Matthew 25:1-13 and 1 Samuel Chapter 25
Good day to you and blessings.
****
More on Nabal and the Five Foolish Virgins
In Part 1, I noted some similarities between Nabal and the five foolish virgins. I believe Nabal is an old covenant “type” of the five foolish virgins.
And at the conclusion of Part 1 I offered some thoughts and prayers regarding Christ’s teaching on the ten virgins.
The purpose of my writings is to stir our hearts for deeper intimacy with the Lord.
We are all at different stages of maturity in the school of God.
Jesus is not anxious about you or me. He knows the next step for us and how to get us there.
After all, Christianity is an adventure and journey in him. We are his workmanship, his handiwork.
Though, at times, it may be fearful or seemingly impossible to move towards the Lord, like the rich young ruler, or, the woman caught in the very act of adultery, Jesus knows how to draw us to him.
If you’re spiritually imprisoned, and cannot respond when Jesus calls you, be comforted, his help is on the way.
Together, lets respond to the call of God to go deeper.
Nabal.
It is not pleasant to write about Nabal.
Though he was wealthy, the leader of a family, a descendant of Caleb, and blessed with an intelligent and beautiful wife, his ending is most unfortunate.
It would seem Nabal was not intimately familiar with the rigors of the wilderness and the need for others in that environment.
If he had, one would think he would’ve welcomed the protection provided by David and his men and rewarded them accordingly.
His herdsmen were familiar with the wilderness and welcomed the company, the care and protection of David.
Nabal is not connected to the needs of his own heart, and therefore, fails to relate to his herdsmen and their appreciation for David.
And sadly, Nabal cannot relate to God’s desire to know him.
He’s a leader who receives the fruit of those who labor for him, but is unacquainted with the trials and difficulties they face in service to him.
Nabal is a type of those missing “life within – God’s light and life.”
He has nothing to offer those who stood in the gap for him, providing a wall of protection, because he has not learned how to receive care and love himself.
He cannot give what he does not have.
He is alone, isolated, and seemingly thrives on creature comforts.
Deep care, love, and intimacy are found wanting in the heart of Nabal.
Birthing Sons and Daughters into God’s Care and Protection – The Revelation of Christ in Grace (Romans 8:11, 8:19; Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 4:13; 1 Peter 1:13; Hebrews 3:14; Revelation 12:2)
There is a time when the church (and parachurch ministries) need to birth their sons and daughters into the wilderness of God’s care.
None of us like to leave the comfort, design, and organization of the “church” and all it represents.
The church is the beauty of the New Testament. Jesus died for the church.
The church is the mother of the children of God.
The church is expected to nurture God’s sons and daughters and release them into sonship; the favor, love, and care, of the Father. (1 Peter 1:13)
(I am talking about spiritual changes, not physical changes.)
We need the church and will always need the church in the New Testament era.
But we also need fully grown and matured sons and daughters of God.
The five foolish virgins do not grow and mature.
Their growth and maturity are thwarted.
They do not have enough life within them to continue the journey to meet the bridegroom.
They’re not becoming who they were designed to be in Christ.
What is it that stifles them from growing and maturing into sons and daughters of God, having the garden of their heart cultivated by the Lord?
Is it a lack of vision, teaching, and understanding?
Is it a lack of hunger and thirst for Jesus?
Has the gospel, to be made like Christ, become so watered down with works, many miss the Bride?
Steps to Maturity
In a very broad sense, the church is designed to nurture and teach the fundamentals and principles of God and the workings of the Spirit.
It’s our cocoon time of invitation, nurture, fellowship, camaraderie, and planting of the word of God, the seed of faith, and the revelation of grace.
It’s the creation of hunger and thirst, cultivating the heart for Jesus.
In all of this, the church is designed to direct and point us to Christ, to be “fathered,” by God.
In a very real and practical sense, the church is not our father and was never designed to be.
When we are born again, we are born from above, by the power of the Holy Spirit – the beginning revelation of Jesus Christ.
The womb of the church provides the “body,” of what we need to begin our journey in Jesus Christ.
When, where, and how the shift happens, the hand off, so to speak, increasing interaction with the father, differs, but nonetheless, is noticeable to the child.
Being fathered by God is preparatory in some ways and the starting point in others to being “taken” by the Lord into deep healing and restoration – a place one would not naturally choose, as Christ pointed out to Peter in the Gospel of John, Chapter 21.
(I’ve written a lot on this subject in my series, A Peculiar People, and refer you to part 5 in that series.)
It appears the five foolish virgins are born again, reared in the church, but do not enter in, or enter in insufficiently, to being “fathered,” by God.
It appears the shift to Christ did not occur, was insufficient, or aborted.
We cannot truly father one another. The church cannot truly father you and me. Only God can put oil in our lamps.
The church can provide the atmosphere and environment for fathering, testimonials, etc., but only Jesus can truly father us into his likeness.
Yes, we can minister one to another in healing, deliverance, intercession, counseling, prayer and the gifts of the Spirit, but it takes the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth.
It appears the five foolish virgins miss being fathered by God – they have not been directed nor released into the adventure and journey of sonship.
And absent fathering, they miss being taken by the Lord into deep preparation and readiness to be married to him. (Matthew 25:10)
Even Jesus began to transition his apostles into that relationship when he told Peter, ‘“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”’ (NIV, Matthew 16:17)
Only the Lord Jesus Christ can truly father us in the deep places of who we are, what we believe, and how we live.
Our identity is in Christ. The love of a mother is wonderful.
But nothing compares to the love of God, his presence, his strength, and his strength in gentleness to the wounded and broken places of our heart and life.
The Lord is restoring the truth of “fathering,” to the church, that he might have fully grown and matured sons and daughters of God.
There is no need for any of us to be counted among the foolish virgins.
There is no need to wander in darkness with no oil in your lamp.
There is no need to feel empty and uncertain of what the future holds for you.
Jesus is here, now, to bring care and healing to you and yours.
Final Lap, Back to Nabal
Nabal, a descendant of Caleb (who experienced a new move of God for over 40 years in the wilderness), is a type of those who reject “new moves of the Spirit,” happening on the frontiers of their borders.
The appearance of David and his men, a sudden, spontaneous, and unplanned move of God in their midst, spiritually speaking, was warmly received by the herdsmen.
(Please remember David is a “type” of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God moves him and he moves the hand of God.)
David, fleeing his master, is no longer under the law but under grace. We learn grace in the wilderness of God.
The protection of David was intended to produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness – charity and goodness – repentance and forgiveness – a gentle and soft spirit – in Nabal.
God is moving in his midst and he fails to recognize or give homage to it; he fails to receive and enter in to the move of God, and hinders others from receiving the things of God as well, almost costing them their lives.
David is paying a dear price in his preparation to be king, and even in that travail, he offers an easy yoke and light burden to those under his charge, and to those in his domain.
Jesus spoke about those who reject the kingdom and keep others out as well.
Nabal is a type who wants to hold onto the old in the face of the new to come.
The move of the Holy Spirit reveals the secret and hidden things of a man’s heart.
The move of the Holy Spirit reveals our wounds, brokenness, and sins.
It’s an opportunity for us to turn from evil and do good – in grace through faith, the handiwork of God.
Repentance and forgiveness were in the hands of Nabal.
Responding favorably to David would break strongholds of sin in his life.
Nabal chose not to respond to the call of God and be fathered.
He refuses life from the giver of life. His oil is running out.
It was his day of visitation from the Lord and he did not fall on the rock of repentance and forgiveness.
His unhealed wounds and sins bore fruit in his life, bringing an end to it.
On hearing the revelation of David from the mouth of Abigail, “… his heart failed him and he became like a stone.” (NIV, 1 Samuel 25:37)
A stony heart, can neither give or receive life, a symbol of those who reject the moving of God’s Spirit in the day his Spirit comes to them.
You never know when David and his men will come within your boundaries and begin a new work of the Spirit, a preparatory work to receiving Christ’s intimacy.
God comes at an appointed time, coming from an area you least expect, out of the wilderness to begin a new work.
Sadly, we do not look to the wilderness for new moves of God.
We expect them to come from existing leadership and those institutions we recognize and acknowledge. But that is seldom the case.
Over and over again in church history, new moves have been birthed in the heart of pioneers, outside the conventional and traditional:
Azusa Street, the evangelistic movement of the ’20s and ’30s, the latter rain movement of the late ’40s, the healing movement of the ’50s and ’60s, the Jesus movement, Ransomed Heart Ministries, Elijah House, IHOP, etc., to name a few.
A New King
Thankfully, a new King is being raised up in the kingdom.
A new King who embraces the adventure and journey of God.
A new King who will lead many into righteousness and holiness.
A new King who sees his utter dependence on the grace and mercy of God, seeking and receiving his love and care.
And, a new King who loves and cares for the sheep of God.
King David. King Jesus.
Blessings, Drake
(NIV) Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblical, Inc.™
