woman
has her wilderness experience and is fed, nourished in the wilderness, so the firstborn
Son of God had His wilderness experience and was fed, nourished in His wilderness! As soon as Jesus temptation in the wilderness
was accomplished we read, Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, messengers came and ministered unto Him (Mat. 4:11). Jesus had just said, Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that is proceeding out of the mouth of God. And now, the messengers of God the living
word of His Father came unto Him and nourished Him in His wilderness experience! Therefore, the experience of the woman in the
wilderness is instructive for everyone who has received the call to sonship, for we all
must tread the same pathway, every man in his own rank!
THREE
AND A HALF YEARS
And the
woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should
feed her there a thousand two hundred and
threescore days
and to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she
might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face
of the serpent (Rev. 12:6,14).
The measure of
time here indicated requires no lengthy explanation. We
meet it again and again, expressed in different terms, throughout the book of Revelation. It is clear from the context that the twelve
hundred and sixty days mentioned in verse six
is the same time period as a time, times, and half a time in verse fourteen. It should not be difficult to understand, then,
that both terms indicate three and one half symbolic
years. One symbolic year, plus two
symbolic years, plus half a symbolic year. One
symbolic year is calculated to be three hundred and sixty days according to the Hebrew
calendar, thus three and a half symbolic years equal twelve hundred and sixty days. This is obviously the same period as the forty-two months
of the testimony of the two witnesses in chapter eleven.
For, taking a symbolic month to contain thirty days, as in the Hebrew
calendar, forty-two months would again give us twelve hundred and sixty days, a time,
times, and half a time, or three and a half symbolic years.
It is always the same length of time stated in different terms and figures. The thing to keep in mind is that the Revelation is
a spiritual book, therefore all these indications
of time signify, not a literal time-period, but a spiritual
reality! That is the mystery
The significance lies in it always being three and a
half, that is, half of seven. Seven is the complete, perfect number denoting
fullness! Three and a half, then, shows a
broken, limited period or work, that which can never endure forever, but must be cut off
and come to an end. All the numbers in the
Revelation are symbolic. They cannot be fitted
into the framework of world history or outward world events, past or future. The spiritual interpretation of this great book
must be maintained at all costs, for the writings of those who apply its prophecies to
outward world events either past, present, or future, are strewn with the carcasses of
confident predictions which now are fit for only the ash-heap of history.
If not a
measurable period of chronological time, then what does the figure of three and a half
years signify? We have already mentioned that
in actual time it is one-half of seven years. Thus we are dealing with an indefinite period
of time, in each case known only to God and not intended to be measured by man. It is my deep conviction that these strange time
figures in the Revelation in each case indicate THE BROKEN SEVEN. That which is a positive seven denotes divine completeness,
fullness, and perfection. Included in these
are the seven golden candlesticks, seven angels, seven spirits of God, seven lamps of fire
before the throne, seven seals, seven eyes and seven horns of the Lamb, seven trumpets,
and the seven thunders. But that which is a positive seven also denotes that which is eternal that which has no end and will never pass
away! It is significant to note that all
of the halves of seven are associated either with dark and sinister works and
operations, or with that which is limited, failing,
partial, and destined to come to an end and pass away! The
message is just this anything in the book of Revelation that lasts for forty-two months,
twelve hundred and sixty days, a time, times, and half a time, or three and a half years
is not Gods perfect order, nor Gods
eternal order
it will not endure, will not last forever, is not a permanent
state, but, when God is through with that stage or that state it will come to an end and pass away! Thank God, the wilderness is not a permanent
condition, not a unending experience, nor the ultimate consummation of Gods purpose
in His woman! Wonderful that the Lord
prepares this place for the woman in her hour of need, protects her there, and nourishes
her, bringing her into a new and higher place in Him.
But that is merely preparation for her next step forward into God! He will take her, as He is now taking His sons,
step by step and stage by stage, from glory to glory, from realm to realm, until she is
seen coming down out of a heavenly realm adorned as a bride prepared for her husband,
having the glory of God, and the life of God, and the word of God, and the dominion of God
enlightening the whole earth, bringing salvation to all nations, quickening and
transforming all things. That order, precious
friend of mine, WILL LAST FOREVER! It is indeed wonderful!
How we rejoice
and sing hallelujahs that the wilderness is ordained of God for the woman-church, but it
is not his ultimate order for her and it has its end.
The time of her confinement and secret dealing of God will end after three
and a half symbolic years, when the wilderness experience has accomplished it full work in
her. The day will surely come when she will come up from the wilderness, leaning upon her
beloved (S. of S. 8:5).
Her
beloved, upon whom she leans, is described by the Shulamite in these words, I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the
roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please. Who
is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh
and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? (S. of S. 3:5-6). Ray Prinzing has commented upon this verse: TILL
HE PLEASE and what is His pleasure now? To
bring forth a company out of the wilderness! Ah,
how well we know about the wilderness, with its dry, barren areas; or with its tangled
underbrush which hems us in from all sides; or with its wild and unknown expanses filled
with wild beasts and terrifying noises. The
purpose for this is found in Deuteronomy 8:2,5-6. And thou shalt remember all the way which the
Lord thy God led thee
in the wilderness, to
humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest
keep His commandments, or no. Thou shalt also
consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth
thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the
commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him.
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will
I plead with you face to face
and I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will
bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I
will purge out from among you the rebels (or,
the rebellious)
(Eze. 20:35,37-38). There
is so much in the heart of Gods children that was rebellious, though we were not
always aware of it. We have rebelled against
the circumstances which He ordered for our path, and we rebelled against His will which
crossed our will until He led us through the wilderness, and there we were taught
to yield all to Him, and find in Him our hope, our rest, our glorious peace. We even read that Jesus was led by the Spirit into
the wilderness, and dwelt there for forty days and nights, tested and tried; but we also
read that Jesus returned IN THE POWER OF THE
SPIRIT
(Lk. 4:14). Truly He came up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchants!
And now we
read of a company that comes up out of the wilderness leaning upon their beloved. These are one in Him, share His nature, and come
forth in HIS FULLNESS. This company, too,
comes up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed
a sweet smelling savor
a
life that has been touched with the bitter experiences, the crushings, and now HIS DIVINE
FRAGRANCE shall permeate the whole. With
myrrh, a very bitter gum resin used for perfume, and also for part of the anointing
oil, and in the embalming process. Our
bitter experiences in the wilderness will bring out the sweet fragrance of His nature, and
remove the stench of our own self-righteousness. And
they also become a part of the rich anointing upon us.
And not only is the flesh, with its self-life put to death, it is also
embalmed with the fragrance of myrrh and no one has to endure the offence. And frankincense which, among its other
uses, was also for sacrificial fumigation. Placed
on every sacrifice it counteracted the smell of burning flesh. Though it has been painful, and we werent
always easy to live with, nor at the moment a sweet smelling savor in our processing, when
the work is finished, there will be no lingering odors of the flesh, it will be the
sweetness of His life alone that pervades the atmosphere, praise God. THIS IS THE COMPANY WHICH HE IS PLEASED TO BRING UP
OUT OF THE WILDERNESS.
In His
pleasure He came to us leaping upon the mountains, judgment was there, correction unto
righteousness. And in His pleasure He will
lead His many-membered-son-company up out of the wilderness to radiate His life. Then in His pleasure the sons return to the
wilderness to bring out the woman the bride, leaning on her beloved. This is all beautifully borne out also in
Revelation 12, where the woman, after giving birth to the manchild, flees into the
wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God. There
the manchild company feeds her, and when the days of her purification are ended, she also
comes forth leaning upon her beloved. How
marvelous are His ways, and the purpose in which He delights, as He pleases! end quote.
To be continued
J. PRESTON EBY