The desert period
The Desert Period
I would just like to remind you that the explanations are based
on spiritual meaning. In the same manner that you are lead out of a “spiritual
Egypt” you will be lead into a “spiritual desert”.
LORD I thank You for every revelation and ask that Your message
will be received in its purest form. LORD may Your Name be honored and may Your
Light shine upon every person that takes Your message to heart. I ask
everything in the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ.
You left Egypt and its idols, you want to serve God but find
yourself in the desert. It is not the nicest or easiest place to be in. We read
in Exodus 15 that after wandering for three days without finding any water the
Israelite's found water at Mara. Water has an extensive spiritual meaning. Water
is the livelihood of all living things and represents purification. The Holy
Spirit is also represented as water; the fountain of living water, John 7:
38-39. You feel alone and miserable after leaving the world and need to press
into God in your search for Him. At Mara You find His living water but can’t
drink it because it is too bitter. The water of this world taste sweet because
it is mixed with sin. Only the tree (the crucifixion of Jesus) can make the
water drinkable. Without the crucifixion we would have been unable to receive
the Holy Spirit and purify ourselves with Gods living water. After cleansing we
become a fountain of living water. Twelve tribes of Israel were led out of
Egypt and scripture states that there were 12 wells (water fountains) at Elim.
Thus the Israelite's who drank the living water became a fountain of living
water. We read that there were 70 palm trees. A palm-tree represents victory.
Concluding that cleansing and consuming the spiritual water lead to the victory
of the spiritual over the carnal and the worldly lusts.
After cleansing we are fed with manna – spiritual bread.
Deuteronomy 8: 2-3. Man do not live by bread (physical earthly bread) alone but
by every word proceeding out of the mouth of God. Only God can speak life and therefore provide
us with living bread, His Word. His Word speaks life into every situation. God’s
Word is the manna in everyone's life, the manna that feeds us; our daily bread.
When we face temptations and obstacles we murmur against
God. We are so easily angered when things do not go our way and lose sight of
the fact that God has a greater plan. We have to place God’s will before our
own and trust Him. In like manner Israel murmured against God losing sight of
the Promised Land that lay ahead. God cleansed
Israel and fed them but their carnal nature made them rebel. After received
bread they immediately complained that they lack meat. We are the same, we complain
when we lack but are never satisfied with what we have. We forget that the
world we live in is temporary just like our flesh and fleshly nature. We are
ignorant of the fact that our spiritual being is the one that is eternal and
will not enter eternity if we do not feed him spiritual food. Now Matthew 6 takes on a total different meaning.
Jesus made it clear that we first have to seek the kingdom of God, before we
seek carnal things. Seeking Gods kingdom will prevent us from running after
fleshly desires and allow God to bless us abundantly.
Can God become angry with us? Can His temper flare up
against us? Yes indeed. It is very dangerous to continually murmur against God.
We read that God sees our murmuring as tempting Him. Hebrews 3: 7-17. Our sinful
nature and our fleshly or carnal desires harden our hearts against God. We can
die in “our desert state”and never reach the Promised land. Therefore God
should NOT be tempted. We read in
Matthew 4 how Jesus applied this very principle when he reacted to Satan’s
temptation. Satan uses our carnal nature as a weapon and therefore requested
Jesus (who was weak and hungry) to turn stones into bread. Jesus chose the
spiritual eternity above human carnality. These temptations took place in the
desert after Jesus’es baptism with water and before His ministry began! The
Israelite's wandered the desert for 40 years, Jesus fasted in the desert for 40
days. The eternal came to earth and walked out the same desert period in His
earthly life. God lowered Himself to our level. Thus in order to be redeemed every
person will have to go through this period.
We can not belong to God if we are not prepared to journey
with Him. Due to our human nature it takes time for us to learn Gods ways. God lead His people into the desert and
brought them to Sinai to prove them and teach them. God taught Israel His laws
and commandments. They had to accept and come into agreement with God; make a covenant.
God gave them a choice. Likewise our desert period is a period of teaching,
accepting and agreeing. We can choose eternal life or spiritual death. It is
sad that Christians refuse to acknowledge Gods laws and want to separate the
Old Testament from the New Testament. They are of the opinion that Moses and His
laws do not apply to them. These laws are the foundation of Gods kingdom. Jesus
made it very clear that He did not come to abolish the law but to complete the
Law. When God heals spiritual blindness He reveals His laws and their
significance. By nullifying God’s laws, we are nullifying God and Jesus and
devalue the whole redemption plan of God. Satan’s mission is to influence us to
become lawless and bring the spirit of lawlessness into our lives. By heading
to Satan we allow Satan entry points into our lives and thus tie ourselves to
Egypt, Babylon and even worse Canaan. Our lawlessness makes us more important
than God and allows pride to enter our hearts and minds. Pride builds a barrier
between us and God.
God lived among the Israelite's
and therefore the tabernacle was built in the desert. The tabernacle was the
place where God met with Moses and Aaron. When we choose to walk with God, God will live
within us and therefore we build a tabernacle in our hearts. Our tabernacle is
built inside us during our desert period. The tabernacle foreshadowed the crucifixion
of Jesus and His eternal sacrifice. Jesus enables us to appear without blemish
before God; He removes our sin that hinders us to come before God. The wages of
sin is death. If you sin the law requires that you die. God is eternal and God’s
laws are also eternal and therefore it means eternal death. The lamb that was
sacrificed enabled the person who sinned to live. It therefore removed the
stains of sin and enabled God to live among Israel. God is holy therefore His
people must be holy. If we want God to live within us we have to be holy and
lead a holy life! Nobody is perfect and no-one without sin but we have to
choose to live different from the world. The earthly tabernacle was a
representation of the heavenly tabernacle where Jesus is our high priest. I
never understood that in order for God to forgive I have to repent and bring my
sins to Him. The high priest could not bring an offer if the sinner did not come
to him with the sacrifice. Jesus crucifixion did not automatically forgive our
sins, we also have a part to play. We have to search for our sins and lay them
before Jesus and then His blood will forgive.
If we do nothing, Jesus can likewise do nothing!
So many spiritual lessons are taught in the desert period.
One short writing piece will never do all of the lessons justice. I can only
pray that each person turning to God’s Word in search of the lessons will be
lead by the Holy Spirit. I also pray that God will reveal the spiritual truths
to them that seek Him.
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