Greetings.
I hope these posts draw the “deep” within you for more of the Lord.
The Scriptures “treasure” a vast trove of discoveries just waiting to be found by you and me.
Let’s be fatten up on the Lord, filled to overflowing, and we’ll have reserves in the day of famine.
Don’t settle for less, but be convinced by the Scripture there is much, much more available in Christ – more than we can imagine.
Now is the time to feast on the Lord and his Word.
Remember the Bereans (Acts 17:11).
The foolish virgins missed their opportunity, their season, to fatten up on Jesus (Matthew Chapter 25).
I pray we would not be found among them.
The Spirit of God uses the accounts, stories, and truths of Scripture, to draw our hearts out of sleepiness into life and fullness.
Let’s be found among those who say, “Lord, make my vessel clean for the master’s use”.
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If this post is too long for you, then please read the last few sections starting with Wilderness. There’s choice meat in those sections.
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Jesus
It’s all about him first and foremost.
We truly live in unprecedented times, spiritually speaking.
Each new church age is unprecedented, and we’re deep in the last seasons of the Church.
Christ does an unprecedented work in the last church ages. It’s clearly laid out in Scripture for all to read, be inspired, and hopeful.
The average Christian has access to resources unheard of in any previous generation.
We have the completed Scripture, hundreds, if not thousands of references, books, and literature, multiple commentaries and translations, and, Internet access to all, including countless teachings and worship.
Resources for Christian counseling, inner healing, physical healing, deliverance, prophetic, and almost every type of Bible school is available to Christians.
And sadly, like everything else, Christianity is saturated with a cacophony of messages many find daunting.
Jesus can separate the chaff from the wheat for you.
From Glory to Glory
For most of us, pastors and other ministers, and the body of Christ at large, have been the source of most of what we know and have experienced in Christianity.
The Holy Spirit has worked in our lives and brought us to places of decision, measures of healing and breakthrough, divine appointments, etc., with the Lord and others.
However, pastors, elders, brethren, and other spiritual mentors and leaders (para-church ministries, counseling, inner healing, etc.) can only take us so far – they can’t take us farther than they’ve gone “individually”.
Only Jesus knows the hinterlands of Christianity – the path through the wilderness.
There comes a time in our journey where Jesus says, “I’ll take over from here” and takes the baton.
He steps in and fills the gap others cannot fill, connecting us with those who have the unique gifting’s we need at that particular point in our journey.
We experience the Lord, and the body of Christ he brings our way, more deeply and intimately, as we venture into new territories.
This is the personal care of the Lord – using the resources within the body of Christ – ministering discipline, instruction, counseling, inner healing, etc., to his son or daughter in their wilderness sojourn.
This includes deep inner healing by the Lord. Without which, the journey would soon come to an end.
Interestingly, contrary to the natural mind, we become more integrated and interdependent with the body – the mysterious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Cry
A cry is coming forth from the body of Christ – make ready a vessel the Lord can choose for his habitation.
This is not the literal and physical second coming of the Lord, but the one that must occur first – to have a people ready and prepared for the Master’s use.
John, helping to prepare the way for the Lord, “…went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (NIV, Luke 3:3, bold and italicized are mine)
His cry is timeless; a call to you and me to, “…‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.’” (NIV, Luke 3:4 – 5)
The baptism of repentance – putting to death the deeds the body, being made alive in spirit – begins as soon as we’re born again and “intensifies” and is brought to fruition in the wilderness.
The five wise virgins are noted for their “wisdom” in gaining sufficient oil – the healing and cleansing oil of God – and were chosen, taken, into the wilderness with Christ, to be made into a bride.
It’s time to build our arks.
Jesus has the blueprint and the unique and special specs just for you and me.
Jesus took Peter, James, and John, up the mountain to see his glory, be refreshed by the testimonies of Moses and Elijah, and introduce those he would use in a deep way to his Father.
They got a glimpse of the city of God, the testimony of Christ, the work of the Father in his Son, the fulfillment of the types Elijah and Moses represented, and a vision for their future journey in Christ – what Jesus would later invite them into.
It is no wonder Peter, James, and John, were used by Christ in profound ways, their testimonies written in their letters.
We are utterly dependent on Christ to draw us into the deep places of God.
But first, we need to make sure our lamps are full of the oil of God, having searched out and sought the Lord to fill us up.
It takes Jesus entering the picture, and putting together a mix, a package, of resources and people and himself, to take us deeper in him.
The deeper you go in the Lord, the more interdependent you become with those on the same path as you or heading in that direction.
Christians beginning this journey may find themselves not only in a season of wilderness, but privacy.
It’s the Lord’s long-sought and diligent planning to finally establish the foundation for a deep and personal relationship with him.
The Lord waits with great anticipation for the day a wise virgin is ready to be awakened and begin the journey with him in the wilderness.
What joy must fill his heart, speaking in the manner of men and women, when one of his sons or daughters is ready to experience the deep things of God the ancients and prophets of old desired to look into (1 Peter 1:10-12).
Who doesn’t delight in sharing the riches and glory of mysteries uncovered and treasures discovered.
Again, in the manner of man, the angels in heaven probably petition the Lord over who gets to work with who in helping us on our journey in Christ.
It’s a glorious opportunity to be taken by Christ into the wilderness.
It is an intense time of transformation.
Be comforted if you think you are not ready and fear you may miss the call of God going forth this season in the church!
Seek the Lord and he will be found. He will not turn away from those who seek him.
Inquire of the Lord and he will work with you and orchestrate resources, people, and events to get you to the place that he desires.
As the Scripture says, “…‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’…” (NIV, 2 Corinthians 6:2)
As I’ve noted before, the Scripture says the Lord will do a quick work in the last days.
God can leapfrog you into places you would not have imagined.
Psalm 51:17, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” (NIV)
No matter how old, broken, wounded and sinful, Jesus is standing at the door knocking on your heart and mine to be permitted access and redeem what he paid such a dear price for.
Now is the time to build your ark.
I’ve been a part of a couple of revivals over my Christian journey and I’ve seen young babes in Christ skyrocket in the things of God and outpace others.
There’s time and hope for all of us – so let’s be about our Father’s business.
The Wilderness
The wilderness breaks your practice ways of living and ushers you into deep dependence on God and greater inter-dependency in the body of Christ, those traveling with you and those ministering to you.
The wilderness highlights the weaknesses of the old way of living, gets rid of your excess baggage, and reveals hidden and unknown weaknesses and wounds.
It opens the door for new life connected to God, and most importantly, it gives God the opportunity to meet you in your weaknesses and broken places – being known, and knowing the Father’s love and care – what the foolish virgins miss.
In the wilderness, many of the things “thought” necessary and comforting in the old life, no longer mask natures concealed and hidden, knowingly or unknowingly.
You learn to live in discomfort and become content with less, to have more, much more, in Christ.
You learn things you’ve been wrestling with for years, are easier to overcome as your life becomes more lean and focused on him who is life.
You learn to live as a pilgrim, having no granaries or storehouses of plenty.
Your appetites and desires change from the leaks and garlic to manna from heaven, whatever the Lord decides to bless you with.
The wilderness changes your disposition and perspective from immediate fulfillment to patient endurance, step-by-step.
The wilderness exposes you to the risks and rewards of life, it’s frailty and temporal nature, and trains you to survive in the ways of God which are more certain than the morning sunrise.
You learn how to listen and fight off wild animals and defend your possessions – the possessions God has given you for your journey.
And you learn to listen to the voice of God and inquire of him before you decide to journey over the next hill or into the next valley he has not yet spoken to you about.
You learn obedience because of the discomfort and sufferings you experience in discipline, endurance, and perseverance.
You also learn to love those in your company with a deep love because your life and their’s are dependent on one another.
And, you learn the Word of God has real meaning and substance, real “teeth” to defeat your enemies by the Spirit of God. That the blood and cross of Christ is not to be trifled, it truly has power.
You begin to learn the expanse and vastness of the kingdom of God, its currency, mission and vision – the vision to make you whole and place you on the throne with your savior.
And, you learn the Scriptures and begin to walk in them as a citizen and not as an occasional visitor.
David
Most of us are familiar with the story of David, and his sojourn in the wilderness escaping, outwitting, and overcoming the pursuit of King Saul.
His years of journey are a “type,” primarily foretelling the journey of Christ before his presentation to John at the river Jordan.
David’s wilderness journey is an outward expression of what it looks like to overcome the hostility of the flesh – the Saul in our own flesh and in the flesh of those who tempt us.
Christ knew this journey well – putting to death the hostility of his flesh (Ephesians 2:14 – 16, see an interlinear), learning obedience (Hebrews 5:7 – 10), dying to sin (Romans 6:10), resurrected to walk in new life (Romans 6:3 – 5).
This is our journey.
David’s journey is also a type of Christ at the end of the Church age; the bride, taken by Christ through the wilderness, apprehending the promises of God – bringing to completion what Jesus started 2,000 years ago, culminating in Christ’s millennial rule – the kingdom pictured by Solomon.
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Note:
There is much written about “types.”
Many people, places, and events in the ancients, patriarchs, and Old Covenant symbolize people, places, and events in the New Testament era. See Matthew 13:35, 16:4; Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 8:5, 9:9, etc.
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David could not become king until he overcame “Saul,” a type, of the hostility of the flesh we all have to fight and overcome.
His wilderness journey changed him from the inside out, becoming a king from the heart before he could be placed as king on the throne.
His wilderness journey prepared him for unprecedented spiritual intimacy with the Lord.
His wilderness experience taught him the deep things of God he would need to keep him from the pitfalls of Saul, establish a righteous kingdom (for that day) and pave the way for even a greater kingdom, Solomon’s.
King David was the “bridge,” from the age of the judges to the age of Solomon’s kingdom (which is a “type” of the millennial rule of Christ).
Saul was to be that bridge, but sin overcame him, and his place was given to another.
His Tabernacle
The Tabernacle of David is a wonderful story of David’s love for God and God’s care for David.
It is the reward for the wilderness experience, the unprecedented and unimaginable relationship for that era, with God.
It is jam-packed with types, visibly foreshadowing the journey of Christ, Christ’s perfection, union with the Father, and, of course, our journey as well.
It existed at the same time as the Tabernacle of Moses, which had been constructed according to God’s design hundreds of years before.
(The Tabernacle of David came into being shortly after David’s reign began, to the completion of Solomon’s Temple – a relatively short time frame in comparison to the centuries of the Tabernacle of Moses. See 2 Samuel Chapter 6, 1 Chronicles Chapters 13 – 16, and, 2 Chronicles Chapters 1 and 5)
The Tabernacle of Moses is a type of the church at large, spanning centuries.
The high priests of Moses Tabernacle upheld the traditions established by Moses centuries before.
The Tabernacle of David, housed the Ark of the Covenant, that had previously been captured by the Philistines – the presence of God himself.
The Tabernacle of David is the type of Christ’s union with the Father, and a type of the bride’s union with the Father and the Son.
The Tabernacle of Moses fulfilled its purpose as a necessary prerequisite to the next step in God, which was the Tabernacle of David.
And the Tabernacle of David, eventually fulfilled its purpose as a necessary prerequisite to Solomon’s Temple, a type of Christ’s millennial rule.
Together, the Tabernacles of Moses, David, and Solomon’s Temple, symbolize the long period of church history, the bride of Christ in the last days, a bridge to the millennial rule of Christ, the greater Solomon.
It’s a beautiful picture of the new typified in the old – the old foretelling the new.
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Here’s the meat of the typology for you and me:
“They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord.” (NIV, 2 Samuel 6:17, bold and italicized are mine)
Symbolically, the tent David “pitched” for the ark – the presence of God – was himself.
The use of the word “pitched” captures the essence of David’s journey – he bowed down, stretched himself out, put away, and overthrew, the enemies of his flesh that would keep him from God.
(See Strong’s Concordance Hebrew #5186, at biblehub.com)
The “pitching” is an outward expression, picture, of what God in David had accomplished in David’s heart and life, as evidenced by his close relationship with the Lord – the ark of God.
He prepared himself, as a type of the Messiah to come, to “house” the presence of God in his members.
For as Paul says,
“For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (NIV, 2 Corinthians 5:4 – 5)
The ark symbolized the presence of God in David’s life, and the presence of God to come to you and me in the resurrected Christian life.
The Lord disciplined and tested David in his sojourn to prepare him for authority, ministry, and most importantly, his presence.
David’s wilderness journey is a type of the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ, putting to death the desires of the flesh, being made alive in spirit to walk in newness of life.
David portrayed “patterned” the experience in “type”; Christ “pioneered” “made” the experience a reality to perfection and fullness – apprehending everything the Father apprehended him for.
David experientially encountered the presence of God, beyond the veil, unprecedented intimate access to God.
It prepared him to “tent” the presence of God in his members. What a milestone! And others received access to God as well, though, not as intimate as his.
His was a journey Christ could picture and meditate on. And so can we, though, he is no substitute for Christ’s journey, the greater David and the greater Solomon. They were just types pointing to the greater to come.
And that includes you and me, in Christ!
Before David could take the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, he had to defeat one last enemy, the Jebusites.
Having defeated the Jebusites, he established the Tabernacle of David in the City of David, a type of the New Jerusalem – Christ and those in Christ, the bride, filled with the glory of God.
More on David’s wilderness journey and the Tabernacle to come.
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.™
