A PECULIAR PEOPLE
(Part 5)
#112.98
LOOKING UNTO JESUS
STRIPPING OF ORNAMENTS
BUSHMAN OF HOREB
"And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush...and God called unto him out of the midst of the bush..." (Exo 3:2,4).
It seems that the bush upon Mount Horeb is found at the height of desolation. Like man -- who in the kingdoms of the world is the center, the apex, the height of darkness -- so is this bush upon Sinai's desert mountain.
The bush, from the Hebrew, means to prick, a bramble. It is an unattractive, scrubby, irritating bush that appears to have little or no value. At first sight of this prickly bramble one might question -- "What is this bush/man, that thou art mindful of him?" (Psa 8:4). Even in the wastelands of Mount Horeb one would wonder what its significance could be. When David looked and considered the wonder of God's heavens and work of His fingers, that must have been what he saw of man -- a dry, prickly bramble.
Margit and I live in such a place, literally. Our home is at the base of the Sacramento Mountains in the Tularosa Basin of southern New Mexico's high-desert. We are surrounded by such prickly brambles that grow upon Mount Horeb, the mountain of desolation, as its name means. The grass of our lawn is generally so parched it crackles under your feet as you walk across it. Last July at the meetings here, Gary Amirault actually laughed when I referred to it as a "lawn," and that was after we had been watering it for two weeks. He really would have laughed if he had seen it earlier. But this is the desert where water is scarce.
What could possibly grow in the desert that God would be mindful? Where is the beauty of it? I'll tell you. If you can see beyond the desolation, and peer deeper than the harshness -- you can see the glory of God's fire and hear his voice stirring amongst the thorns of every cactus and prickly pear, and God is mindful of each one, as He is mindful of the Bushman of Horeb.
He does not consider his harshness. He is not concerned about the shadow of darkness with which he is clothed. Moreover, it is out of that darkness that God speaks. When our vision is diverted from our darkened, harsh circumstances, we too will burst alive with the flame of God. We will hear His voice; but moreover, we will speak as the oracles of God to those in barren places.
Why is it that we get so absorbed by desolation when it comes? Why do we let the mountain of dire circumstances hinder our vision? As God's Chosen Generation, His Royal Priesthood, His Peculiar People, any form of darkness should be removed from our attention. We are in His image, as the scriptures make clear; therefore, we should be like Him. For instance:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. (Gen 1:1-2). Have you ever felt like this? -- that you were without form, questioning "Who am I?" "What is my purpose?" How many times have you been void (empty, feeling useless and worthy of nothing)? And don't you know what it is for darkness to penetrate to the very depth of your being? You most likely know what I mean, and if so, you are not alone. Nevertheless, that is no reason to remain in darkness and feeling negligible in this great Kingdom. This is not a day for "misery loving company," it is a time to rise to the occasion of what awaits us.
God never considers darkness as an obstacle. It did not bind Him. He never wrung His hands with worry and wondered how He was to deal with such a foreboding thing. His mind never entertained the thought of how He was going to get out of this fix, for He did not see Himself in one. The fact is, darkness and light are the same to Him(1). It mattered not whether light or darkness was His shroud, He was always the same.
We are thankful, however, that He chose not to abide unseen in darkness forever. In the proper season, He chose to express Himself, and express Himself, He did. It was out of the very midst of a formlessness, void, and gross darkness that He revealed Himself: "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Gen 1:2-3).
Are you scaling a dark mountain today that is desolate, and void? Do you feel there is no point to your existence, and view yourselves as having no form of Godliness? If so, my dear friends, let me encourage you. God's work in you is not hindered by any of it. Furthermore, His Spirit is already moving upon the face of your deep waters. And the hour is swiftly approaching for His Word to sound, and light will break forth throughout your heavens and shine upon your crusty earth. He will divide the darkness from the light. You will no longer walk in the night but the day. Out of the void and desolation of darkness God speaks and light is formed. He does not consider it a hindrance, and neither should you. His vision was to glory and not darkness, and so yours should likewise be.
LOOKING UNTO JESUS
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the JOY that was set before Him endured the CROSS, despising the SHAME, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:2). This verse tells us so much about our Lord. But today we want to notice it speaking of both light and darkness. We also want to see to which one that He looked. His eye was always single, and of course, it was single to the light. Although gross darkness engulfed Him, even the sun refused to shine while He hung from the cross, He looked to the JOY, the LIGHT, that was set before Him. The awful darkness of the CROSS was a very present reality, and He despised the dark SHAME of it -- yet He looked to the Joy that was set before Him.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not bemoan His circumstances; but rather, He opened not His mouth. He went as a lamb to the shearers. They stripped Him totally naked, hung Him as a gazing stock upon the barren tree, where He was slaughtered (Isa 53:7).
In all this, the unjust killing of the One without sin, He never cried out: "Why Me, Father(2)? What have I done to deserve this? I have always done Your will, so why are you allowing this to happen to Me, your very own Son? I really can't see any merit in it at all." That sounds a lot like what we hear at times from various ones across the land. Such continual bemoaning their plight is a testimony that they are transfixed by the darkness. They are not looking, like Jesus, to the joy set before them. They can't seem to get their eyes off their problems long enough to see the flaming messenger of God or hear His voice.
When our eye is single, and it is fixed upon the joy that is set before us, our lot will not be darkness but light. We can count on God giving us the hidden treasures our minds never thought possible. He said: "And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places..." (Isa 45:3).
Brethren, it is time to agree quickly with our adversaries. Not in the sense of being sadists, or loving darkness, and viewing ourselves as martyrs for the cause, but understanding the purpose of the mountain and knowing God's Glory is in the midst. When this is enacted and settled in our spirit, the treasures that are hidden in those secret places will be ours to have and behold.
Jesus said, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light" (Mat 6:22). This is how we become the light of the world: by having our eye, our focus, our attention single unto the glory of God. As long as our attention is centered upon the horrid darkness of hurt, sorrow, regret, bitterness, retribution, hatred, self-pity, etc. then our heart's treasures will be the same. No glory will ever be had in such an evil storehouse. For "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Mat 6:23).
Please know with all assurance that "No man can serve two masters (light and darkness): for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Mat 6:24). When one's eye is fixed upon mammon as his source of freedom from darkness, he will always be in darkness, even when his oppressive situation is lifted. However, when his eye is fixed upon God, whether he is abased or he abounds, Light will always be his portion. Let us therefore, love and serve God rather than the beggarly elements of the world. When we do this, and while in the midst of this dry place, to our amazement, the angel of the Lord appears to us. He appears in a flame of fire in the midst of our bush, and we are not consumed.
"Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel" (Exo 17:6).
You see, not only is God's glorious fire kindled in our lives upon that desolate mountain, but Christ's life-giving drink is given as well. There are, no doubt, many phases through which we go in our lives where we find ourselves upon the sides of this arid mountain; but I believe our first experience was when we were initially drawn to Christ. Before we could, or even desired to confess Jesus as our Lord unto salvation, His glory was seen burning in our bush. And it was from within this unlikely bramble we heard the sound of His wonderful voice. It caused us to forsake all and follow Him.
The glory alone, however, would not suffice in the time of drought for which this mountain was known. We needed the water of life, hence, the stricken Rock -- Jesus. Again, something good from the midst of something bad -- the life-giving Spirit of Christ.
STRIPPING OF ORNAMENTS
As with Israel, it was at the base of Mount Horeb where we stripped ourselves of so many worldly trappings and carnal vices, and may still be doing so. "And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their (3)ornaments by the mount Horeb" (Exo 33:6).
Oh, the wonders of this mountain of God. Seemingly desolate on all sides; but hidden deep within, life and glory spring forth, enabling us shed those things that hinder our journey. Therefore, do not run from it. In God's own timing you will leave it. When it is time to conquer, you will hear His voice, saying, "...Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount. Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the seaside, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them" (Deu 1:6-8).
Many of the brethren have long since left that mountain at the direction of the Lord. They headed toward the land of promise with assurance they would possess it. It wasn't known, however, what awaited them. They still found themselves between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes. "And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea" (Deu 1:19).
But before we are told to leave, we cannot help from noticing that this is the place where we learn to hear the words of the Lord.
"Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather Me the people TOGETHER, and I will MAKE THEM HEAR MY WORDS, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children." (Deu 4:10). From some of the letters we receive, I suspect that more people than we know do not like to hear this. Oh, for sure, they want to hear God's every word that proceeds from His mouth, for they know it is by those words that we live; but it is the place, this desolate mountain, from which they hear His word that poses the problem. If God is speaking from this place, and you are basking in religious pastures, His voice won't be heard.
We note again, it was the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God IN H-O-R-E-B, when the LORD said unto me, Gather Me the people TOGETHER, and I will MAKE THEM HEAR MY WORDS. Ah, not as commonly supposed, it is not upon the fruited plains of glory where He makes us to hear His words, but at the base of the rocky crags of Horeb, the Mount of Desolation. This is the part with which some feel ill-at-ease.
Whether we like it or not, many are being gathered today in one common place -- and to be truthful, there is a lot of it I don't like. Nevertheless, that place is called Horeb the Horrible. And to the flesh it is horrible. It is a place we did not choose, had never considered its worth, and even with understanding, would not presently choose it if given the opportunity. Yet our God sees the worth and has chosen it for us, and I am merely one voice announcing His intention to the degree He has opened my vision to the burning bush. Therefore, if you have ought against this, don't inquire of me, talk to our Father about it. It won't change anything; but it might make you feel better by talking about it. And who knows, He may explain all this much more clearly than my feeble words could ever come close to doing.
Indeed, we are gathered in this less than comfortable place; yet it would do us much good to keep in mind that we are standing, like Israel, before the Lord. And it is herein that He makes us hear His words. We had heard His voice before -- as Thunder (Salvation), as Power (Baptism of the Spirit) and Majesty (the call to Sonship) -- but the voice at Horeb, perhaps not.
All the other voices we heard came to our ears during the good-times, the times of blessing and splendor. His words reverberated from the heavens, and the mountains and hills moved at His sound. Souls were saved, diseased bodies and minds were healed, and the dead raised to life again; but the season of glory has waned. With so many across the land, they had to leave the palisades of plenty, and from where they now stand, they hear a voice that makes them a Peculiar People.
The herald sounds loud and clear that they who not only hear, but O-B-E-Y His words are the Peculiar People. Let me pose a question or two, and see if we can obey His word, and I am not talking about a word we can dig out of the Bible, such as one of the ten commandments, or the many creeds, covenants, laws, and bylaws a church may lay upon its subjects. This word of which we speak is one that cuts to the very core of our being.
Question: Will you obey the horrible word that rids you of all control over your child's actions, actions that will land him in prison for the rest of his natural life?
Question: Is it in you to submit without retribution to an irrational judgment that would tear your son from his darling wife and child of one year?
Question: Will you be as a child, rather than a warrior, and not bemoan and cry when man's court rules in your husband's favor and takes your children from you? And while he lives in a new home with another woman, and you in a cheap motel, with a court-order for you to pay child support -- can you submit?
Question: In your thinking that God could stop all the heated turmoil and won't, are you angered, and does this make you feel like throwing in the towel and quitting?
Question: Is it possible to lie in writhing pain due to Lupus, Addison's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, or a thousand other horrible afflictions, and not be moved to self-pity?
I've only skimmed the surface of what you might experience before hearing the voice of the Lord upon Mount Horeb; but the above scenarios are very real things that are happening to people we know. Most are obeying with childlike simplicity and staying put, while knowing their Father and hearing His voice in the midst of the fiery trials and their burning bush. If they are not hearing His voice, they wait in faith, expecting to hear it. Others, however, are crying and grumbling at every turn. They can't see any worth to their dilemmas, and would go back to Egypt if permitted. They are mad at God for not fixing their problems.
They may hear His voice, which surely shakes their mountains; but they refuse to submit to His words telling them to endure to the end. Their way is better than God's ways, so they believe, and follow after what they deem as right. Rather than turning to see His glory and hearing His voice from within their bush, they flee, saying, "Let not God talk with us, lest we die." And unknown to those who murmur, they will die, but not due to being consumed by His awesome presence. They are consumed by the wilderness, and therein is where they die.
If, perchance, they could see their circumstances as the very instruments which bring them to hearing the words of the Lord trumpeting from Mount Horeb, they might rethink things. If this came to be, they would certainly be a portion of God's Peculiar People. They would have passed the test, and would come forth as rare gems of His Kingdom, to be sent out as resplendent heralds across the land. They would be "...a holy people unto the Lord thy God...A PECULIAR PEOPLE unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth (Deu 14:2). For the ones who hear and obey His words are the ones who He calls Peculiar.
These tried-by-fire saints are of great value. They are reserved and held from view until the appointed time of the King. They are obedient sons of God with a common diet, and not a diet of eat and drink as the world knows it, but a pure word of heaven's delight. It is in the same passage of scripture we are told something about what these peculiar people eat, or rather, what they don't eat: "Thou shalt not eat any (4)abominable thing" (Deu 14:3).
While God's Peculiar Treasure, His Treasured Sons, live by every word that proceeds from His mouth, some who call themselves sons know not the flavor of such a sound. They, therefore, feast upon the abominable things. And I say this in all candor, for idolatry is not foreign in our ranks.
I will find plenty of opposition on that statement, but it is true. Such abomination can be found where people look to one man or woman as their only source of ministry. If a word does not come from them, or it is not filtered through them, it has little value to the idolaters. Should those they look to for their livelihood be removed from them, they would slip back to Egypt. If it is not their pastor who they revere and worship, then it might be the doctrines their church has laid in concrete. Come hell or high water, they will bow to them and not deviate. Another idol, and it is tooled very deeply into people's minds, is the Bible. This one is a hard one to recognize, and I won't say much about it, just enough to cause some to want to draw and quarter me.
The Bible becomes an idol when it takes the place of the living relationship with Christ, the very One to whom the Bible directs us. When our inspired books (some more-so than others) become our life, rather than the Life-Giver Himself, then they are idols to us. The Bible should be the most important book anyone could own and read, but it should never take the place of Jesus. The Pharisees had a difficult time with this, and so do many today.
Furthermore, this idol will be defended as fiercely as two or three other major ones in the church -- the rapture, the devil, and everlasting damnation. If you want to bring the wrath of hell upon you, take away either of the three. The doctrine of the rapture has been so idolized that it has become a tenet of faith unto salvation. If one doesn't embrace this teaching of being whisked off the earth and into the rain-clouds, it is assumed by some that they cannot be true believers, and therefore, must be lost souls.
The devil is also worshiped greatly, and I am not referring to the occult "Satanic Devil worshipers." I speak of those in mainstream, fundamental religion. If this is not so, why then, I will ask, do their sermons, thoughts, and general conversations revolve around the devil? Don't you know that to the one you give yourself is the one who will be mostly on your mind and in your speech? And is it not the devil that most Christians talk about? Satan's notoriety has gone far and wide by those who believe in him for what he is not. They believe so much in the devil that he is much more the victor than God could ever hope to be, so their words tell us.
This brings us to the third idol they hold in reverence -- eternal damnation for most of humanity. This scenario has Jesus as a heartbroken, shamefaced loser of His own heritage, while His arch enemy scurries off with the Kings prized treasure.
This doctrine is also spoken of as a tenet of faith necessary for one to be saved. For you see, if you happen to believe the truth that God is not only able to save all, but will save them all, it is said that you have been deceived by the devil and cannot possibly be saved. Incidently, not only should these tenets of faith they hold so dear in their hearts be reconsidered, but the word tenet itself. My computer dictionary gives this: "a religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without proof." And that is what they have with their idea of the devil, and the fate of humanity. They both are religious doctrines that are proclaimed as truth without proof, as is the one called the rapture! But since they are idols to them, it matters not how abominable they are, or whether there is proof or not -- they will fight to the death for them. And let me add, these things are believed by many good people. They are sincere, but they are sincerely wrong, and this is largely due to ironclad, age-old traditions that had their spurious origins in pagan beliefs, the rapture being an exception. Its roots stem from a planned deception by a couple of (5)Jesuit priests in the early 1800s.
Most of those to whom we write have seen these idols for what they are, and have cut down those Midianite groves long ago. Some cling to them, while others may still look to their leaders as idols, or other things too numerable to mention. Nevertheless, let us know today that all those things are abominations to God. Moreover, if we insist on giving ourselves to any of them, we should not insist on being called God's Peculiar People.
This is a serious hour in which we live, and it is time, Brethren, to become serious. It is time to put off our religious shoes that had once carried us across the searing sands; for the place whereon we stand is holy ground (Exo 3:5), and has no place for our theological sandals. And that holy ground is upon what Moses called the Mountain of God.
Again, "And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb" (Exo 33:6). Isn't it wonderful that regardless of the flashing ornaments or other trappings of little worth, it is here that we can strip ourselves of them all. When we see God's glory in the midst of our desolation and hear His word resounding from our bush, we gladly lay down the unholy tenets of faith and lifeless rituals. They lose their attraction once we see the glory of His truth and feast upon that life-giving word.
Once we have shed ourselves of those worldly and religious facades that hinder, we begin to hear another word, and we are elated! "The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount" (Deu 1:6). Praise God! What a wonderful sound! "YOU HAVE DWELT LONG ENOUGH IN THIS DESOLATION! It is time to leave, and wherever you go, and whenever you obey my words -- YOU WILL CONQUER!" This is what we have been waiting for, the word of command to leave this mountain! "Pack up your bags and go," such music to our ears, and it matters not where we are sent, it is wonderful. We've already been to hell and back, and as long as He is with us, any place on earth will do.
Horeb has indeed been Horrible; but the desolation is worth it; for it is here that we begin to hear a word never before heard. It is upon and in the midst of hell that we stand before the Lord our God. Gathered together at this judgment seat against the flesh, and with unshod feet of the gospel of self, we are made to hear His words. These blazing firebrands of life teach us to fear Him all the days we live upon the earth. And we pass this on and teach it to our children, and to all who call upon the name of the Lord (Deu 4:10). Praise His Holy Name!
Continued.....
Elwin R. Roach
Part 4
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1. "Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." (Psa 139:12)
2. Rather than reading Matthew 27:46 as, "...My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" Lamsa's Translation renders it, "My God, my God, for this I was spared." And Psalm 22:1 "My God, my God, why hast thou let me to live...?"
3. ornaments: adiy, in the sense of trappings; finery; gen. an outfit; spec. a headstall." (Strong's)
headstall: a part of a bridle or halter that encircles the head. (Webster)
4. abominable: Heb. tow'ebah ...something disgusting, i.e. an abhorrence; especially idolatry or an idol:
5. Emmanuel Lacunza, a Jesuit priest, built on Ribera's teachings, also a Jesuit priest, and spent much of his life writing a book titled "The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty." Lacunza, however, wrote under the assumed name of Rabbi Ben Ezra, supposedly a learned Jew who had accepted Christ as his Saviour. With Jesuit cunning, he thus conspired to get his book a hearing in the Protestant world -- they would not even permit it in their homes coming from a Jesuit pen -- but as the earnest work of the "converted Jew," they would consume it with avid interest! (Free upon request "The Rapture Question" with excerpt from J. Preston Eby.)